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The train trip from Idaho to the Virginia coast was long and miserable, with the soldiers crammed into ancient cars heated with coal-burning potbellied stoves. The train would often sit on sidings for hours as more important traffic went by the on the heavily burdened rail lines
At one point in the Appalachians the train shunted into a siding for another long wait – right across a small field from a country store. First the men started slipping away by ones and twos, but soon there hundreds of soldiers – officers included - crowding the store buying anything edible and needful. When the troop train finally got its clearance to proceed and began whistling for the soldiers to return there was a mad dash. The train was badly delayed as the men crowded on board up the steep steps from the ballast.
Dad built train sets for his sons, and took us out of the way to ride tourist trains and see interesting rail yards. But after his experience riding the rails during World War II, he never again rode a passenger train to get from point A to point B.
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