Riding the Rails
I remember being about 6 years old and thinking long and hard about what I might want to be when I “grew up.” I arrived at a final career options list that contained two possible, and to me at that time, highly desirable vocational opportunities: a baseball player or a train engineer. Even at such a young age, I was aware enough of my athletic shortcomings to fairly quickly deduce that the baseball player option would be a non-starter; I have never had any amount of talent at playing an organized team sport (a reason I became a runner!), and throwing a baseball farther than about 12 feet has always proven for me an insurmountable task. So “baseball player” was crossed off my list, leaving me with only one possible career path: driving glorious trains at high speeds across the vastly beautiful, uninterrupted landscapes of the America I knew only from pictures, movies, and stories. Of course, one rarely determines a final career trajectory while in the first grade, and my life’s path could in no way have been predicted with even slight accuracy while an elementary school student in Utica, New York. I discovered the cello at age eight, and, after quite a lot of serious study, a life in music became my one true passion and professional option.
But my fascination with trains never diminished, and, likely due to my extensive travels over the past 30 years, I have become more and more excited at any prospect of riding the rails. Passenger trains are my passion, and I’m fascinated by all types: local rapid transit systems, long distance routes, trolleys, light rail lines, and high speed rail. And rail station architecture is a rich and varied source of inspiration, showcasing vast architectural styles and innovation. Some of my favorites: Grand Central in New York, Los Angeles Union Passenger Terminal, Cincinnati Union Station, Buffalo Union Terminal, and my hometown (Utica, NY) New York Central Station, as well as those we have lost: New York Pennsylvania Station, San Francisco Third and Townsend Depot, and several grand stations in Chicago. And then there’s Europe, with magnificent stations in London, Paris, Amsterdam, Milano, Frankfurt, and Madrid, to name just a handful.
Here are a few of my favorite train routes and services:
Amtrak long distance trips in a private sleeping compartment; a favorite is the Southwest Limited between Chicago and Los Angeles.
Any trip on a TGV train in France (also connecting to Switzerland, Italy, and other countries).
The Eurostar between London, Paris, and Brussels.
Italy’s vast high speed network (very impressive and reliable!).
My latest favorite: the daytime 7-hour trip across Norway, which I experienced westbound from Oslo to Bergen - truly one of the most scenic travel experiences of my life!
I can’t recommend rail travel enough; whenever you can, skip the driving and flying and hop aboard a train. Enjoy!