Iron Road

CWs: food

I’ve been thinking about trains lately in general. When I was a kid, we used to take the train from my hometown (Eugene, OR) to Seattle right around Christmastime, and did so for a number of years on and off. I don’t know how that particular tradition started, but I always enjoyed it. The corresponding drive is probably 6-7 hours, but the train trip took considerably longer, mostly since trains go a little slower, and unfortunately aren’t the only users of the tracks; as a result, passenger rail needs to yield to freight trains. I’ve never understood why this is, but I suppose that’s the downside of shared tracks for both kinds of train travel. We usually went with my mom, my sister, and often my grandparents; I think my dad sometimes joined us and sometimes didn’t.

I have a terminus post quem for this particular tradition at least; I remember having just bought Eminem’s The Slim Shady LP and listening to it nonstop on the trip up on my Discman, so at the very latest this tradition took place in about 1999 when that album came out. We might’ve gone on a trip or two after that, but that might’ve been the end of it. In any case, it was always a relaxing trip, and we usually stayed for a couple of days in a hotel up there, and overall enjoyed exploring the city, and all the wintertime cheer and decorations. I fondly remember visiting Bainbridge Island as well on at least one of those trips, and I think we even went up to Kirkland (most famously the home of Costco) and walked around a bit there. Good memories with family.

These days I don’t have the time to take train trips, unfortunately. At least I am concerned about the time investment. Why, you ask? At least in the US, due to the aforementioned need to yield to freight traffic, trains, at least in the West, are often drastically delayed. In my experience, back in the day, we could be anywhere from 1 to 4 or more hours later than expected, due to freight traffic delays. When I was a kid, it didn’t matter, but as an adult, that is incredibly frustrating. I know that sort of defeats the point of this mode of travel, as train travel lends itself to leisure and reveling in the vast expanses across which the trains travel, but still. I have concerns that I would take a certain amount of time off of work, then travel would be significantly delayed, such that I wouldn’t have as much time at the destination, and perhaps would be delayed on the return trip, making me late getting back for work. I’m probably being paranoid, but in my experience, it’s justified concern.

The Seattle trips are secondary for me in my memory, though, lovely as they were. I most vividly remember trips between Eugene and San Francisco when I was living in the latter city during my master’s degree. I often did not have enough money (or thought I didn’t? I’m not sure) for flights, which would have been far quicker, so I generally took either Greyhound buses or trains back and forth when visiting family. The bus was fairly straightforward, but Greyhound always overbooked their buses, and more than once I was told that I didn’t have a seat, despite paying for one, so that was frustrating. But when it worked, it was just fine. It took forever (often 14-15 hours, due to all the stops), and I’d usually throw on hours of music or podcasts, or read, to pass the time, and sleep as much as I could. It got the job done, but wasn’t always great. My parents would usually be able to pick me up at the Greyhound station. I remember one time travelling with my ex back to San Francisco after a visit with my parents, and being told there wasn’t room, so we went back and stayed at my parents’ another night and planned to leave the next day. The bus had its share of interesting times, but it was mostly very boring and lacking in magic.

The train trip, however, was far more interesting, despite also taking quite a long time. I don’t remember the exact quoted time, but as I mentioned above, it was almost always late, so I usually added anywhere from 1-4 hours to the arrival time (frustrating). San Francisco strangely didn’t have an Amtrak station of its own, so Amtrak offered a bus to Emeryville (most famous for Pixar!) across the bay, near Oakland, so one could depart from the station up there; the bus departed from the Transbay Terminal in downtown San Francisco. Back in those days, I didn’t have a laptop. Now don’t laugh, but I insisted on having my computer with me at all times, so I would pack my desktop tower (!!) into a large suitcase, surround it with a moderate amount of clothes for the trip, and otherwise just take a backpack. To this day, I don’t have any idea why I did such a ridiculous, ludicrous thing, but hey, I guess I’m a weirdo. I would take my bulky, heavy suitcase across town to the Transbay Terminal, hop the bus to Emeryville, then get on the train when I could from there.

I mentioned the Greyhound buses because the bus and train itineraries sort of run together for me in memory. I think the train passed through Sacramento and Davis, but the bus may have as well. I remember the bus stopping at a large station in Sacramento, where we usually had to change buses, and there was often a 2-hour layover before we could continue on. No train changes were needed, but sometimes there were small layovers here and there. I remember that the bus sometimes had an “express” vs. “regular” route, and the “regular” route would hit every tiny little town through northern California, while the “express” would often just hit the highlights. The train just stopped at whatever stations were along the way.

I never got a “sleeper car” since they were always considerably more expensive than “coach” section (which just provided a seat, and minimal luggage storage), but I imagine they’re nice. I just sat down with my stuff, listened to podcasts/music, and/or read, for hours on the trip northward. Sometimes I’d have an interesting, chatty person next to me, and other times it would be no one. I preferred not sitting next to anyone, left to my own thoughts and in my own world, but most people were friendly if I was sitting next to them. Most of the trains had an “observation car” which was full of large windows, where one could sit and watch the scenery going by. I would often walk to and through that car to stretch my legs and relieve boredom, so that was nice. Further up, there was the dining car, where one could have a sit-down meal, and just before that, the “canteen,” if you will, where you could get a quick-service meal; I often ordered something for breakfast there. I can’t for the life of me remember what that might’ve entailed. I think they also had restrooms near there.

I always loved having a window seat when I was on the train. It’s always fun to watch the scenery roll by, whether during the night or the day. Most of the time, at night, it was pitch-black, nothing visible. However, when we approached a town, and sometimes the train began to slow (if we were nearing a station), the town would unfold itself outside the window. It would start with a few sparse houses, buildings, and then give way to the centre of town, in which the station usually was. I remember after we went through the mountains of northern California and headed into southern Oregon, we would stop at Klamath Falls. More than once, especially if it was near Thanksgiving or Christmas, we would pull into a snowy station there, as the town is in a mountainous region. I’ve never been to Klamath Falls proper, but it has always intrigued me, especially since my grandfather was born there, although he grew up in Medford, which is a little to the northwest of there, if I’m not mistaken.

What always stuck with me was when we pulled out of a town. The town would slowly fold back up, rolling by, houses once dense thinning out and giving way to trees and wilderness. Often near the end of this sequence, I would glimpse a lonely house or two, with lonely lights banishing some of the gloom of the night. Often these were mercury- or sodium-vapor lights; the former, I believe, are whitish with a blue sort of “halo” around them. They’re sort of eerie, like “ghost lights.” That particular image, rolling by one of those lonely lights in the dead of night, remains burned in my memory. Just the forlornness of one last gasp before the desolation that lay ahead. I loved the desolation though, watching the trees roll by, lakes here and there, and streams, and, depending on time of year, lots of snow. The thought of the lonely lights actually inspired me to write this whole entry, so it took awhile to build up to it. I remember the lonely lights particularly well in Oakridge, OR, which is only (comparatively) a stone’s throw from Eugene; when we reached Oakridge, I knew we were getting very close to our destination. The train rumbled through Springfield as well, which is right next to Eugene, before crossing the McKenzie River (IIRC) and eventually pulling into the station in downtown Eugene.

Again, I miss those long, windswept trips, rolling across vast, seemingly endless expanses, whether mountains, plains, or through cityscapes. I imagine taking a train trip out of Union Station in Denver would be really nice. Maybe one of these days. My great-uncle used to take the train nearly everywhere (he had a somewhat irrational fear of flying), and took cross-country train trips fairly frequently. Maybe when I retire I’ll get a chance to do that sort of thing. We mostly take roadtrips here and there, and I’d like to do that more, but it’s just a matter of finding time for all that. I try to avoid flying if possible, not because I don’t like it, but because of the environmental impacts. I know cars aren’t great either, but our goal is to get an electric car, which will be at least a little better, one would hope. Flying, though, if we’re going to visit family (in Oregon or Florida, for example) makes the most sense. IIRC, the drive to Eugene would take us about 18 hours, and that is not my idea of a great time; I feel like we would get there, spend a day or so, then turn right around and drive back. Not great. And I know for a fact that the drive to/from Florida takes about 30 hours, since we pulled 3 10-hour days driving out here when we moved here, and those were grueling days; a more leisurely trip would take much longer.

We were talking about this tonight actually, how Europe has much more of an emphasis on rail travel than America. I feel like Europeans, by and large, care more about such things, and weren’t bitten by the car “bug” like Americans were. It makes sense on a macro scale to me, given that Europeans seem to care more about community than hyper-individualistic Americans. Not saying Europeans are the answer to everything, or really even anything, but I think they have train travel down better than Americans ever care to do. I hope that one of these days we have more emphasis on public transit and far less on cars. I would really like not to have a car at all, but it’s hard, given that there isn’t a great public transit path to work for me (at least 12 miles each way, for the drive; maybe 25 minutes to work and 30-40 home, depending on traffic). I only drive to work one day a week, so that helps, but my spouse is in-office at least 2 days/week. We’ve been making one car work just fine; previously I had a car and they had theirs, but now we just have theirs and are trying to replace it. Honestly if I could take a light-rail to work, I 100% would. Right now, though, I would have to get up and be at the park & ride at 6:50am to catch a bus to hopefully make it to work by 7:40am and start at 8am, which is too close for me to feel comfortable. I’m just glad to not be in the office 5 days/week.

Anyways I am descending into ramblings now. Thanks for reading, y’all, and allowing me to share some of my thoughts <3