"Come all you rounders and you're bound to hear
A story about a great engineer
hup - Casey Jones was the rounder's name
On a six-gauge wheeler boys he won his fame...
Your attention please....
Now arriving on Track 11.....(the show was on Channel 11...)
Board...Board...Board"
At least those are the words I remember in my child-brain.
SO why, all these many years later, am I sitting aboard Amtrak, watching the pampas grass waving at me from inside a chain link fence, watching ducks swim on a water tank, watching fresh buildings and rotting hulks on the byways of America?
I love riding the train.
I'd ridden trains all over Europe, in Mexico and in Japan. But it never even occurred to me to try train travel in the US, until a few years back when friend and colleague Jolane Sundstrom suggested in in a passing conversation. Jolane and her husband John have travelled all over the world, recently returning from a trip to Nepal. Their daughter is attending college out West, and she takes the Empire Building back and forth regularly. Jolane served as a great resource for all of my many questions:
*Is it cheaper than flying?
*Where can you sleep?
*Do you have to worry about theft?
and many more. After a few of the answers (*sometimes cheaper, sometimes more expensive; in a sleeper car or just in coach, and really with some common sense, no), I decided to give it a try.
My first rail adventure was to Baltimore, MD; to attend the National Art Education Association conference. Train travel does take quite bit longer than flying, so I took two personal days on either end of the adventure, and I ... was ... hooked....
On that first trip, I went coach the entire way, and slept in my seat. Not uncomfortable, just like sleeping in a big easy chair. But the next time, I bought a couchette, and discovered "the" way to go. You have your own little cabin, with chairs that fold down into a bed (and one above too if you have company!), with a bathroom down the hall (or even sometimes IN the cabin with you). Everything is pretty vintage 1970's; remember, we have invested NOTHING into infrastructure in this country for decades! But it carries a certain elegance, despite the age. White tableclothes in the dining car. An attendant in each car, who usually knows your name. The newspaper stuffed under the door in the morning. Wine and cheese receptions. The lure of the glass-topped observation car, which allows you to sit in cafe booths or swivel seats and watch the countryside go by. And best of all, for me at least, I can't 'go' anywhere. I'm pleasantly trapped in my moveable hotel, traversing the country. I can only go around multitasking in a somewhat limited way, so it makes me put a lid on my ADHD and just mellow out. Read a book. Make some friends. Watch the landscape. DRAW the landscape. Nap. Play on the internet. Write.
(as I type today, we have just pulled up to the platform in Syracuse, NY...)
If I had to explain the experience any further, I'd say it's like 'fancy camping'. There is a 'community' aboard the rails, just as there is in many campground situations. Everyone's in this together. We visit. We excuse each other passing through the narrow hallways. We dine communally and enjoy each other's company. We watch out for each other. Unlike flight, we are not cramped into a tiny spot, all facing one way with inches to spare.
I could go on, but it's almost lunchtime. I'm going to hike up as far as I can to the front of the train, and then go and find some fellow travelers in the dining car. Together, we'll muse at one another's adventures and the passing mysteries as we enjoy a pretty darn fine meal.
-From room number 5, just down the hall from the shower on the second floor, Car 4811; bound for New York City; from just past Syracuse, NY...Board! Board! Board!
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