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Message: HTML is not enabled. UBB Code™ is enabled.	[QUOTE]Originally posted by rresor: [QB] Well, as a child I was truly blessed. My mother would take me and my sisters to Florida every winter after Christmas, and we'd usually stay until Easter or thereabouts. My mother loved trains, and hated to fly. She also traveled ONLY Pullman, so I grew up riding mostly the Silver Meteor and Silver Star, but also (occasionally) the ACL Champion (my mother preferred the SAL) or, when it was revived in the early 1960s, the Florida Special. So some of my earliest memories are of Pullman lounge cars and diners with silver and white linens on the tables. I would rate the "Meteor" the best train I ever rode. Service was unparalleled, and it even had two diners, one for Pullman passengers and one for coach people (the coach people got paper place mats and a cheaper menu). I was lucky enough to ride the REAL California Zephyr in 1968, so I'd put that high on the list too. As for post-Amtrak trains, I recall the wonderful Bloody Mary the barkeep in the lounge made for me as we climbed through the Gilluly Loops out of Salt Lake City on the "Rio Grande Zephyr". I have no wonderful memories of ANY Amtrak train, except for my first ride on Superliners on the "Southwest Chief" in 1981. This was the year before Congress ordered Amtrak to cut its food service budget, and the chef's special that evening was roast leg of lamb with fresh mint sauce made on the train. That remains the only "world class" meal I've ever eaten on Amtrak. [/QB][/QUOTE]