Romance aboard Amtrak’s ‘Capitol Limited’

Romance aboard Amtrak’s Capitol Limited: A bit of background is in order to set the stage for this romance aboard Amtrak’s Capitol Limited. For 27 years, my wife, Julie, worked as a children’s librarian. I met her in the library. Yes, you could say I went there to check her out. That was early in 1992. By the time Christmas 1993 drew close, both our families were expecting an engagement announcement. On Christmas Eve, Julie’s sisters and nieces demonstrated a certain amount of disappointment that no ring had yet been placed on her finger. One niece — 7- maybe 8-years-old at the time — queried Aunt Julie, asking, “Aren’t you going to marry Bob?”

“Well, he hasn’t asked me yet,” was Julie’s response.

Family ties

For the balance of the Christmas Eve festivities, I was lobbied by sisters and nieces as to my intentions, when was I going to act, and the fact that they would welcome me as a brother-in-law or Uncle Bob.

The pressure was on, but I had a plan. It was a plan that had been in the works for weeks, if not months, leading up to Christmas. There were, however, a few significant details that needed attention. These worked themselves out, as you will see.

Although a Wisconsin boy by birth, my family was living in Maryland at the time. My dad was nearing the end of his career with the federal government. Mom was still teaching, but only part-time. They too were anticipating a big announcement from Julie and I for the holidays. The anticipation mounted when we indicated we’d be home on the day after Christmas and planned to spend the week. The usual questions of arrival time and mode of travel ensued.

Arrival: late morning, December 26. Mode of travel: train — Amtrak’s Capitol Limited.

 My folks lived in Brunswick, Md., which was on old Baltimore & Ohio Railroad division point. By the early 1990s, CSX has begun to downsize its Brunswick operation. There was still plenty of activity, just not the way long-time residents will remember it. The closest Amtrak station was all of 10 miles up the Potomac River in Harpers Ferry, W.Va. Dad would be dispatched to retrieve us from the train. Mom would be flying around the kitchen preparing lunch.

Riding in style

Back to the train ride. It was my intention all along to propose marriage aboard the Capitol Limited somewhere along the way. The romantic in me said wait until just before midnight and do it in dome. This seemed like a pretty solid plan. Julie also likes trains. The dome, under the stars, this could (should) work.

Boarding at Chicago Union Station went well. We found our seats and settled in. Outside a winter storm reaching from Iowa all the way into Pennsylvania was settling in as well. Little bits of snow came swirling down along the windows. Although the Union Station platforms are covered, the wind whistling through the buildings of the Loop caused small snow showers within the station.

Tickets punched; we strolled up to the dome to watch Chicago fade into the snowy distance. A trainman happened to pass through remarking that Conrail had little if anything moving all the way to Pittsburgh. Translated: we would run on time and be flying. In the flying department, the snow fall had increased dramatically as we crossed into Indiana and arced around the bottom of Lake Michigan. Although visibility was decreasing, the dome view was still interesting.

We opted for one of the latter diner calls. The meal was good. We were seated with another couple from, I honestly don’t remember where. My mind was rapidly working out the last few details of the proposal.

After diner, Julie and I took up our coach seats and settled in for the evening. We read a bit and talked about plans for the week in Maryland. The evening and the miles passed quietly with the snow still falling and our train creating its own blizzard as we raced east across Indiana and then Ohio.

It’s now or never

About 11 p.m., maybe 11:30-ish, it was time to act. I needed to get Julie up to the dome. This was the last detail of my plan: what line do I use to pry her from a warm, snuggly reclining seat? There were several floating through my mind. Ok, select the best one for right now. The statement that came out was a half question, half strong suggestion. I had to throw in that we must be getting close to some city, which would mean the potential of seeing Christmas decorations. That worked!

By this time of night, the dome was dimly lit. Ascending the stairs, Julie and I become two of six people in the dome. It would have been better being two of two in the dome. A little voice instructed me to be patient. In short order, a mom came looking for the two youngest dome passengers. Then, what seemed like an hour later, but in reality, was about 20 minutes, the last couple left, leaving Julie and I alone in the dome. The snow had cut visibility to a point where even the brightest of lights were fuzzy blurs. This made the colored Christmas lights look rather cool as we raced past them.

We were snuggled together, my right arm around Julie. She was sitting by the glass. I was on the aisle. She noticed that my left arm was hanging down in the aisle. However, she did not notice the small box in my left hand.

It’s now

It was time! I opened the box so as to present her with the ring. In the dim light, my fingers ran over the box interior making sure the ring had not slipped out. Bringing my left hand in front of her, I inquired if she would like to marry me and ride trains together forever? Before she could answer, a sudden jolt, bang and thump brought the Capitol Limited to an abrupt stop. As the snow outside stopped blowing without the train’s motion, we realized we had stopped in a city and a rather big one, at that. Julie peered around, focusing on a large building to the left of the train.

“What is that?” she asked.

Looking around, I realized we had arrived in Cleveland.

I responded, “Looks like we are in Cleveland. That must be Municipal Stadium.” That’s what I said. What I was thinking was, “Who cares? It’s only the Browns that play there. And, the Rock ‘n Roll Hall of Fame hasn’t been built next door, yet. And, Springsteen isn’t in the Hall anyway. So, how about the question at hand?” It is not only amazing how quickly the mind processes such thoughts, but how, simultaneously, it can prevent the mouth from blurting them out.

The only sound came from the snow bouncing off the dome glass, pushed along by the wind off Lake Erie, and my heart, now racing with anticipation.

Julie turned and threw her arms around me. With a happy tear, she said, “Yes.” Just then a second jolt, bang and thump set the train in motion, backward. In the snow, it appears we had overshot the platform mark. As I slipped the ring on her finger, the train reversed direction again, now moving forward. We again approached Municipal Stadium, and, just to be funny, Julie asked, “What is that?”

This time I was thinking, “Who cares what that is? She said yes! She said yes!” What came out was, “Looks like we are in Cleveland. That must be Municipal Stadium.”

And forever

We snuggled in the dome for a bit longer, almost falling asleep. As we descended the stairs on the way back to our seats, Cleveland faded in the distance, the snow still blowing, and a shiny engagement ring wrapped around Julie’s finger.

We woke the next morning to a sunny, snow-covered Sand Patch Grade over the Allegheny Mountains. It was December 26, the day after Christmas, and the railroad was alive again. Now on CSX tracks we were only a few hours from Harpers Ferry and then home. We wove around a number of freights battling with the grade. Honestly, I didn’t care. I was engaged. There was a whole lifetime of train watching — together — that lay ahead.

For the record: Julie and I were married August 1994 and have been watching trains together ever since.

To read more Amtrak stories by Bob Lettenberger, click here.