I would like to continue with a discussion of railroad travel, as an option when you are thinking about getting from place to another. From the start, I hope you understand that I am not a fan of railroad travel. In most case, my experiences with passenger trains have been bad ones. For instance, I once traveled in a passenger car with some others as a writer invited along to see how people crossed railroad tracks in cars when they knew a train was coming. This was part of a safety program that had trains fitted with cameras on the engine to record drivers who raced across the tracks when there were signal lights and traffic arms to stop them.
To make a daylong story short, I was amazed at how many drivers took a chance, hurrying across to beat the train by just a few seconds. The trip director, a longtime employee of the railroad company, said it best, “If you fight with a train, the train will always win.” However, my experience as a passenger on that working trip was more about the length of time than it was about safety. I can tell you, in one sentence, how the day went – LONG!
Please understand what I am saying. The company treated us well, providing us with free coffee, soft drinks, sandwiches, and so on. Of course, most of us were writers or law enforcement personnel, so they were trying to impress us but by the end of the day, many of us were ready to swear off rail travel. I had the same experience when one of my children had when traveling in a passenger train. Now, for my special trip, although it had been planned and was operated by the railroad company, the train was ultimately delayed by almost two hours.
At the end of the trip, we were directed onto another siding, after sitting on one for many hours, this time in a small town about 30 minutes from our final destination. There, we were asked to leave the train and get into a van that took us to the rail company’s office. After arriving, we could finally get into our cars and go home. I am not saying that all rail travel is challenging but if you plan to take this route, learn about the railroad company’s schedule history.