Although for years the celebration moved around the calendar a bit more than in the past and was therefore somewhat difficult to track down (no pun intended), today -- we are full of joy to announce -- once again is that most grand fest, National Train Day.  At least it is here at Elisberg Industries, and that's good enough as a starting point.  You won't find it on any calendars for any number of reasons, but the most important is that since Amtrak funding got cut back they stopped promoting it after 2016.

(And the reason for it moving around the calendar is that it was never a set day, but the Saturday closest to May 10.  Why May 10, I hear you cry?  Because that's the anniversary of the Golden Spike being driven in at Promontory Point, Utah, to complete the building of the Transcontinental Railroad.)

But whether or not it remains an officially promoted holiday by the government -- and isn't being celebrated here on a proper Saturday due to prior commitments, think of it as the train running behind schedule -- National Train Day (or as it used to be known around these parts once upon a time as "Let's Make Chris Dunn's Head Explode Day," but no more since he now, at long last, acknowledges Bridge on the River Kwai as a train movie) is nonetheless still one of the most joyous holidays of the year. 
​

                This is a photo from a family trip years ago.  We were in
                 Switzerland, and for reasons that shouldn't be too surprising
                 it's one of my favorite train photos.  And remains a classic
                 in Elisberg Family Lore, the beloved Bob Train.

For our part here, we celebrate National Train Day on these pages by posting a list of the greatest train movies.  These are films in which trains are absolutely central to the story.  Where a train is the driving force of the tale, without which you can’t properly describe the plot.

(Think of it like the classic and beloved Santa Claus song, "Santa Claus is Coming to Town."  Santa Claus isn't actually in the song at all.  He hasn't even shown up yet.  In most ways, it's about "you" and what you should do -- or better not do.  But even though there's not a hint of Santa Claus even appearing in the song, without Santa Claus...there's no song.)

We're strict about this.  A friend once recommended The Taking of Pelham-1-2-3, and it was strongly considered, but that was a subway train or light rail.  This list is for full-bore trains, the kind that either have sleeping cars and dining cars, or could if they were hitched on.  But I've added it to our Honorable Mention list this year.

Since the list is fluid, we keep adding to it.  The most recent additions are The Girl on the Train and The 5:17 to Paris.  They both were released several years ago, but sometimes it takes me a while to catch up.  It was a toss of the coin with The 5:17 to Paris.  I don't think it's a great movie, though an well-done one, based on a true story, but as a train movie the train sequence is long and absolutely gripping -- and notable for using the real-life people from the event as the film's stars, even though they weren't actors, and they acquit themselves well.  So, in the end I decided it had enough to include it.  I've left off the 2017 remake of Murder on the Orient Express -- at least for now (the list is fluid, after all, as I said) -- since the original is already on it, and was not only much better for my taste but, equally important, more true to the Agatha Christie novel, which bothered me about the remake.  However, it's a good film, so I've included it among the Honorable Mentions.

There are two other categories:  the just-mentioned Honorable Mention is for movies which you can generally tell their stories without using the word "train," but they have some connection to trains -- usually a great, standout train sequence -- that makes them memorable.  And a few years ago I added a new category of Special Mention, for works that don't qualify as a train movie or perhaps even as a movie at all, but deserve a place of honor.  For instance, Stephen Ambrose's excellent book on the building of the Transcontinental Railroad, Nothing Like It in the World.

And as I noted in the past, though something I think is likely very obvious, I love train movies.  Here is the current list of Great Train Movies.

Around the World in 80 Days
Back to the Future 3
Bridge on the River Kwai
The Commuter
The Darjeeling Limited
Emperor of the North
The 5:17 to Paris
The General
The Girl on the Train
The Great Locomotive Chase
The Great Train Robbery
The Lady Vanishes
Murder on the Orient Express (1974)
The Narrow Margin
North by Northwest
Northwest Frontier
Night Train to Munich
Polar Express
Runaway Train
Shanghai Express
Silver Streak
Snowpiercer
Source Code
Strangers on a Train
Tough Guys
The Train
Transsiberian
Twentieth Century
Union Pacific
Union Station
Unstoppable
Von Ryan’s Express
 
Honorable Mention
Throw Momma from the Train 
Planes, Trains and Automobiles
The Greatest Show on Earth
Go West
At the Circus 
Cat Ballou
Trading Places
Murder on the Orient Express (2017)
 
Special Mention
Great Railway Journeys of the World (TV documentary)
Nothing Like It in the World by Stephen Ambrose (book)
The Railrodder (short)
The Taking of Pelham-1-2-3

I've also added another new feature in recent year -- a scene from one of the Great Train Movies, or another entry on the list.  This year, we have one of the greatest stunts ever in a movie -- easily one of the top, if not top, stunts in a train movie.  This is Sean Connery doing his own stunt in the 1978 film, The Great Train Robbery, based on the novel by Michael Crichton.  Just know that it's only part of the scene, and, yes, this is really him.

​This is a charming story out of Texas by way of Philadelphia to Rome.
 
During the winter freeze this past February in Texas when the power grid failed, 91-year-old Ezell Holley had to move out of his home temporarily.  His granddaughter Alex, who cohosts the TV show, Good Day Philadelphia, get him an available room (they were hard to come by, as you can imagine) that the family jokingly called the Waldorf Astoria.  She and her grandfather posted a series of sweet video about him taking his stay at the Waldorf all in stride.
 
And the story came to the attention of a real Waldorf Astoria, the Rome Cavalieri.  And they invited him and a guest to be their guest.  Conditions improved enough that few weeks ago, Ezell and his granddaughter finally went – as did the whole family, paying the additional way themselves.  When they arrived, they all got another surprise – the hotel put them up in the penthouse. 
 
Alex Holley documented it all, and this is the story they showed on Good Day Philadelphia.  (My favorite moment may be with the desk clerk when they check out.  I don’t want to say why.)
 
By the way, I'm going to take a bit of a digression here for a moment.  But as I was reading the story, I oddly and surprisingly had an extremely tiny but personal connection with the story, all because of one word.  When I read that the hotel was the Rome Cavalieri, I flashed back to a hotel with a similar name that my family stayed in on my very first trip to Europe when I was a young kid.  It was called the Cavalieri Hilton.  (“Cavalieri” is Italian for…well, cavalier, or knight.)  But then a thought hit me – wait, was this not just a similar name but, in fact, the very same hotel??  Did Hilton buy the Waldorf Astoria properties and then upgrade this to that luxury level??  I dove in and did some searching.  And…and...
 
…and, yes!!  I found one website that refers to the now-Rome Cavalieri Waldorf Astoria as “The former Rome Hilton” and another that says, “Inaugurated in 1963 by Conrad N. Hilton himself, the opening of the Rome Cavalieri coincided with a period of unprecedented economic development and the heyday of the so-called 'Dolce Vita.'”  Our trip was 1966, in its very earliest days, just three years after it opening.  The hotel was very nice, but…NO, not at the Waldorf Astoria level of "very nice" it is now, and most definitely nothing like the utterly spectacular penthouse.
 
Further, I actually still have the stylish ashtray that I, er…took from the room, which I thought (even as a kidling) that it looked very nice.  And not only do I still have it, but still use in on my desk, about 18 inches from me as I type this.  So, it wasn’t merely a souvenir that a little kid took and soon threw away, or something buried in boxes.  It’s done its duty for a very long time. I’ve taken out all the paraphernalia usually sitting in it so that you can see the Conrad Hilton “CH” logo.

​And as a bonus, this is a photo I took of my older brother John.  The hotel (as the news report notes) overlooks the Vatican, which historically has long been protected by the Swiss Guard.  So, John put on a little hat and took one of the long pillows from the sofa and did his bit to join the Swiss Guard and help defend the place from high.

​Anyway, back to Ezell Holley and Family being treated like royalty and having the time of their – and most notably, his – lives.

Although for years the celebration moved around the calendar a bit more than in the past and was therefore somewhat difficult to track down (no pun intended), today -- we are full of joy to announce -- once again is that most grand fest, National Train Day.  At least it is here at Elisberg Industries, and that's good enough as a starting point.  You won't find it on any calendars for any number of reasons, but the most important is that since Amtrak funding got cut back they stopped promoting it after 2016.

(And the reason for it moving around the calendar is that it was never a set day, but the Saturday closest to May 10.  Why May 10, I hear you cry?  Because that's the anniversary of the Golden Spike being driven in at Promontory Point, Utah, to complete the building of the Transcontinental Railroad.)

But whether or not it remains an officially promoted holiday by the government -- and isn't being celebrated here on a proper Saturday due to prior commitments, think of it as the train running behind schedule -- National Train Day (or as it was known around these parts once upon a time, but no more!, as "Let's Make Chris Dunn's Head Explode Day") is nonetheless still one of the most joyous holidays of the year. 
​

For our part here, we celebrate National Train Day on these pages by posting a list of the greatest train movies.  These are films in which trains are absolutely central to the story.  Where a train is the driving force of the tale, without which you can’t properly describe the plot.

(Think of it like the classic and beloved Santa Claus song, "Santa Claus is Coming to Town."  Santa Claus isn't actually in the song at all.  He hasn't even shown up yet.  In most ways, it's about "you" and what you should do -- or better not do.  But even though there's not a hint of Santa Claus even appearing in the song, without Santa Claus...there's no song.)

We're strict about this.  A friend once recommended The Taking of Pelham-1-2-3, and it was strongly considered, but that was a subway train or light rail.  This list is for full-bore trains, the kind that either have sleeping cars and dining cars, or could if they were hitched on.  But I've added it to our Honorable Mention list this year.

I should also note that, since the list is fluid, we've added another new movie to the list of Great Train Films, this time a movie thriller from 2016, The Girl on the Train. 

There are two other categories:  Honorable Mention is for movies which you can tell their stories without using the word "train," but they have some connection to trains -- usually a great, standout train sequence -- that makes them memorable.  And a few years I added a new category of Special Mention, for works that don't qualify as a train movie or perhaps even as a movie at all, but deserve a place of honor.  For instance, Stephen Ambrose's excellent book on the building of the Transcontinental Railroad, Nothing Like It in the World.

And as I noted in the past, though something I think is likely very obvious, I love train movies.  Here is the current list of Great Train Movies.

Around the World in 80 Days
Back to the Future 3
Bridge on the River Kwai
The Commuter
The Darjeeling Limited
Emperor of the North
The General
The Girl on the Train
The Great Locomotive Chase
The Great Train Robbery
The Lady Vanishes
Murder on the Orient Express
The Narrow Margin
North by Northwest
Northwest Frontier
Night Train to Munich
Polar Express
Runaway Train
Shanghai Express
Silver Streak
Snowpiercer
Source Code
Strangers on a Train
Tough Guys
The Train
Transsiberian
Twentieth Century
Union Pacific
Union Station
Unstoppable
Von Ryan’s Express
 
Honorable Mention
Throw Momma from the Train 
Planes, Trains and Automobiles
The Greatest Show on Earth
Go West
At the Circus 
Cat Ballou
Trading Places
 
Special Mention
Great Railway Journeys of the World (TV documentary)
Nothing Like It in the World by Stephen Ambrose (book)
The Railrodder (short)
The Taking of Pelham-1-2-3

I've also added another new feature last year -- a scene from one of the Great Train Movies, or another entry on the list.  We're going to go with one of my favorite scenes (if not my favorite) from the original 1974 production of Agatha Christie's Murder on the Orient Express -- the good version.  This comes early in the film after all the set-up and we finally see the legendary train depart from Paris.  It's a love letter to trains, with the wonderful score by Richard Rodney Bennett starting softly and then soaring.

On this week’s ‘Not My Job’ segment of the socially-distanced NPR quiz show Wait, Wait…Don’t Tell Me!, the guest is Kellee Edwards – pilot, scuba diver, sailor and explorer – and host of the Travel Channel series, “Mysterious Islands.”  She has a fun, enthusiastic conversation with host Peter Sagal about her adventuring, survival skills – and especially being a pilot and able to fly around to different places during the pandemic.

Gallup released its latest poll, and Trump's approval was down to 38%.  What's notable about this, beyond being so low, especially four months before an election, is that Gallup's results have been higher than most other pollsters over the past six months.  They even had him at 49% as recently as May.  So...we'll see.

It's not terribly surprising, of course, give how completely completely nuts the administration has gone.  And yes, I know that's a subjective term, but consider the four issues Trump and the RNC were talking about yesterday -- four months before the election, in the middle of a pandemic, with massive unemployment, national social change and Russians bounties.  There was Trump’s tweet that NASCAR driver Bubba Wallace should apologize for a noose being found in his driving team's garage, another tweet about how unfair it was for sports teams to change their nicknames from ones that are racist, the RNC slamming Joe Biden for his “assault” on the Declaration of Independence by him writing an op-ed that refers to “all people are created equal” rather than “all men.”  (All that was missing was for spokesperson Liz Harrington -- say, a woman said that -- to have started her complaint with, "Hey, Ladies!")  And the White House Press Secretary proudly proclaiming that the world looks at the United States as the leader in COVID-19.  Yes, honest, she said that, without even a hint of irony.
 
With their approval plummeting to 38%, these were the issues the administration thinks are winners that will expand their base.  In a pandemic.  With massive unemployment.  Amid national social change.  And a Russian bounty scandal.
 
And as a bonus note:  the upcoming book by Trump’s niece has gotten so much attention that the publisher announced they had moved up release two weeks to July 14.  Happy Bastille Day!
 
But rather than spin the Trump Wheel o' Wonder and pick a topic wherever the dial lands, I've decided to take a look, not at the news of the day, but a very interesting article about one area that is affected by it all.  And an area that, on the surface, seems somewhat limited in its scope, but actually has much wider implications.

On the heels of my vacation over the weekend to my guest room -- and yes, I've recovered from jet lag for anyone curious -- here is an excellent interview in the Washington Post with travel expert Rick Steves, who has spent most of his adult life traveling through Europe, writing about it and leading tours.  His observations on the future of travel are insightful and honest, not being overly pessimistic or optimistic, but how things will adjust to changing realities.  

For Steves, travel isn't just about seeing the sites, but even more it's the human experience, interacting with other cultures, having a beer in an Irish pub and chatting with the locals next to you, getting a kiss on the cheek in France, making it all accessible to everyone, and that's what he sees most impacted.  

"The only way somebody can have a quality experience is to pack the house," he says. "You’ve got to pack the theater. You’ve got to pack the bus. You’ve got a pack the airplane. You got to pack the hotel because then you can generate enough revenue to provide a service that’s top notch. If you have to have every other seat filled, you’ve got half the revenue. So the little mom-and-pop restaurants that I love to feature, if they can only have 50 percent capacity, they can’t pay their rent. And that’s what scares me.

"If the airlines can only put half as many people on the plane, it’s going to cost us all double. Then travel becomes an activity just for wealthy people. And I’ve always wanted travel to be affordable and accessible to people who just, you know, are reasonably employed but not necessarily wealthy."

He also draws an interesting connection to travel and the necessity of people staying at home, and why in today's world that isn't and should be a luxury but important to all.

"Travel is the best way to get to know your neighbor," he explains. "If a community is going to function, you need to know and respect your neighbors, need to trust your neighbors. You need to collaborate and work together. That’s not just a community thing. Community is global now. That’s a scary thought for a lot of people, especially people who don’t travel, who are afraid of people who are different.

"When you travel, you celebrate diversity. When you travel, you’re not afraid."

You can read the whole interview by Natalie B. Compton, my favorite travel writer for the paper, here.