Seeing Hemi's thread on the accident reminded me of some old pictures I finally have the technology to scan. However there is more of a story here than there are pictures so bare with me. It was my first real cross country train trip. It was just before Christmas, 2000. My new bride and our 3 month old daughter were traveling from Flagstaff Arizona to Albany, NY (well Hyde Park actually) to visit her family during one of the worst Christmas storms in years. As we were in the middle of Iowa in the snowy, foggy, dawn the train shimmied a little more than rough track, but I'm brought completely awake by the emergency braking. I barely have one eye open as my infant is handed to me in the birth and my wife scurries out the door towards the diner to see what's going on. As I Tarzan my way down from the upper birth (no really, it was fun) she flings open the door exposing me for everyone in the crowded walkway to see screaming "Oh my God, we've hit someone." It took several hours for them to complete the investigation and allow us to continue. We were told what happened but it wasn't until we got to Albany that we were able to seen the damage. While being towed along with wife/baby/carseat/gifts/lugage I paused and snapped three quick pictures. And then we were gone...
Our train was of course eastbound. A woman in a small pick up truck was stopped for what she believed was a west bound freight. As it passes she races around the gate straight into us. Engineer was traveling at speed. Braking was not applied until after impact. Word from the cheap seats was that the engine of the truck launched into a field like a punted football. Where we were back in the sleepers it wasn't even felt.
We continued on under reduced speed due to damage restrictions. I was fairly upset that we were coming in a full twelve hours behind schedule, until we got to the house and I saw the news. The same last four days I had spent on the train seeing gorgeous countryside from the Southwest to the snow blanketed Midwest and East leaving beautiful Christmas images in my mind that could not be tainted by even a tragic accident, while other spent theirs sleeping in airports with planes grounded everywhere. Given the chance, I'll take the train every time.
Quite. A few years back I was on a london bound train that was full to bursting. It was a friday so all the world and his wife is on board and judging by the noise.. his kids too. Anyway, we're about 20 miles from King's Cross, London and we come to a very abrupt stop. Huffs and puffs can be heard amongst my fellow Sardines and 20 mins later the Conductor comes on the tannoy stating that there had been a fatality on the line ahead (the train in front of us had hit some idiot trying to cross the track). 2 1/2 hours I'm sat on this train with people starting to discuss the state of the deceased and whether they'll be able to get a good look when we pass. I roll into London way later than planned and arrive in Ipswich to meet my mother at around 11pm, 7 hours after leaving home. (It's a 2 hour drive) All this.... and I wouldn't consider travelling any other way.
I used to fly Boston-NYC on the Eastern Airlines $68 shuttle about once a week for a two-hour meeting. More than once the weather closed down, and I took the train back to Boston, grabbed a cab to the airport to get my car, then struggled on home. It took about 6.5 hours. But it was better than sitting in a cab in NYC traffic, sitting at LaGuardia for who knows how long, sitting on the runway 37th in line for take-off, then circling Logan for another hour. Easily 6.5 hours, if there was even a plane. When I'm back in Boston I always use trains and subways, which have been vastly expanded and improved since I left in 1991. I've never had an incident.
My experiences on business trips to Washington, DC were similar. Get on the train at 0800 in Slidell, LA, just outside New Orleans, and arrive Arlington, VA at 0900 the next morning for a 0930 meeting, fully rested and fed. By comparison, flying in order to make the same 0930 meeting, I needed to leave the office about 1000 the same day as with the train to catch the last flight to Washington at 1300, change in Memphis, arrive at National (now Reagan) about 1900, and get a hotel room. The same was true for the return, including a second night in the hotel. Initially Management and Finance were upset that I was taking a "SLOW" train until I pointed out that my time away from the office was only 2 hours on each of the end days...AND that I was saving them 2 nights in a hotel @ $US180/night, and the train fare cost was $US400 less than airfare, including sleeping accomodations. Their response....Oh, Okay.mg: The first couple of trips were in 40+ year old 10-6 sleepers, which were OK. But after the Viewliners were running, it became luxurious. OK, so it wasn't the Century or Super Chief, but Hey, Amtrak was trying to get it right.:angel:
I supose the strangest part of traveling by train was sleeping in a birth. Being a newlywed at the time single sleeping was not ideal. As I would start to fall asleep the train would shimmy on some rough track. My mind would jerk me to full awake as if I had nodded off while driving. Not being able to sit up in the upper birth only added to the difficulty. To me it was all one big adventure. What did suprize me was that had my 3 month old daughter been 6 months old we would have had to by her a ticket! I'm not sure what the logic behind that is. One of my justifications for not flying was to avoid the pressure change babies suffer in planes. There is no comparison when it comes to the aditude of fellow travelers on trains. Funny how sharing a meal with strangers can bring you together. The quality of those meals was better than some "fine dinning" I've done in NYC. Everyone was friendly, staff included.
