Off the Road: Train Travel Could Be a Delight
Published April 22, 2006
My wife and I like trains. Part of it is that my wife doesn't like to fly. Part of it is that I'd rather gnaw my own leg off than spend eight hours driving on the freeway. But when we need to take a trip our first thought is, "can we take the train?"
The answer is not as easy as it should be, because often it is "no." And therein lies a tale.
But first, let me tell you how it should be. Because it happened to us a few days ago.
We're in Chicago on business for my wife: a gigantic interior-design convention. I'm along because I'm a design groupie, and having remodeled three houses, I have more than a passing interest in sinks and ovens and other home furnishings. Plus, it's close to our anniversary, and this was a chance to spend three nights in a four-star hotel without any rugrats underfoot.
Step One was to dump the munchkins with my parents, who live near Madison, Wis. So bright and early on Wednesday morning, we bundled everyone into the car and made the five-hour pilgrimage to Grandma's house.
The kids were well-behaved, traffic was light, the weather was good. So we arrived five hours later hungry, tired, and stiff, and the kids fairly exploded out of the car and began finding randomly destructive ways of working off their pent-up energy.
We spent the night, and the next morning said goodbye to parents and offspring. Then my wife and I drove about 30 miles to Columbus, Wis., to catch the train to Chicago.
We got there about noon. The train was running about half an hour late, and wouldn't be there until 1 p.m. We sat on the platform and ate lunch. It wasn't particularly busy, so about 10 minutes later the stationmaster joined us, and we spent the next half an hour watching freight trains barrel through (hauling coal and what looked like Ford Ranger pickups from the soon-to-be-closed St. Paul plant), amiably discussing trains, the weather, and local politics (Columbus' City Council tried to fire the mayor, it turns out, and in response the citizens voted out half of the Council. The legal and political fallout is still expanding. All this in a town of 4,400).
When the train arrived, we got on board and found a pair of empty seats. And what seats! Comfortable, able to lean way, way back, and gobs of leg room. Truly unbelievable amounts of leg room, in fact. I'm tall and used to being folded up like a pretzel on airplane flights and even bus trips. Here there was so much space that I didn't have to use the foot rests on the seat in front of me. My wife, who is shorter, couldn't even reach her foot rest unless she slumped way down and stretched her legs all the way out. Did I mention the mind-blowing amounts of leg room?
- Off the Road: Train Travel Could Be a Delight
- Published: April 22, 2006
- Type: Opinion
- Section: Culture
- Filed Under: Culture: Society, Culture: Travel
- Writer: Sean Aqui
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Comments on this articleComments
I am 69 years old with limited money for traveling. I recently purchased a 30 day north america rail pass. Although there were personnel with attitudes and delays I loved the trip and will do it again. The time delays are an inconvenience but it's easy to make allowances. I realize that it woulld be different if your trip were time sensitive. The people who are on a time schedule should, of course, fly. I think it would be a shame to only let the freight see our beautiful country. I do not understand our government regarding spending money for the rail system.
melva foregger
The main problem with rail in America is that it's inefficient for high-need, low-volume business AKA people. The distances between our cities are too great, and the potential numbers of passengers are too small for trains to operate in the efficient and economical way that they do in Europe.
Dave
I love trains. These days I cannot fly because of my heart.
Train travel in the Northeast Corridor -- Boston to Washington and the Hudson River Line -- provides short hauls and high ridership. Trains are usually clean and luxurious. Along the Hudson River, Albany to NYC, the rails had been welded when we left the US (1997) and the trains were running faster.
The Rhinebeck to Penn Station hop was impossible by plane, tedious and dangerous by car with the traffic and parking of the City. It is a pleasure by train with comfortable seats, some trains with dining car and it delivers you straight into mid-town.
After my heart attack I had to visit my mother hurriedly due to serious illness. I couldn't fly and the drive is long and tiring. I finally took the Silver Meteor, a train of the same name as the train I used to ogle as a boy when my Yankee great aunt arrived from New York. It was sleek and aluminum with diesel newness and 50s aerodynamics. It was all power and excitement. I didn't like her but the train was magnificent.
The trip by Amtrak took about 30 hours in coach. I slept fitfully sitting up. In the morning I tried the dining car and had a fine breakfast made totally to order, met some people including a freight train engineer and we watched the Savannah River go by complete with 'gator sunning himself near the trestle.
It would have been great save that the rails stopped near Orlando and the last 88 miles were by rickety, non-AC bus. Perhaps it has improved.
Moral: inter-city travel where the distances are negligible are wonderful for trains. The Congress needs to keep them running and persuade more people to leave the cars behind. Perhaps if the Northeast Corridor were separate it would show that the train can make a profit.
The long hauls on the Silver Meteor or the 20th Century Limited (still running??) might be ok with a room and plenty of time or a ticket and time to stay over here and there. If I ever go back to New York I will have to try it again. I hope I have time and money to make it a pleasure.
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I'm surprised you were able to make that trip for only $27. The times I've tried to schedule a trip by train in the US the thing which has dissuaded me has been the price. Even when the destinations are within commuter distances the price ends up being a killer. For example, on a recent trip to the east coast we needed to visit a variety of nearby locations to see different family members and attend various activities. We needed to go from Manchester, NH where our plane got in to Nantucket, RI and from there to New York City, and then back from NYC to Manchester. That's a pretty convenient triangle of travel, but to do it we would have had to go pretty far out of our way on one of the legs and then change trains, and the total cost ended up being astonomical. It would have been about the same price to fly in short hops and it was considerably less expensive to rent a luxury SUV with lots of room for the kids and drive the whole trip - even including $30 a day for parking in NYC.
I did take a cool train trip a year ago in Europe, though. We landed at Gatwick Airport south of London for a 5 hour layover. Rather than wait in the airport we hopped on one of the trains that runs every 20 minutes from Gatwick to Brighton and for about $8 each we got to spend 2 hours at the beach, which was a lot more fun than waiting in an airport, and we had no problem getting back in time for our flight to Geneva.
Dave