馬庭正 ([info]r_ness) wrote,
@ 2007-08-25 12:48:00
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Entry tags:travel

The train to Buffalo isn't just the train to Buffalo, it's the train to everywhere in between New York City and Buffalo. Announcing a train departure properly can't help but have more personality than an airport speaker's monotone statement that 1st class passengers are now welcome to step onto flight somethingoranother going to whothehellreallycares. But there was one guy at Grand Central when I was growing up who could really do it right. I can still remember:

"Now boarding at Gate Number twenty-three, Platform A, Train Number 63, The Lake Shore Limited 2:30 departure for Buffalo. Making station stops at Crrrrrrr-Oton HarmonPoughkeepsieRhinecliff HudsonAllll-Bany Rensselaer. Schnectady. AmsterdamUticaRomeSyracuseRochesterBufffffff-Alo Depew! Continuting on to Erie. Cleveland. Chicago. Connect at Chicago for Allllllllll points west and south. Now departing Gate Number Twenty-Three Alllllll-A-bo-oard!"
It had rhythm and poetry. It was a performance in the spoken word. And I miss that magic.

(From http://scienceblogs.com/authority/2007/08/poetry_and_motion.php)

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[info]theloriest
2007-08-25 05:04 pm UTC (link)
Reading that just gave me goosebumps. I can only imagine what it must have felt like to be there, hearing it, experiencing that magic.

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[info]alphacygni
2007-08-25 05:35 pm UTC (link)
My train geek self is all excited to read that list with the stops from the NYC portion of the Lake Shore Limited. I'm used to Boston section.

I miss the Lake Shore Limited. I used to take it to visit my family. I feel bad that I essentially gave up on using it due to rampant unreliability. As a train geek, I feel like I should have been more stubborn, I should have stuck it out. But I couldn't do it.

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[info]foldedfish
2007-08-25 05:40 pm UTC (link)
Danny Aiello used to be the announcer at an NYC bus depot, and I once saw him on Letterman talking about this -- and decades later, he could still rattle off a similar string of Upstate cities like that. (I checked YouTube for a clip, no to avail.)

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[info]derspatchel
2007-08-25 05:48 pm UTC (link)
It seems to be a dying art. Occasionally you get someone at South Station with a bit of personality (though I've also found the real personality is usually on the train) but it seems like they just can't find anybody who has fun and takes, well, pride in what they do.

(also now comes the inevitable "Anaheim, Asuza and Cu-camonga!" line, which has just about as much topical relevance as "Sold to American!" these days yet I still find myself saying them when necessary.)

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[info]redbird
2007-08-25 05:56 pm UTC (link)
The announcements for the train to Montreal are also pretty good; the same stops as far as Schenectady, and then north to places like Fort Ticonderoga (which the announcers on the trains persistently shorten to "Fort Ti"), Saratoga Springs, Whitehall, Fort Edward, and Plattsburgh before you cross the border, then St. Lambert and Montreal). No connections announced, although from Montreal one can of course get trains east and west to other parts of Canada.

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[info]apintrix
2007-08-25 07:25 pm UTC (link)
I think I've taken that train!

Neat.

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[info]esmerel
2007-08-25 07:37 pm UTC (link)
We took southwest for our recent Denver trip. Our lead attendant sang "We'll be comin' the cabin one more time" to the tune of "She'll be comin' round the mountain."

Multiple verses, even:)

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[info]dpolicar
2007-08-25 09:15 pm UTC (link)
My version of this is "Freeport, Merrick, Bellmore, Wantagh, Seaford, Massapequa, Massapequa Park, Amityville, Copague, Lindenhurst AND Babylon! Next stop FREEport!"

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[info]mangosteen
2007-08-26 12:09 pm UTC (link)
"Freeport, Merrick, Bellmore, Wantagh, Seaford, Massapequa, Massapequa Park, Amityville, Copague, Lindenhurst AND Babylon! Next stop FREEport!"

I only say this because I care, and because you left off my station.

"RRRRRRockvilleCentah BALdwin Freeport Merrick Bellmoah Wantaw Seafid MassaPequaMassaPequaPark Amitville Copiague Lindenhurst'nBabalynn"

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[info]dpolicar
2007-08-26 02:31 pm UTC (link)
and mis-spelled Copiague, apparently.
oh well
I vaguely remember Jamaica being involved, too.

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[info]hotpoint
2007-08-26 05:03 am UTC (link)
I've been wishing to hear an MBTA subway conductor call a departure that way. "Now boahding on Platfoam 1, Run numbah 342, The Rrrrrred Line 5:34 depaachah for BRRRRRRAINTREEEEEEE. Station stops at Davis, Poadah, Hahvihd, Central, Kendallemmeyetee, Chaaalzemmgeeaitch, Paaak Street, Downtown Croassing, Sahth Station, Broahdway, Andrew, Jayeffkayyoumass, Noath Quinzy, Wahlllluhston, Quinzy Cennah, Quinzy Adams, aaaand Brrraintreeeee! Change at Pahk foah Green Line service, at Downtown Croassing foah Arranj Line service, at Sahth Station foah Silvah Line, Amtrak and sahth side commutah rail! Brrraintree train now depahting Platfoahm 1! Alllll aboooooahd! [electronic ding ding, slide-kachunk * 24, acceleration whine]"

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[info]miss_chance
2007-08-26 07:34 am UTC (link)
I spent a lot of time as a kid riding the north-east coridor. man, that brings back memories.

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[info]mangosteen
2007-08-26 12:17 pm UTC (link)
Similarly,

"This a PORT Washintin train, stopping at Woodside, SHEA STADIUM FlushinMainstreet,MurryHill,Broadway,Aubindell,BAYside,Douglastin,LitlNeck,
GRRRRREATNeck,Manhasset,Plandome,and PORT Washintin. ALLLLLTicketsPlease!"

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[info]parisgreen
2007-08-26 01:12 pm UTC (link)
My very first train ride in New York occurred when I was interviewing for jobs there, and took the train from Tarrytown to Poughkeepsie. Ossining was announced as "Ahhhh Sinning!" (Within a year, that's where I lived.)

There used to be an operator on BART who would announce Embarcadero Station in this oddly sepuchral voice, rolling his Rs. "EmbarrrcaDErrrrooo is the Next. Station. Stop." (abandon all hope)

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[info]genitiggie
2007-08-27 11:16 am UTC (link)
I used to enjoy the old timer guard's announcements on the train from Lowestoft to Norwich. He would always announce Haddiscoe twice: "Haddis-cooo, Haddis-cow". Neither of which was the way I was drug up to pronounce it (coe like in Co. for company), but then I was a townie, wasn't I?

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