The joys of train travel

[Fenman]

A sweet little article on the joys of train travel — many of the comments are worth reading, too. 
 

Just the thing to raise a smile on a full February day. 
 

Paul

[Reorte]

A few years back, ended up with a cheap first class ticket all the way up to Inverness, so trundling up the Highland Main Line in a comfy Mk3. Some free beer, good views, and a bit of chatting to others nearby, and whilst it's not the fastest railway in the world I'd have liked it to be even slower, it was just a really pleasant journey even though I'd only booked it to get from A to B.

[steve1]

Beats flying any day of the week. The longer the journey, the better.

 

steve

[Phil Parker]

Lovely article. Train travel for fun is one of the things I miss most. Watching the countryside roll by with a good book and a piece of cake can't be beaten.

[kevinlms]

7 minutes ago, Phil Parker said:

Lovely article. Train travel for fun is one of the things I miss most. Watching the countryside roll by with a good book and a piece of cake can't be beaten.

If you read a really good book, you miss the railway!

[J. S. Bach]

Waking up and seeing this outside your sleeper window:

 

 

 

 

 

 

[The Lurker]

to be honest, the chance to travel to work on the crowded SE commuter train each day seems like a bit of a pipe dream! Rose tinted specs I know, and I would be tutting vigorously at the delays with the best of them, but, you know, a chance of normality....

 

as for long distance travel, I found the Canadian prairies dull as a child. We skipped them when I did the trip with my family for my 50th. Even with an 8 hour delayed flight, the trip from Calgary to Toronto was several days quicker than it was by train in 75!

 

the Rockies by train on the other hand were magnificent, and recommended to all!

[tractionman]

11 minutes ago, The Lurker said:

 

 

the Rockies by train on the other hand were magnificent, and recommended to all!

 

ah yes, indeed!

 

 

 

[J. S. Bach]

The Builder?

[tractionman]

3 hours ago, J. S. Bach said:

The Builder?

 

That's right, in 2008, I was en route from Chicago to Vancouver, I nearly missed my departure from Chicago as the hotel faffed about with retrieving my luggage from the store, I've never left luggage at a hotel since...!

 

I think the photo is somewhere around East Glacier Park, MT, just before darkness fell, I remember going to the dining car as we entered the Rockies, I never travelled on Amtrak in the sleepers, always coach class, but then I was a fair bit younger then than I am now!

 

Cheers,

 

Keith 

[APOLLO]

One of my last train trips was from Kanchanaburi to Nam Tok over the river Kwai bridge in July 2019. A very pleasant journey up the valley to the current end of the line, then a short walk to the waterfalls (Nam = water, Tok = fall). 

 

Not been on a train at all last year, having renewed my senior railcard last February.

 

Not hopeful I'll get on a train this year either the way things are going.

 

Brit15

[LBRJ]

Post privatization, when it had all settled downs  a bit, eventually Wales and West / Wessex  Trains and  Great Western Trains / FGW* (as did many other** TOCs) gave all the grunts a Free Pass.

If you lived in the deepest South West they were actually better than the old BR Boxes/Priv travel....after all there is only so far one can realistically go for a day out...

 

*They seemed to be "interchangeable" and also were valid in first class quite often 

 

** sadly Mr Beard's staff didn't  get the memo on that one, and I heard tales of a "quick family trip" costing the family £25 

Well if they insisted on charging you full fare from Exeter to Taunton, they aint getting a free trip to Calstock....

Lucky they dint pay full priced standard singles really!!

 

 

 

 

[Bill Radford]

Travelling by car may be convenient, by bus a necessity*.

 

BUT

 

If you travel by train you are going somewhere!!!

 

*Why does nobody moan about late and cancelled buses?

[APOLLO]

Lockdown train on a superb sunny day through some lovey scenery. Pity all the stations are devoid of passengers.

 

I was / am looking forward to a trip on one of these units to York to visit the Railway Museum and a pint in "The Bootham Bar".

 

 

 

Brit15

[chris-shay]

A couple of years back I was chaperoning my elderly Mum on holiday through Switzerland and as she’s not a fan of flying, we did the whole trip by train. The whole trip was very relaxed with only the bit crossing Paris in a taxi being slightly frantic! 
Starting in Interlaken, it was first class train all the way back to Inverness including some very quick TGV through France and stunning scenery throughout.

[J. S. Bach]

17 hours ago, tractionman said:

 

That's right, in 2008, I was en route from Chicago to Vancouver, I nearly missed my departure from Chicago as the hotel faffed about with retrieving my luggage from the store, I've never left luggage at a hotel since...!

 

I think the photo is somewhere around East Glacier Park, MT, just before darkness fell, I remember going to the dining car as we entered the Rockies, I never travelled on Amtrak in the sleepers, always coach class, but then I was a fair bit younger then than I am now!

 

Cheers,

 

Keith 

I rode the Empire Builder (to give its full name) eastbound from Portland, Oregon to Chicago a few years earlier in 2002. I flew to Portland using Amtrak's Fly and Ride option with United Airlines (MD-80 for you airplane enthusiasts). Let me say that the landing and de-planing at Portland was an interesting experience; we landed (the runway parallels the Columbia River), turned off the runway, and taxied to the terminal gate. Then I walked down the jetway to the baggage carousel, claimed my bags, walked to the car rental counter, and got my car and walked out to the car. Sounds typical, doesn't it? Yes, but in this case it was almost a straight line from the runway to my car seat.

 

Back to the Builder; we left Portland a couple of hours late as we waited for some connecting passengers from the Coast Daylight arriving by bus due to a landslide(?) further south. After combining with the Seattle section in Spokane, we proceeded east but it was night when we went through the Cascades; still some very impressive scenery. However most of Montana was miles and miles of nothing but miles and miles! I think that I would like to do this trip again but westbound as part of the following: Starting at Charlotte, NC on the Crescent to DC, the Cardinal to Chicago, the Builder to Seattle, the Coast Starlight to Los Angeles, the Sunset to New Orleans, and the Crescent back to Charlotte.

[APOLLO]

Only main line train I have been on in the USA was in 1991, a day out in Washington from New York. Bit boring journey scenery wise but fast (for an American train).. The walk from the station down to the Lincoln Memorial was very interesting, Capitol Hill, The Whitehouse, Washington Monument, Viet Nam memorial and a quick walk round the Smithsonian museum. Never forget seeing the armed guy outside The Whitehouse with an Alsation wearing a vest emblazoned "Secret Police" - Guy was not amused when I said "The dog's blown your cover mate" !!!!! In the Smithsonian was / is the space capsule Mercury 7 which carried John Glenn into orbit. Just like a big Heinz beans tin, inside looked frightening, just a few toggle switches on a panel and a seat !!- I commented at the time Glenn was a very brave man indeed to fly in this.

 

I wish I can go to the USA again one day, Cross the continent by train and return by driving Route 66 (or it's equivalent), with Thyra on the eight track !!!!!

 

 

 

Brit15

[pH]

On 05/02/2021 at 06:23, kevinlms said:

If you read a really good book, you miss the railway!

 

On 05/02/2021 at 08:35, The Lurker said:

... the Rockies by train on the other hand were magnificent, and recommended to all!

We live in Greater  Vancouver. My sister used to live in Edmonton, and would come to visit us at Christmas, using trains. At that time, there were several options; direct on CN, through Calgary on CP, and through Prince George on BC Rail and CN. She tried them all.

 

She went back one time through Prince George on a day of brilliant sunshine, with a deep covering of snow on the ground all the way from North Vancouver. On the way north from Lillooet, up the longest continuous stretch of 2.2% in North America, climbing high above the Fraser River, she said it was almost too much to take in. She had to look down and read a book for 10 minutes or so, then look out of the window and go “Wow!” all over again.

 

[tractionman]

7 hours ago, J. S. Bach said:

Back we waited for some connecting passengers from the Coast Daylight arriving by bus due to a landslide(?) further south. 

 

Having journeyed west from Chicago to Seattle and then Vancouver, my south-bound trip to LA was also impeded by a landslide somewhere between Seattle and Sacramento I recall, cue a really terrible overnight replacement bus service, which I had to pay extra for as my Amtrak pass apparently did not cover this (or at least that's what I was told by the Amtrak ticket-desk in Chicago!):

 

 

But the trip was otherwise pure train-travel bliss, epic:

 

 

 

 

 

cheers,

 

Keith

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited February 6, 2021 by tractionman
spelling

[APOLLO]

Warrington to Wigan, Summer 1966, behind a tatty but fit Britannia on a Blackpool express, I swear she hit 100 on the fast four track downhill bit from Golborne to Bamfurlong, rocking & rolling, head out of window in the first carriage hanging onto the door frame scared to death !!!

 

Pendolinos now, faster, smoother, no fun.

 

Brit15

[J. S. Bach]

2 hours ago, tractionman said:

cheers,

Keith

 

I got real lucky on one Silver Meteor run north from Ft. Lauderdale to Baltimore, note the motor number:

 

 

Oddly, I saw it again in Union Station, Washington on my southbound trip (but not on my train):

 

 

 

 

[APOLLO]

This is a handy real time Amtrak train location map.

 

https://asm.transitdocs.com/map

 

Not many trains at the moment, not many routes either given the size of the USA.

 

Brit15

 

[The Stationmaster]

11 hours ago, APOLLO said:

Warrington to Wigan, Summer 1966, behind a tatty but fit Britannia on a Blackpool express, I swear she hit 100 on the fast four track downhill bit from Golborne to Bamfurlong, rocking & rolling, head out of window in the first carriage hanging onto the door frame scared to death !!!

 

Pendolinos now, faster, smoother, no fun.

 

Brit15

Yes indeed - modern trains do take away a lot of the fun in the interests of 'comfort'. (which isn't always as comfortable as the seats were in a BR Mk1 coach).  and not being able to stick your head (very carefully) out of a window is a great loss if you're trying to find out what is going one when the train slows down where it shouldn't.

 

 I think anywhere with interesting scenery at the lineside can make for an enjoyable trip and even bashing along the LGVs in France still gives time to take in a lot of the scenery if only briefly for some things.  The LGV Nord traverses an area of considerable interest if you know what to look for and where to look out for it ex specially if you hab ve any interest in military history as it takes you near the V2 launching bunker at Watten (no - you can't see it but you can see where it is), the hill the Grand old Duke of York marched his men up and down, the course of what during WWI was one of the busiest railways in France as it was the main rail link to Ypres, a good distant view of Armentieres with its very distinctive brewery, and traversing part of the Somme battlefield.   Even interesting  (to me at any rate) if you've done the trip a hundred times.

 

One of the most boring trips I've ever done by train was from Gothenburg to Stromstad - both interesting places but in between a lot of the scenery consisted of firs trees for as far as you could see, and not much else.  Several hours of that was a bit too much for me.

 

The big loss in train travel is.really good catering.  One of the highlights of the morning trip on the West Highland to Fort William was getting out of the sleeper to the dining car which was attached at Glasgow and served one of the best breakfasts I have ever come across.  A GWR Pullman breakfast is pretty good but nowhere near as good as that one was.  And good old 'afternoon tea' and 'high tea' are alas long gone from British railway catering except on some of the various special train operations.  I wonder if the new 'Blue Pullman' styled train will recreate the High Tea that used to be served on the Blue Pullmans with their delectable steak sandwiches?

[Oldddudders]

6 minutes ago, The Stationmaster said:

The big loss in train travel is.really good catering.

In 1994, Eurostar, on the brink of launching the full public service, ran a 'Discovery Service' to give their staff experience in handling trainloads of passengers. People elsewhere in the industry were invited to travel gratis. Deb - then on crutches after a broken leg - and I were offered a trip to Brussels, and the return journey started with fillet steak and champagne.We managed to cope....

[C126]

I have yet to fly - hearing horror stories of modern air travel I am waiting for the Imperial Airways flying-boat service to return - and can only agree about the delights of rail travel.  When a child, I expected to be a commuter to town on the S.R. like my father, and was rather disappointed I ended up rattling along the coastway services to a badly-paid job instead.  However, compared to the modern carriages, Standard class in a 4CIG was a delight, and commuting a pleasure.  I missed the train ride to work when I moved and used a 'bus around towns.  Now I am back in a job requiring a brief journey by train, treat myself to a 1st Class Annual Season, and it is the thing I miss most from this virus.  The journey provides a pleasant mental 'break', and the Stewards are wonderful.

 

I must add I have given up trying to read on train journeys.  A cinema addict when a student, just gazing out of the window at 'the passing film of reality' and letting one's mind wander, is one of the best things in life.  I wangled a journey to Glasgow for a conference five years ago to ride on the Pendolino from Euston, and spent six(?) hours just watching the world go by, bewitched.  When travelling together, my partner knows to give me the window seat and not expect conversation (except the occasional rant about 'that used to be a siding/ goods yard/ works'). The best cinematography is seen from a train...

 

Edited February 7, 2021 by C126
typo.