train-ing

i have just embarked on a new journey...by train.  i have trained before, quite a bit actually.  but that was all before my adult years.  two factors have led me to considering the train.  one is the economy and the outrageous price of gasoline.  i will avoid that tirade...  the other reason is the convenience of someone else driving and considering that the time to travel is the same as by road travel why not?  i am able to sit back and view the countryside instead of the garish roadside billboards that beacon weary drivers to the nearest convenient stores, gas stations and restrooms.  

flying unless done privately has become an enormous hassle.  one has restrictions on luggage.  yet another tirade bubbles up...  security strictly strips you of much of your dignity and even your shoes just to board.  i have in the past actually had to run barefoot to my gate because the screening took so long.  a two hour flight becomes 6 as you are made to fly well out of your way because of connections to larger hubs.  the train as it happens  has none of these restrictions.  the seats are wider, there is more leg room and one is not made to feel like cattle packed into boxcars.  of course there are none on this train thankfully...

this train is taking me to philly.  i am ashamed to say that throughout all of my years in high school and college spent in the DC metropolitan area i never not even once ventured north of baltimore except to drive through on my way somewhere else or to land to change planes.  i have never been to philly or boston or new york.  as much as i love US history that seems a huge gap for me.  it is just over and hours drive to the nearest amtrak station and from there a 6 hour sit back and ride the rails chill kinda journey to the city of brotherly love.  

ok so today is also earth day and what more appropriate way to celebrate ma earth but by using mass transit?  in DC this train converts from diesel to electric.  there ya go!  less carbon foot printing on my account.  since discovering this old and most convenient conveyance i haven’t any further excuses but to continue exploring the northeast in this manner.  so many places this rail can take me.  it is its only limitation... that one can only go as far as the line runs. 

i first traveled by train with my grandmother from glendale to santa barbara (california).  i think i was perhaps 6 years old.  i remember still how wondrous and exciting it was.  one of the cars was a double decker with the top deck reserved for viewing.  i remember passing the fields of oil derricks and sequoia forests it travelled through before skirting the coast and the pacific ocean below.  my grandfather was a conductor/ticket taker for the railroad.  his home in fact was not far from the glendale station and i remember visiting the station often to see him at work.  he breathed trains.  

my early years found me living in south america.  my father always the adventurer took us many amazing places by train.  these trains were still pulled by coal burning engines with stacks that spewed thick black smoke.  the windows slid down into the sill so that one could stick one's head out or just catch a breath of smoke tainted air.  i remember still the smell of the coal burned smoke.  they took us to machu pichu before winding down from the andes through the driest desert in the world, the atacama.  we traveled over the salt flats of uyuni, the pampas of the gauchos and through the great jungle to its soul the amazon river.  these were the places the rails took us.

my father bought cheeses, hard breads, fruits and bottled water from vendors at stops along the way.  this sustained busy hungry children as we were often bored during these long journeys.  we played cards and board games and watched the world fly by us until it was time for meals or bedtime.  the dining car was luxurious.  white linen cloths covered wood tables.  as you might expect the hinges and metal accents were polished brass and the seats covered with lush red velvet.  the dining car served higher end restaurant quality fare prepared onboard by chefs.  it was of course first class and quite frankly i was not aware then of any other class onboard.   there were.

often our travels took us overnight and for these trips we had our own private sleeping compartments.  generally these slept two to four persons.  the bench seat converted to one bed and a bunk above folded down for another.  the upper bunk had either a rail or cargo netting that unfolded upward so that you would not be jerked from your bed in the middle of the night.  initially it seemed ridiculous but was actually necessary.  there is however something wonderful about the way a train rocks one to sleep, herky jerky though it can be.  this trip i am on today is much shorter then those of my childhood but i find myself no less excited and thinking about the adventures of my youth...

***********************************

a magnificent white kite catches my eye from beyond the window.  it is flown along the shores of the delaware river.  today is easter and it is sunny and warm.  picnickers spread blankets out with their easter feasts set atop.  children are running about laughing.  moments before this i happened to look down from the elevated rails into a crowded urban corner.  it also was filled with people gathering for some al fresco dining.  cloth covered tables lined the walls of the tightly packed lot and on top of these were hams and chickens and salads.  some carried casserole dishes.  those gathered wore their finest sunday dress.  clearly they had just come from worshiping  and now they fellowshiped in celebration.  

i watched the forms life takes as i moved from place to place.  skeletons of the industrial era littered the waterways of port cities on great rivers.  now abandoned they are left in decay.  i was taken aback by the shabby row houses stacked and pressed together.  ordinarily baltimore is a city that i find quite beautiful.  clearly though if one ventures further out one will find the great institution, the hopkins surrounded and chocked by them.   in washington i passed houseboats moored on the potomac the capital perched in opulence as a backdrop.  and finally i am greeted by the lush and stately virginia countryside.  

not everything about train-ing is flawless.  we stopped up the line to pick up the passengers of disabled train.  the cars soon filled and people found whatever nook they could sit down in.  the floor are littered with luggage and bodies.  accommodation...we do it.  frankly that is what this piece is all about.  the economy has made gasoline vehicle excursions more prohibitive.  no i don’t particularly like it but if i still want to travel and explore and visit then i must find other ways to do it.   it seemed logical when i discovered how close the passenger rail lines are to me.  so here i am...adapting.  and what a wonderful adventure it is.  

darkness has fallen in the last hours of my journey.  i can no longer see outside the windows.  i am left to contemplate the many things i have seen and enjoyed.   a part of me wants to tell everyone, "come taste this adventure, you may like it."  another part says, "shhhhhh!  keep it a secret so that the trains do not soon become choked with travelers and restrictions and narrowed crammed spaces to accommodate even more bodies."  i rather liked that when circumstance did fill our train beyond seating capacity.  people casually popped onto the floor... at home... no big deal.  it is comfortable here on this train.  so to you i say, "do try it...but please don't tell anyone else."

https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/sredir?uname=111447190473129810265&target=ALBUM&id=5599936214962848961&authkey=Gv1sRgCLOu_7j-kbTYeQ&feat=email