St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1890-02-01
o CRACK TRAIN.


lt Does Not Compare FAvorably with Oaf
vestibuled Limited Express.
Perhaps I can not better convey an
than by relating my own experience for
q day on the Orient Express, for 1t is the
''crack train" of the continent, and IN it
travel the nobility Of England, the mag
mates of France and the nabobs of India.
The most luxurious trains in America
are those called Limited Express"
running between New York and Chi
cago. They are "vestibule trains" pro-
vided with reading and smoking room,
a BARRIERS shop and bath, bar, desks for
writing. library and elegant sleepers
for all tho passengers. No ordinary
coaches are attached to these trains,
and in place of S. for a berth on an or
binary train s7.5o is charged o. the ''lim.
ited.'
l have Travelled on both of these
trains, and I could not well help CON
pairing them with the Orient Express,
the browning triumph of the Wagon
Lit Company" The train consisted Of
sleepers, baggage car and a car contain
ing the smoking and dining
With my friend and neighbOr, DR.. L.,
I arrived from the Rhine at Strasburg.
We had bought Cooks tickets in Liver
pool from that city by London (where
we had to 60 to obtain Cooks circular
notes, paid for in Boston, and promised
us in Liverpool), Harwich. Rotterdam.
Cologne, the Rhine, and round to Paris.
We vent second class, except on steam
ers, and in France, where there was no
second class, on the express train. The
train we wanted was to leave at OBS in
the forenoon. Cooks tickets assured us
that they were good on any express
train. When we presented them at the
ticket Office where they were to be
dated, w found they were not good ex-
cept on payment of over s. apiece, for
the train IA the Orient Express. We
paid it. The porter could find no seats
in the ~sleepers. and we were condemned
to make the trip in the smoking-room.
The slecpers were built with an aisle
o n IN side, the staterooms opening
from it. They looked like the ordinary
compartment. but the seats were re-
uuCCu " az uikuC AASy AOOhCO
very comfortable, but we were not per-
mitted to occupy seats in one of them.
The smoking-room was not very bad,
though our apartment of the limited,
so-called, is regal magnifcence COM
pared with it. With soiled hands !
wen to the wash-room. but there was
neither water nor towels. I went to
another convenience, always nice and
clean on the Limited" but it was out
of order, and the door was locked.
Later it was opened, but it was a vile
place for q Christian, though it might
have been all right in the Orient.
Early in the day q waiter came TO ask
who wanted de jeuner. We wanted it.
of course; but though there was but n
''~wagon-lit" on the train. two tables were
necessary for the passengers, and We had
to wait till tho nabobs of India had
finished their repast. When we had it,
it was very fair, measured by the Euro
pean standard. The price of this meal
was so cents. but most of the passengers
paid from 40 cents 70 81 more for the
wine. Dinner is served at Sl.2O, wine
in addition. |
This paragon Of European trains made
about t~hirty-five miles an hour, which
does not equal the speed Of our ''Lim- |
In no respect could 1t be COM
pared with our ordinary express trains
sleeper and parlor cars. Not only
trains de lure, but in all trains, our
is vastly superior to r~ailroading
in Europe.-Oliver Optic, in N. Y. Jour
nal i