Train Travel

I am traveling by train from Philadelphia to southwestern Illinois, to a small town called Quincy. From Quincy, I will travel to the even smaller town of Rutledge in northeastern Missouri. Outside of Rutledge is Dancing Rabbit Eco-village, where I will be spending the next three weeks. I don’t know what to expect of my time at DR, but for now I am enjoying traveling by train. Crossing the country by train is extraordinarily inefficient. A trip that would take less than 3 hours on a plane takes an entire 24-hour day on a train. We stop everywhere. We travel to Chicago by way of every small town in Virginia, West Virginia, Kentucky, and Indiana. But while a plane ticket for this trip would likely cost several hundred dollars, my train ticket cost less than one hundred. And for that small sum, I am granted an entire day to read, write, listen to old episodes of This American Life and conjecture about my fellow passengers.

Who rides trains these days?, you may be wondering. I can answer this question. Elderly black ladies. They are the most well-represented demographic on Amtrak's Cardinal 51. Apart from them, there are families with young kids who run back and forth from the dining car. There are people who are either afraid of or opposed to airplanes. And there are people such as myself, who have lots of time and not a lot of money. I may be in the minority on this point, but I am proud to be a person with more time than money. On the train, I feel triumphant. How lucky I am, I think, to be able to afford to take my time.

I wonder about my fellow passengers. Are they also people who value time more than they value money? Or is train travel an unwanted inconvenience to them? Maybe, like me, they find trains romantic. The guy across the aisle from me certainly seems to. He is bragging to his seatmate about the “smokin’ hot” girl he met on the train last time he took this trip.

Apart from the luxurious expanse of time and the people-watching opportunities, there are a few other things I love about trains, things that make them far superior to planes in my opinion. First, no security. No annoying metal detectors. No regulations on liquids. No useless questions from bored airline personnel about who packed your bags. Second, no checked bags and plenty of overhead storage space. Third, electrical outlets in every seat. I am surrounded by a small army of electronics, all waiting their turn to be charged.

In about 20 hours I should be reaching Chicago. In another 20 I'll be at Dancing Rabbit.