Railway Age plans Trans-Siberian Centennial Special - train to run original route - column

Railway Age plans Trans-Siberian Centennial Special

England Packing's distinction as one of the few companies in the country exporting broiler hatching eggs helped it to win its largest contract ever.Picture her thus, bowed down, captured for ever a woman among cabbages. Around her the landscape grins."He has a lot of insight and spends time thinking about new and innovative ways to make money," Pam Martin says of her father.There were 576,000 eggs shipped on each plane. That took 16,000 cases, or two tractor-trailer loads, to fill the plane. Over the year, England Packing was responsible for filling 70 planes of eggs to Iraq.Eyes stung with light, she blinks and vast fields of cabbage dance in her vision, like sea their colours reflect the sky bounce from her clothes spill into wood.Several years after its start, Jack England's business had grown to include contracted growers, whose chickens England sold. He bought a chicken processing plant in Pine Bluff in the late 1960s. In 1968, he sold the plant and his entire chicken processing operation to Valmac Industries Inc., which later sold it to Tyson Foods Inc.To commemorate that landmark in the world's railway history, Railway Age in May 1991 plans to sponsor a special train that will trace the route of the original Trans-Siberian Express from Vladivostok (or perhaps Nakhodka) to St. Petersburg (now Leningrad), 6,181 miles.She struggles through the gate. It is still strong, but the fence leans further palings creak from the nail, shine like bone.She is the farmer. This is her work. A cold sun turns leaves into hard silver coins.For almost 20 years, that has been the backbone of England Packing's business. And that specialty has allowed England Packing to expand its business throughout the world from little Rison (population 1,409).This 100th anniversary train will be made up of the finest equipment available. It will have the full and enthusiastic support of the Soviet Railway Ministry, which has agreed to offer extraordinary concessions in the spirit of world railway interchange of information and fellowship. While the special will follow the route of the first through train, it will run on an expedited schedule, somewhat faster than today's eastbound No. 2, the Rossiya, which takes seven days from the east coast to Moscow. Our special train will, however, make a 24-hour stopover at Irkutsk, Siberia--almost the halfway point--close by Lake Baikal.She bends into that thin soil. Dirt rasps her hands, clings like dark crescent moons under nails.

The special will be operated with a minimum of 45 passengers and a maximum of 75. It is imperative that those interested so indicate now. Write me at Railway Age, 345 Hudson Street, New York, NY 10014. When there is sufficient positive response, the Soviet Railway Ministry will work with us on final preparations.

Author: Robert G. Lewis