CHAPTER TWELVE
Fighting my way through groups of arriving passengers and porters laden with luggage, I descended to the station platform where the trains were lined up in a beautiful display of strength and might. There she was in all her glory - the Southern Belle. She had lived in my imagination for so long I had begun to doubt her actual existence. Standing on the platform, I was overwhelmed as I appraised her streamlined red and yellow aluminum alloy cab and beautiful illuminated insignia with the Kansas City-Louisiana-Arkansas letters proudly displayed. She was the pride of the Kansas City Southern Railway Company.
I could identify every car and knew the purpose of each. I walked slowly along the platform until I saw the regal observation car. As I peered around the back end of the
