On the rails again: February 2025

San Francisco

“The following program is dedicated to the city and people of San Francisco, who may not know it, but they are all beautiful and so is their city” (Eric Burdon and the animals, San Franciscan nights).

Mission San Francisco de Asis

When Mission San Francisco de Asis was built in 1776 it was the northern end of a route of Missions which provided accommodation for the Spaniards traveling north from their colonial center in Mexico. At the same time the missions served as a base to educate, convert or enslave the locals. To house a Spanish garrison and settlers a presidio was established at the golden gate. It was the foundation of what became the City of San Francisco,

Inside the Mission church

What started as an outpost of the Spanish empire only became big when the gold rush struck in California. San Francisco Bay became the port where fortune seekers, merchants and provisions arrived. After the construction of the transcontinental railroad in 1867, which terminated in Sacramento, San Francisco became the American Gateway to the Pacific and Asia.

With cross and sword...

While the Presidio was turned into a military camp and considerably changed after the annexation of California by the United States, Mission Dolores, as the mission San Francisco was called, is basically unchanged. The church survived all eras of modernization, earth quakes and the horrible local weather.

Mission cemetery

The reception desk is manned by a guy from El Salvador. He arrived in the US 32 years ago. He explains the points of interest to be seen. From the mission there is also access to the more modern basilica next door, a small museum and a cemetery. Everybody here seems to speak Spanish. I don’t ask whether they are afraid to be sent home. Armed with a leaflet explaining sights and history of the place I start my exploration.

Mission cemetery

36000 adobe bricks form a building which still has the roof supported by the original redwood beams lashed together with rawhide. The bells in the belfry were cast in Mexico. One of the graves inside contains the remains of Jose Joachin Moraga, the Spanish lieutenant who led the expedition to San Francisco in 1776.

View over the bay and Alcatraz

The graveyard was used from the begins of the Spanish settlement until 1890. Some remarkable graves provide an insight at the conditions of life in that time in San Francisco. Three graves were the victims of vigilantes. Mid of the 19th century crime was so rampant in San Francisco that citizens took law into their own hands. Some of those victims were buried here. Another grave is of a French family which was killed when the steamboat Jenny Lind exploded on 11. April 1853. The burst in a steam pipe had sent scalding steam into the cabin where mainly women and children, who were seated first, just had

started dinner. 31 people died.

Amtrak California San Joaquin #713 entering Merced station

Fortunately, today, you can arrive by train in San Francisco. Somehow. I start by boarding Amtrak California train 713 to Oakland. I stay on the lower deck of the double deck coaches so that I don’t have to pull my heavy bag to the upper floor. However, this is not the idea. Although I feel like one, I am not considered a handicapped person. When the conductor comes he shoos everybody upstairs. I leave my big bag downstairs. Theft of luggage, an issue common on many European trains, seems to be unknown on Amtrak trains. Of course, the view is much better upstairs anyway.

Inside the San Joachin

Not that there is a lot to see. The flat expanse of the central valley is dull under a gray sky. The fields are greenish brown, interrupted only by rows of windbreaking trees and highways. It is a man made landscape where only straight lines and right angles exist. Buildings are flat, the highest point are the flag poles where the star spangled banner nervously flies in the wind.

The star spangled banner nervously flies in the wind

It is the calm before a big rain storm. It approaches from the north and we ride right towards it. Big puddles in the yards testify that it has rained a considerable amount before. Tumbleweed gets blown across the tracks.

Tumbleweed blowing across the tracks at the diamond crossing of Union Pacific and Santa Fe railroad in Stockton

North of Stockton agriculture is replaced by a chaotic jumble of development. Muddy lots filled with trucks or trailers, small houses where the cars in the yard seem to be bigger than the building, or even mobile homes set on an unkempt piece of land. Garbage is blowing in the wind and collects in shallow depressions.

Homelessness along the track

This is also where tents and makeshift shelters start lining the railway embankment. When no tent is available, plastic sheets, cardboard and discarded wooden panels are used. Some of the shelters have piles of firewood thrown down carelessly next to them. Some own a plastic chair or a bicycle, one even a solar panel. A fridge rests next to empty surplus buckets, containers for drinking water and a zinc bathtub. One of the residents collects his laundry. Dogs sift through discarded plastic and paper.

Homelessness along the track

The upper floor of the train offers a perfect vantage point for the voyeur observer. It would be very difficult to see these miserable dwellings which are hidden from the street behind fences or hedges. Now that the rain starts the lucky ones are those resting under bridges. The others probably will not keep it dry even when retiring into their residence.

Suburbia

Due to its location on a peninsula, downtown San Francisco has no direct rail connection to the central valley. The San Joaquin trains enter the bay from the backyard, its eastern end at Martinez, pass through Richmond, Berkeley, Emeryville and end at Oakland’s Jack London station. To proceed to downtown San Francisco Amtrak offers a throughway connection bus from Emeryville to downtown San Francisco. Otherwise there is a connection to BART, the posh Bay Area Rapid Transit Metro line at Richmond.

Bay area

San Francisco has a proper station at 4th & King street. Southern Pacific ran all-Pullman direct trains from San Francisco via San Jose and down the coast to Los Angeles. The “Lark”, as it was called, was discontinued in 1968. In 1975 the original Art-deco station, then called Third and Townsend terminal, built in 1914, was demolished and replaced by the current piece of embarrassment one block further west. While the San Francisco mission was the end of the trail for the Spaniards, the San Francisco Terminal was the beginning of the Southern Pacific network, mile 0.

Rain along the bay

Today the old Southern Pacific tracks starting at 4th & King street carry the local Caltrain trains bound for San Jose. That is where you have to go if you want to go to Los Angeles. Or you have to take the bus to Emeryville first. However, there might be a bright future for rail traffic into downtown San Francisco. A private company is planning a night train connection to LA. And part of the first phase of the California High Speed project involves building a new line from the central valley at Madera halfway between Merced and Fresno to Gilroy where it will connect to the present track into 4th & King street. They even plan a centrally located downtown station for the high speed trains.

San Francisco bay

I decide to take the BART option at Richmond. Meanwhile the rain resembles a biblical deluge and everybody is drenched after negotiating the short move along the platform from the train to the elevators.

Inside a BART train

“The coldest winter I ever spent was a summer in San Francisco” (Mark Twain)

Bart requires the purchase of a clipper pass. An investment of 20 $ will give you the pass and a credit of 17 $. However, it takes quite a while until I have figured out how you have to swipe your credit card for payment. After I have finally managed to pay I can pass the gate by presenting the card. On the way out at the destination you have to present it again. However, it doesn’t tell you how much credit you have left after the ride.

Powell street stop

Wet and cold as I am I board the spotlessly clean train to go to the Powell street stop where I only have to walk one block to check into the Pickwick hotel. It is one of those places which have seen better times but still are full of atmosphere. I get a room on the top, the 8th floor. I have doubts whether that is a good thing in a place with such a history of earthquakes. But wet and cold as I am, I am grateful about the nice habit that US hotels usually have a coffee machine with a supply of tea bags and coffee pads for a hot drink.

PCC car on the F street car line

While New York (see part 2) has abandoned the other means of traditional public transport and is left with busses and subway (elevated and underground) lines only, San Francisco has preserved most: there are of course the traditional cable cars, however they also have heritage tram lines where historic PCC street cars from all over the United States are running, light rail trams, the BART metro, trolley buses and buses. All of them come together at the Powell street stop.

Trolley bus

Interesting enough, the municipal rail infrastructure in San Francisco utilizes 3 different rail gauges, which exist close together at Powell Street: BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit) uses 1,676 mm broad gauge (which is underground in the lower level of the Market Street subway), Muni Metro and the historic tram uses 1,435 mm standard gauge (also underground in the upper level of the subway), and the San Francisco cable car system uses 1,067 mm narrow gauge (at street level a short walk away to the north of Market Street). These rail lines do not actually intersect.

Driver-less electric taxi

For those not willing or too exigent to use public transport there are of course the ride services. While Uber is wide-spread in the US the number of taxis seems to be generally declining. In San Francisco I saw a brand-new phenomena for the first time: the driver-less taxi. The white electric cars with conspicuous sensors are all-over the place. I did not use one and would not trust it about not running amok with me locked inside. But they seem to generally be more cautious with cyclists or pedestrians than the ordinary cab drivers. When I crossed the street and one of those ghost-riders came towards me with the intention to turn left it neatly stopped in a save distance before the intersection and waited until I had finished crossing the street.

Turning a cable car at the Powell street terminal

When you want to roam the town on a rainy day in San Francisco there is nothing better than taking the tram or the cable car. The price - 8 $ - for a single cable car ride is steep. However, it is a deal when you get a day pass. For 14 $ you can not only ride on the cable car for a whole day but also on the busses, trolleys and the tram.

View outside into the rain

Three cable car lines with a total length of more than 7 km are crossing the San Francisco hills. There are two types of cable cars: single-ended and double-ended. Double-ended cars rumble down California Street. These cars are not turned at the end of the line since they can be operated from either end. Powell-Mason and the Powell-Hyde line use single ended cars which have to be turned on a turntable at the end of the line. I watch the car being turned at the Powell and Market street terminal stop and board it for the ride across the hill to the bay at Mason street.

Raindrops are falling on my head

Cable cars do not have their own power. They move by grabbing onto the moving cable. Each car is equipped with a large clamp or "grip", a giant pair of pliers, which grabs onto the cable running in a trough under street level, to move forward. To stop for passengers and traffic, the grip on the moving cable is released.

Grip and brake handle bars

The cable can be gripped with varying strength. This determines the speed and control of the car. If the cable is gripped loosely, so that it slides through the grip, the car will be pulled slowly. If the grip is clamped tightly to the cable, the car will move at full speed of the cable: 9.55 mph. The grip supports an amazing 10 tons, the combined weight of the car and its passengers.

Cable car driver

For the riders the cable cars have an open and a closed section. The driver stands between the longitudinal benches in the open section and handles the grip and the brake. The conductor at the other end sells the tickets, helps with debarking and boarding and keeps a watchful eye on the behavior of the guests. Sitting on these longitudinal benches not only offers a great view up and down the slopes of the streets but also allows to observe the work of the driver. He not only has to watch out for other traffic, start and stop, but also loosen the grip when the cable crosses another cable underground or runs over obstacles or a so called let go curve.

Cable car conductor

In view of the weather I sit inside and watch the world through the windows covered with droplets. The steep streets get slippery when wet and people, an umbrella in one hand and the other holding on to something like bags, telephones or children or both, move carefully. What a crazy idea to create a checkered layout of a city regardless of the underlying topography. Of course it not only requires a sophisticated transportation system but also an adaptation of the basement of the houses when half of the ground floor disappears into the slope.

View of the rainy bay from the cable car

The cable car line from Market street ends at the Hyde street turnaround in a little Park right at the ocean front. The staff gets off. They get a break since a number of other cars is already waiting to return back up the hill. During this weather the few tourists who visit San Francisco in February rather spend their time in a museum instead of riding a cable car.

Buena Vista Bar

I discover a bar right at the street corner, the Buena Vista Bar. It is packed. Everybody prefers to be inside with this type of weather. The efficient server puts me at a table occupied by two women whom I take for mother and daughter. The bar was opened in 1916 on the ground floor of a boarding house. It is a leftover from the time when this part of the San Francisco water front was occupied by fishing boats and canneries. Men waited here for the work to be done after the arrival of a boat or met when their shift was finished. The walls are covered with black and white photos from the time. Today most of the guests are tourists.

Waiting cable cars at the Hyde street stop

It turns out the “daughter” is a tourist too. She came here with some friends for a weekend out in San Francisco from Boston where she is studying economics. Before, she has studied in Thessaloniki and has done quite some traveling in Europe. She has met the “mother” by chance when both took shelter here in the pub. The older has been born in LA, but has since moved around all-over the States. San Francisco is her favorite. She invites Nikki to join her on a little sightseeing tour in her car. Another example of the spontaneous friendliness of many people here.

Turning a cable car at Hyde street terminal

It is still raining when I leave the bar and I decide to take the next cable car back to my hotel. While I sit on the car I wonder what would happen when the cable breaks. Those cables must be continuously under stress. The cars are constantly gripping and ungripping. While a car is stopped for passengers or traffic the cable is running through the grip causing friction. Additional wear comes from the cable passing over hundreds of pulleys in the channels beneath the streets.

The rain starts to stop

The whole cable almost never breaks all the way through. The most common cable damage is the breaking of a single wire or strand in the woven bundle. Broken strands are detected by "strand alarms" under the street which are sensitive to loose strands on the cable. When a broken strand or wire is encountered, a switch is opened, interrupting the signal to the motor. The interruption causes the motor to stop and halts the cable. The cable is then run slowly through the system until the damaged area comes into the barn, where it is repaired. During repairs, the cable is stopped together with the cars gripping on to it.

Sometimes the entire cable has to be replaced. This work is done between 1:00 am and 6:00 am, when all the cable cars are in the barn upstairs. The old cable is cut and one end attached to the new cable. Then the winding machinery at half speed pulls the old cable out of the cable channel while pulling the new one in. After the new cable had been pulled through the entire channel and back into the powerhouse, the two are cut apart. The old cable is scrapped, and the new cable is spliced together to form a loop. In order to join the two ends of a cable into a loop the splicers (wire rope maintenance mechanics) interweave the strands along approximately 30 m of cable. The process is painstaking and takes about 5 hours to complete. The diameter of the cable must be exactly the same at the splice as it is along the rest of the cable, so that it will not get caught in the grip.

The cable car barn

For the three existing cable car lines there are four cables kept in constant movement by electric motors which turn large pulleys called "sheaves." The cables are in a continuous loop between 2.7 km and 6.5 km long. The winding machines to move the cables are in a power house which upstairs, on the second floor, also contains the car barn, where the cable cars are stored when not in use.

Inside the cable car barn a car gets ready to start its day of work

The building was originally built in 1887 for the Ferries & Cliff House Railway Company and rebuilt after the April 1906 earthquake and fire, refurbished in 1967 and almost entirely rebuilt again in 1982-84 during the cable car rehabilitation project. It is the last surviving of several engine houses serving a similar purpose. During the 1967 refurbishing, an observation gallery was constructed on the mezzanine floor allowing visitors to view the "heart and soul" of the cable operation - the cables, sheaves, gears and electric motors that run the system. The building also contains a free museum which explains the working and history of the cable car system.

The sheaves driving the cables

In the Powerhouse the four cables, Powell, Mason, Hyde and California, travel in a continuous loop around three large sheaves in a figure eight pattern. The drive sheave is mounted to the output shaft of a gear reducer powered by a 510 horsepower dc electric motor. The sound of this machinery can be heard 19 hours a day. This powerhouse was converted from steam to electric power in 1911. The chimney is still there.

Machine room

The carbarn is the storage and maintenance area for all the cable cars. The cars leave from the Washington Street side and return into the Jackson Street gate. On Jackson Street, they go up the hill past the barn and then drop the cable to coast back down into the barn. A small, motorized vehicle called a "shunter" pushes the car from a turntable in the barn to one of the 12 storage tracks. Each storage track has a pit area for allowing easy access to running gear components - the trucks, axles and braking systems underneath the car.

There are a total of 40 cable cars in the system. On an average day, a maximum of 26 cars are in operation at one time. The limited number of cars causes big waiting queues in the main tourist season.

The Drumm end of the double ended cable car's California line

The next day I visit the other ocean front terminal of the line. Drumm street is the end of the California cable car line. Here the double ended cable cars are used. Since they do not have to be turned around there is no turntable.

Ferry terminal

A short walk from the cable car terminus is the historic ferry building. In its busiest time in the 1920’ies ferries were leaving from here as far as Sacramento or the San Joaquin Valley. At the same time the more than 40 piers at Embarcadero to the west down to fisherman's wharf served the handling of cargo being shipped in and out of San Francisco. The ongoing transport was handled by a short line freight railroad.

Ferry terminal

With the construction of the Bay bridge the importance of ferries declined. At the same time the turnover of cargo was moved to Oakland. The increasing use of containers made the use of the piers at Embarcadero redundant.

San Francisco waterfront

The car lobby succeeded in turning the entire waterfront of San Francisco into a freeway, the embarcadero freeway, which separated the water front, the piers and the ferry building from the historic city center. Fortunately this madness came to an end when the freeway was severely damaged in the earthquake of 1989. It was demolished and the water-front was developed into the Embarcadero Historic District, with its collection of historic ships a major sight of San Francisco and a magnet for tourists.

Historic ships at the waterfront

Ferries are still leaving ceaselessly at the Ferry terminal for destinations like Tiburon, Vallejo, Larkspur, Sausalito, Richmond, Oakland and Alameda. It would make a perfect day exploring all the lines starting from here. In addition, the historic street car line E continues along the Embarcadero where formerly the freeway had run and gives access to all the sights along the track.

View of the bay from the steep streets of San Franisco

Horse drawn cars were used for transportation in San Francisco since 1851. However, horses were expensive to care for, couldn't climb many of the city's hills, and because of the grueling work, survived only a few years. An additional problem was the disposal of tons of horse manure in the streets.

Ancient cable car

Andrew Smith Hallidie, inventor of the cable car, was a manufacturer of wire rope. His company, The California Wire Works, occupied a whole city block in what is now the Fisherman's Wharf area. As legend hss it, Hallidie witnessed an accident one cold and wet winter day on Jackson Street's steep incline. A team of horses slipped on the wet cobblestones and were dragged to their deaths down the hill by their load. Determined to make the dangerous grades of San Francisco safer, Hallidie drew upon his own work with wire rope and designed a transport system to replace the horse car technology of the day. Hallidie finished building his first cable car line in August of 1873. It was an immediate success. Others saw the chance of profit in copying his accomplishment and hurried to build lines of their own all over the City. Most were owned by different companies. Today's 7.6 km of lines are the remnants of originally 120 km of cable car lines and were owned by the two companies Ferries & Cliff House and California Street Railroad.

Ferries & Cliff House Railway Company (also called Powell Street Railway), who built the powerhouse and carbarn at the corner of Washington and Mason streets still existing today, began cable car service on Powell Street began on March 28, 1888. This route has never been changed. At the same time, the company opened the Powell-Jackson line which went down the hill to California Street, where it connected to a steam train to the ocean. The company failed and merged several times and eventually, in 1945, the system was bought by the City and County of San Francisco. Today, the cable cars, carbarn and powerhouse are owned by the people of San Francisco and operated by the San Francisco Municipal Railway (Muni).

Passengers on the cable car

“Where little cable cars climb halfway to the stars” (Tony Bennett, I left my heart in San Francisco)

The great San Francisco Earthquake on April 18th 1906 caused the destruction of much of the cable car infrastructure. Rebuilding turned many lines into more economic street car lines. Cable cars only remained on the steep sections of the system.

Passengers on the cable car

Since the turn of the 19th century many smaller, privately-operated transit companies were merged into larger corporate monopolies and by 1902, one private company, United Railroads (URR), had acquired over ten separate transit companies. URR’s disregard for the public welfare, corruption of public officials, and callous labor practices, caused violent labor unrest in 1907. San Francisco voters were annoyed to such a degree that in December 1909 they approved a bond for municipally operated transit, a thing entirely unknown before in the United States. URR’s concession was not extended and the city took over their operations.

In 1917 the first bus line opened in San Francisco. With the arrival of trolley buses or buses more cable car but also street car lines disappeared. 1947 almost saw the end of cable car traffic in San Francisco. However, protests forced the mayor and city council to maintain five lines, which were eventually cut down to the remaining three by 1964. Street cars survived since they used tunnels in the city center.

PCC car in the streets of San Francisco

In 1967 San Francisco started the building of an underground rapid transit system, BART. Starting in 1980 a number of Muni Metro lines replacing and extending the street car lines began operating. However, unlike to most other US cities, the historic street cars never disappeared. In 1983, the San Francisco Trolley Festival proved such an enormous success that it not only was repeated annually, but the city also decided on the rehabilitation of street car tracks in the touristic areas. In 1995 street car line F was reopened. Line E followed in 1998. In 2015 the historic street car line E was extended and actually replaced the Embarcadero Freeway, a highway along the waterfront.

California and Powell cable car lines crossing

In 1973 a thing previously unheard of and unique for the United States happened: the City Council added a Transit First policy to the City Charter “declaring that Municipal Railway vehicles and other transit vehicles be given priority over other vehicles on San Francisco streets.” The policy remains in the City charter today.

At approximately 5.12 am on April 18th 1906, the earthquake struck. The city shook violently for 40 seconds, paused for 10, and then resumed for another 25 seconds. The temblor splintered blocks of wooden houses, toppled masonry buildings into the street, and twisted steel like rubber bands. The resulting fires could not be extinguished. The water pipes had burst and electric pumps were out of order. The earthquake left a 320 km long and 30 to 60 km wide path of destruction along the San Andreas Fault from the Salinas Valley to Fort Bragg on the Northern Coast. Miles of property were destroyed, 3000 people died and many more were injured.

The so-called painted ladies

Interesting enough the impact of the earthquake did not hit all parts of San Francisco with the same destructive force. While in particular structures built on land fill were completely destroyed, others, not very far away, were completely spared. Thanks to this we can today admire entire city quarters full of copiously decorated Victorian mansions built at the turn of the 19th to 20th century before the earthquake struck. The other end of the cable car line coming from Embarcadero along California street at Van Ness Avenue gives access. During a stroll through the quiet streets to Alamo Square Park I pass numerous beauties which must cost a fortune to buy and maintain.

William Westerfield house, the Russian embassy

When I take a picture of the William Westerfield house built in 1889 at 1198 Fulton a lady stops and tells me that this formerly was a Russian embassy full of agents and extravagant parties. It is partially true. The house was bought by a group of Czarist Russians in 1928. They turned the ground-floor ballroom into a nightclub called Dark Eyes. The upper floor was used for meeting rooms and therefore it got the nickname of "Russian Embassy".

More painted ladies

Around the corner at 710-720 Steiner street there is a group of houses built in 1892-1896 called “The painted ladies”. However, the color and nickname is not original. In the 1960’ies the houses were repainted in pastel colors to enhance their architectonic details

The ornaments of some of the houses like this one in McAllister Street touch the surreal. There are faces, monsters and here the entrance resembles the beak of a duck.

McAllister street

At 8 pm I am the last customer in the restaurant next to the hotel. It is my last night. I order my third and last beer. They play a melancholic tango. On the walls are pictures of scenes in great Italian movies. The restaurant is Mediterranean, but the staff talks in unknown languages. How can the country survive without these badly paid but hard-working people?

More painted ladies

Also in San Francisco the streets are full of homeless. In the morning they can be found lying in covered passages or in the entrance of buildings. During the day they move around pushing shopping carts or sitting apathetically on the sidewalk staring at the pavement in front of them.

Homeless pushing his cart of belongings through the wet streets

In the 1960’ies San Francisco was the city of love. Songs portrayed a happy community of free spirits. Bands like the Grateful Dead and the Merry Pranksters of Ken Kesey promoted a life based on psychedelic drugs. Today, you still can be happy in San Francisco when you have got money. Gentrification arising from the influx of employees of high tech companies have caused the rents and real estate prices to explode. 10 % of the residents live below the federal poverty limit. The police is overwhelmed with cases of low level offenses like public drug use or petty theft. 37.500 San Franciscans are regarded at risk of overdose due to a serious drug addiction. Although shelters are provided for an increasing number of people, homelessness is on the rise.

Swimmer on the beach in San Francisco

There were times when the San Francisco Metro was regarded highly unreliable. In the mid 1990’ies two reporters of the San Franscisco Chronicle made a test by traveling between the same two stations by metro or on foot. They both needed 23 min for 2.4 km. When the mayor tried the same test three days later the metro won and took only 7 minutes.

Homeless on the waterfront

Municipal buses also are notoriously slow and reach an average speed of 13 km/h. That is less than the speed of the old cable cars.

Conductor on a cable car

Taking that into account I take BART to the airport even earlier than I would usually do. Of course it runs without any problem. I arrive far too early. The gates for the flight home will only open in an hour. An attendant has pity with the poor fool and prematurely checks me in on the automatic reader.

Tourist on a cable car

The Amtrak Interrail trip comes to an end. It is time to draw a conclusion. I have used 13 trains, of which 11 were of Amtrak, one connection and one replacement bus. In total I have spent 100 h and 26 min on trains and the replacement buses to cover a total of 7240 km. In addition I have used the subways of 5 different cities, buses in 6, ferries in 2, Uber in 2 and street cars in two.

California street double ended cable car

In Europe there is a general understanding that public transport in the US is non-existent or bad. At least in the areas where I have been I was positively surprised. Of course the train network is very sparse in the less populated areas and the number of connections frequently is limited or reduced to one per day. However, public transport in the cities is usually not bad and generally cheaper than for example in Germany. In some towns like Baltimore the buses are even free.

Except the engine failure on the Cardinal outside Cincinnati all the trains were on time. This is in particular remarkable in view of severe winter conditions in particular along the east coast, in the Rocky mountains and in the Sierra Nevada. Although prices depend on the demand, coach seats are usually cheaper than in most European countries. The trains are clean, quiet, the toilets mostly work, the food and selection of drinks are excellent and there is plenty of staff who are competent, helpful, polite and friendly, sometimes cheerful. The sleeper compartments, even the smaller roomette, are very well designed, quiet and have all amenities I could think of. The handling of customers is professional, there are manned counters and service staff in all the stations and they all had free toilets. The waiting areas for ticketed passenger, in particular in New York and Chicago, are exemplary, but also small stations like Brunswick or Merced offer clean, quiet and comfortable facilities. And I can judge, because I am usually so early that I have plenty of time to look around.

Dog walker

Beyond the transportation issue the US still offers many facilities which have disappeared in Europe as a consequence of profit maximizing and are dearly missed. There are free toilets everywhere. The postal service is of a quality which has long disappeared in Europe. There are working ATM’s everywhere, but you can equally choose to pay by card or cash without discrimination. The service in restaurants or bars is far above European standards and restaurants always offer free water which is replenished without even asking. The selection of beer is expensive, but usually very good. And even the smallest towns have a bookstore which offers a wider selection than even a fervent reader is able to cope with. The locals usually also have access to a public library.

The hotel rooms usually offer a tea or coffee machine and if there is none there is a common facility to get coffee or tea somewhere. Rooms also usually have a fridge and there is always a writing table and lamp.

People are generally friendly, helpful and communicative. Even in New York there is always somebody who gives up his subway seat to a senior citizen. The helpfulness went so far that somebody got her car to drive me to a place 10 km away and show me the sights on the way. Musea offered guided tours or city tours even for a small number of people or outside opening hours.

The US also has the reputation of the complete lack of social facilities. Nevertheless amenities exist which often are missed in Europe. Local public transport usually offers a price reduction for seniors of up to 50% although it is sometimes difficult for a tourist to know how to get it. Seniors also usually get cheaper entrance tickets for attractions like musea. The Smithsonian institutions on the east coast are, when they are open, free anyways. Parking is free for the handicapped and there usually are plenty of conveniently located spots.

Of course the country still is tailored for the car driver. None of the cities, not even progressive towns like Portland in Maine or Boston, have any pedestrian zone to speak of. Most of the cheaper hotels are usually clustered around the freeway exits and those left over in the center of small towns are the remnants of a vanished era. Of course I have selected the towns to visit according to the availability of a hotel close to the station and in the center of the scenic part of the town. Visiting most of the sights described in chapters 13 to 16 would be very difficult, expensive and time consuming if not impossible without a car.