| It's funny how often you hear about railroad trips | | | | Point B. The lounge, observation and dining cars of |
| in songs, novels and older movies. Yet how many | | | | a train offer one the opportunity to casually rub |
| people today actually take train journeys? In | | | | shoulders with fellow passengers. Card games are |
| Europe trains are still prevalent, but in America | | | | fairly common on trains, when passengers aren't |
| they are near extinction. While large cities still | | | | watching movies. |
| have commuter lines, the Metro North trains that | | | | There is something almost hypnotic about the |
| run out of New York City, long distance rail travel | | | | rhythms of a train, that can get you into a |
| is just not a modern thing in America. | | | | trancelike state. This is heightened by the fact |
| The American railroad, Amtrak, is always on the | | | | that trains tend to take you, at least between |
| verge of bankruptcy. It is not well ranked among | | | | cities, through territory unspoiled by highways, |
| the world's railroads. I have taken trains back and | | | | malls and other signs of our overcrowded and |
| forth across the U.S. some seven times, mostly in | | | | largely aesthetically barren modern landscape. On |
| coach, a grueling but still rewarding three day | | | | a train, we can still catch glimpses of how life |
| journey through farmlands, badlands, mountains | | | | appeared a hundred years ago. Of course, this |
| and some dessert. On the trips I've taken, my | | | | anachronistic spell is somewhat broken by the |
| fellow passengers were disproportionately retirees | | | | ubiquitous cell phones and laptops, but something |
| --in the overworked U.S., most people simply don't | | | | of the old world glamor remains. |
| have time to take long train rides. Long bus rides, | | | | People have long tended to romanticize trains, and |
| meanwhile, are mainly relegated to the poor. | | | | I suppose I'm doing that here as well. In fact, train |
| Middle America is all about planes and cars. | | | | rides can also be tedious and frustrating. Not |
| Trains offer unique qualities lacking in buses, | | | | infrequently, you have to contend with late trains, |
| automobiles or airplanes. They are by far the | | | | overpriced and decidedly mediocre meals and |
| most social form of travel, save perhaps for a | | | | noisy (and sometimes intoxicated) fellow |
| cruise ship. The latter, however, are almost | | | | passengers. Still, overall, railroad trips offer a more |
| strictly tourist affairs, while trains still do offer the | | | | distinctive travel experience than any of the |
| service of basic transportation from Point A to | | | | alternatives. |