Bob Johnston (4)

[excerpted from Trains.com interview]
I grew up in a Chicago suburb where the nightly whoosh of Chicago & North Western's Duluth-Superior Limited and Dakota 400 made mesmerizing first impressions. There are also candidates dating from when I worked for the Burlington in summer 1967 as a Chicago Union Station passenger agent. A treasured assignment was inspecting all of the CB&Q's trains before passengers were allowed to board, so I will always have a soft spot for the California Zephyr, Denver Zephyr, Empire Builder, and North Coast Limited. Beginning in the 1990s, I started interviewing behind-the-scenes managers and staff responsible for making everything work on a passenger train.