This was published 8 years ago
Pullman Rail's retro train journey from Chicago to New Orleans
By Alison Stewart
Pullman Rail train crossing a bridge.Credit: Picasa
It's 8pm and Chicago lights up as the evening sky darkens. Our Pullman train, decked in its historic Illinois Central Railroad chocolate and orange livery, will soon slide into night, a capsule of light travelling south.
This enforced stillness as the unknown world streams past is part of the charm of a train journey and, if you can find a heritage train that aspires to a more decorous form of travel, so much the better.
We've found it, to a degree, aboard our Pullman Rail Journeys' sleeper train between Chicago and New Orleans. It will take us on a 20-hour journey through the night plains of Illinois and Kentucky, bursting into daylight at Memphis to traverse Tennessee, Mississippi and finally Louisiana. The private cars are tacked to the rear of Amtrak's City of New Orleans sleepers.
Pullman in Chicago.
Of course, there might a slight disconnect between expectation and reality. You won't, for instance, find the opulent Edwardian confections offered by Rovos Rail, Golden Eagle or Royal Scotsman, but rather offerings more aligned with the expectations of a mid-century traveller.
Still, this is an authentic, vintage experience aboard classic sleeping cars restored to be consistent historically with the 1950s.
Hard to know what to expect, however, as we wait in the slightly unprepossessing Pullman corner of the Metropolitan lounge in Chicago's gorgeous Beaux Arts 1925 Union Station. We've rolled our suitcases from the nearby art deco gem, the Hotel Allegro, whose glamorous decor and evening wine hour have put us in the Golden Era mood.
Drinks in the Pullman lounge.Credit: Scott Temme
Union Station is also a terrific introduction to a finer age of travel with its limestone facades, colonnades and ornate Great Hall – Corinthian columns, marble floors and barrel-vaulted skylight – as seen in Alfred Hitchcock's North by Northwest, The Untouchables, The Sting, The Blues Brothers, Home Alone and My Best friend's Wedding.
Meanwhile, back in the Metropolitan lounge, the 16 Pullman passengers, separated from fellow Amtrak passengers by a waist-high partition, self-consciously clutch their lanyards, avoiding the gaze of the soon-to-be-segregated others. These include our friends who, daunted by Pullman's somewhat opaque online reservation system, have booked Amtrak instead.
A little glass of something sparkling might have eased the moment. Instead, we trail behind Pullman staff, dragging our cases, to be welcomed aboard Chebanse, our sleeper car. Our porter, wrangling our heavy cases into our miniature bedroom, pronounces: "These suitcases are like lead – what've you got in them?" (Clothes).
The dining room.
Such a charmer, our porter, joshing us in the dining car as we join in the rhythm-and-blues clapping: "You can tell you're not American" (It's called syncopation, young man) and, responding to our request for coffee while still drinking wine: "At the same time? You sure can drink a lot of liquid!" (Indeed. We're Australians).
He's probably right about the cases though – the compartments are compact, with pull-down bunk beds, toilet alcove with nifty flip-up sink and "cupboard". The shower is down the corridor; only the single Master Bedroom has an en suite. Best to check in your suitcases and take only hand luggage.
Pullman suggests dressing for dinner but no one really does. Due to numbers, our journey shares a diner/lounge car – the blunt-end 1930s Adirondack Club. We miss out on a separate lounge/observation car, a pity because mingling for drinks before dinner is a lovely way to meet fellow passengers. Instead, once seated at the four-seater tables, there you remain for all three meals.
A meal on the Pullman.Credit: Scott Temme
It's fun though; dinner is in the retro style of Illinois Central Railroad's "King's Dinner" – including retro relish tray (olives, celery sticks and spiced watermelon cubes), shrimp cocktail and roast beef with madeira sauce and potatoes Romanoff – ah, those heady 1950s!
While we eat, the terrific Jonas Friddle Trio belts out blues, swing and old-time American tunes — enough to get the entire carriage clapping away out of time.
Back in our green and yellow compartment, we're rocked into dreamland, waking to a different-hued landscape: Southern green forests, with the Mississippi tracking us south to the alligator swamps of New Orleans. Full breakfast, grilled salmon for lunch, arriving 3.30pm well rested. So civilised.
Enjoying a Pullman Rail journey.Credit: Scott Temme
And, because it's America, there are two envelopes on our pillow for tips, with guidelines — $US20 ($26) a day, a traveller with extra tips requested for waiters and bar staff (our trip is designated two days). To use a '50s expression: Goodness me.
TRIP NOTES
MORE INFORMATION
GETTING THERE
Qantas flies daily from Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane to Los Angeles, then codeshares with American Airlines to Chicago. See qantas.com.au
STAYING THERE
Hotel Allegro has doubles from $300 a night plus taxes. See allegrochicago.com
TRAVELLING THERE
Pullman Rail Journey's double bedroom from $1147 includes meals, unlimited alcohol and service. See travelpullman.com
Alison Stewart travelled courtesy of Pullman Rail Journeys and Hotel Allegro
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