RIDING THE RAILS.  Richard Straub, of Marion, Ohio, files a report on a train trip to the Pacific Northwest and return.  His experience compares favorably with mine from last year.  He made the trip in May, before floods, fire, and runaway trucks disrupted the Western service.

He had to begin his trip in Toledo because Erie-Lackawanna went out of the passenger business with the coming of Amtrak, and the line out of Marion was deemed redundant by Conrail.