Distinctly Montana Magazine

www.DistinctlyMontana.com 51 Featuring 35 dealers and 10,000 square feet of traditional and eclectic antiques. Open year-round, 11 am - 5 pm, Thursday through Monday Antiques Interiors Black Dog Antiques 1200 E. Park Avenue Anaconda, MT 406-563-0478 blackdogantique.com Offering an excellent selection of antiques, jewelry, clothing, glassware, collectibles, furniture, art, bottles, books, vintage items and much more! & The lovely little illustrated people in the brochure, all trim and smiling and dressed to the nines, unanimously hold cigarettes. Not the children, of course, but you can tell they can't wait un- til the day they get to try their first. It's easy to imagine that, as dawn began to stream through the windows, hundreds of Zip- pos snapped open to ignite Pall Malls, Virginia Slims and Lucky Strikes.) After performing their ablutions, passengers would once again seek repast in either the dining car or the Ranch. The Ranch of- fered wheat cakes, eggs, and sausage in various combinations, as well as the requisite milk, juice, coffee, Sanka, and Postum. The dining car offered much the same but with more refinement, with the notable addition that, for at least a while, it also provid- ed fresh fish and lamb chops for a hearty breakfast. Follow that up with half a pack of cigarettes and a Bloody Mary just as soon as the lounge car opens, and repeat for as many days as your journey lasts. Some businessmen were lucky or brave enough to take the Empire Builder both ways. Yet, for better or for worse, post-war America was fast becom- ing a car culture, and the dominant image of vacation fun be- came, and arguably remains, a car full of screaming children and frustrated adults. As the interstate system expanded and flooded with cars, the train declined in popularity. Today, of course, you can still ride the Empire Builder, and you should. It remains an experience you won't forget, with priv- ileged views of some truly stunning vistas. But you can't ride the mid-century Empire Builder. You can't smoke like a chimney for the duration. You can't order veal, there's probably not a single green olive anywhere on the train, and if there is, you'll have to barter for it. Put simply, it is no longer, as one 1965 ad put it, "a luxury hotel on rails." If it is true, as author Dale Martin says, that "many would assert that the high era of train travel was in the two decades after the Second World War, when multicolored, streamlined, diesel-powered, air-conditioned, sealed-window

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