Alright, Tooters, new and old -- Mastodon is fun, but it's more fun for new people when there's stuff happening. So: what was your favorite #train journey? Was it on #HighSpeedRail, or a slower #rail experience.
I took that route in January, and not only did I get to see some interesting old buildings and natural beauty as we traveled up the Hudson Valley, but in some places I could see areas of water that were frozen over and people were ice fishing. It was far more scenic than I expected.
Double Oof. I've so far lucked out on my Amtraks, staying in the normal range of delays. A catastrophic delay like that sounds miserable (and Lord knows I've had worse with planes). Hopefully they at least had heat on throughout.
I was very lucky to take Rovos Rail from Cape Town to Victoria Falls several years ago. The interiors of the train were restored to their Edwardian glory and it was through some of the most amazing scenery I've ever seen--particularly in the wine country around Stellenbosch.
Well CA HSR isn't *that* far off! Good to know about the MTL/QC trip, though -- I'd like to visit both of them, and even better if I can combine that with some relaxing train travel.
definitely slow speed! There are much good memories going to places by train! I love 'train-ing" 😄 Here are 2 pictures from those memories! Can you guess where did we go? 😁
Being packed with military memorabilia, loaded with weaponry and bringing battle scenes to life an exciting and fun family day for all is guaranteed in the Institute and Museum of Military History. Th
I did the Coast Starlight earlier this year heading north, but it got too dark to see out the windows around the Oakland Coliseum. I'll have to find an excuse to get that section again when it's day time out...
it's hard to choose! I had a great time on the Empire Builder with @klara back in '09, some great European and North African trips with @talex5 , and a ton of fun riding around Japan. Just recently I had a beautiful trip through some Alps! I even made new friends a few times on the Texas Eagle somewhere between Chicago and Austin. I can't pick a favorite; they're all good trains (Brent).
the first time I rode Caltrain was an absolute delight. It felt like I'd stepped back in time a hundred years and found it cleaner and more accessible than is historically accurate, but with all the quaint roadside attractions and the live station announcements and so much more natural light than I'm used to from light rail.
"cleaner and more accessible than is historically accurate" 😂
I've only ever taken BART in the Bay Area, but regional rail is the best. Especially if transit agencies can deliver hourly-or-better service and weekend trains, as well.
my first real train trip ever, my aunt took me on the southwest chief from chicago to raton, NM. i still think about that one a lot. i think we probably got delayed by at least 8 or 9 hours along the way. the toilets still opened directly onto the tracks. there was a mutual seduction / religious conversion happening a few seats over. all very amtrak.
There's no feeling like watching the tracks fly by under your toilet... The Chief holds a special place in my heart, too. Did CHI to ABQ once, and I only this year went back and did ABQ to LAX to finish it off. There's some nice scenery from Colorado to Arizona.
Realizing how fast you're going on a proper high speed rail is a great feeling. I've heard Japan has some nice slower, narrow gauge lines worth experiencing too.
I just said to someone earlier how great the narrow gauge lines in Japan seem! And the Takayama Line wikipedia page has a featured photo taken just past Inotani -- and I have to agree with your assessment!
Hitting 325 kph (briefly, although 315 was maintained for extended periods) under the wire, on the Paris―Strasbourg run, was kind of nice. Also amusing aboard a German ICE, as I've not gone that fast aboard one in Germany!
I ride trains all the time, they've been my main long haul travel within the US for a long time (have not driven in a decade, have not flown for longer than that.) My favorite trip was not one that went well. Traveling from San Francisco to Seattle on Amtrak (usually ~24 hrs) we had to pull into a siding during a blizzard and sat for eight hours. I was in a private room and had brought books/wine/coffee and it was a super peaceful time.
Up in the mountains? Even if not, assuming there was enough food, drinks, and fuel, and if I had no where urgent to be, that sounds like a very pleasant delay!
Was that a multi-train ride? I'm hopeful that one day I'll get to head through the new Base Tunnel network the Swiss are putting in to dart under the Alps, if only so I can take the slow train back :)
@boisdevache Boston’s red line between MGH and Kendall station- the train goes on a historic bridge across the Charles with a wonderful view of the city
I’d only ever seen trains with the actual compartments with doors in old films so I assumed they were a thing of the past, so I was thrilled when I got on a train from Bratislava to Budapest and found that it had the old-fashioned-looking compartments
riding from Prague to Berlin on a train originating from Budapest was fantastic, when my partner and i found our car our travel mates, two enormous german men, stood up to put our bags on the overhead racks and sat down without even taking a break from their conversation, several "vielen dank!"s later we were sipping lagers we'd brought with us taking in amazing views of tiny villages on hill sides and winding water ways
There's something great about railroads like that. They're less intrusive than roads, so you can just briefly exist in a setting, let it exist without you, and then move on to the next one. And everyone you're traveling with can drink. That's another bonus.
Taking the Amtrak Coast Starlight from San Jose to Los Angeles. It sort of feels like the last vestige of old-fashioned long haul trains, with a dining car, observation car, movie theater, etc. on board. First class passengers can do a wine and cheese tasting and get a guided tour of the sights. In the dining car you get paired up with strangers for groups under 4 so it was a nice way to meet new people. And it goes through some spectacular scenery at times.
The Coast Starlight has come up a few times in the replies, and, to be honest, it's in competition for what I'd go with, as well. It's a different vibe, but the northern half of that route -- going through the mountains in Oregon, cutting up the valleys into Seattle -- is also a fantastic experience.
The disadvantages of the more complex monorail train mechanism makes me think they will always be niche. Standard train rails and wheels abuse some simple physics to prevent derailing you lose with a monorail.
I just want more trains, let's go Amtrak expansion.
Between the complexity of their operations / maintenance and that Simpsons episode, I think you're right that they'll stay fairly niche.
Sadly, there's talk of making a major transit project in LA a monorail. It would drastically reduce the efficiency of the line supposed to reduce one of the city's main commuting backups.
Yeah, but Trailblazer predated Disney. It was a suspended type (not the Alweg system), a prototype constructed by "Monorails Inc" for a proposed Houston mass transit system. And still a pretty good idea, considering how prone to flooding Houston is!
I can't say I've had one that stands out... But I really wanna try the London to Cornwall overnight train one day!!! It looks amazing and the prices arent terrible either, considering.
On the one hand -- I totally see it, that sounds great. But on the other hand, someone else pointed out the bit between Exeter and Newton Abbot, and I would hate to miss that in the darkness. I guess take the day train back and get the best of both worlds?
I haven't done any of the Japan routes, but I have done Fort William to Glasgow and OH MY GOODNESS are those views fantastic. I had perfectly Scottish weather for the trip, a beverage cart, and a book. A very wonderful route!
I did Boston to Providence this past weekend, and it was a similar feeling. I was so amazed that I could just ... get on a train, and end up in the heart of another state's capital. And then head back. And there wasn't a spot of traffic the entire way.
Sounds rough, but, on the plus side, at least you were then in Istanbul!
There's a lot of development going on in Turkey, and I hope that fifteen years from now it's possible take a fairly high speed train from Istanbul to Sofia to Budapest.
That does sound fun. I'm always torn if I'd rather do a long train ride with other people or not. Company has its obvious perks, but the solitude to enjoy your surroundings passing by is its own magic.
Recently rode the train between Lisbon and Porto and they had signs telling you the live speed of the train which I loved. I realize my standards for train rides are very low, though 😂
going coast-to-coast in Canada in 2017 was pretty amazing. I especially loved going through the Rockies (on the Vancouver-Toronto train) and waking up to see Gaspésie in the background (on the Montréal-Halifax train)
That one ... It's more expensive than a lot of other ways to get from Coast to Coast, but I've definitely looked into it. You went West to East? Winter or Summer? I feel like the longer days and greenery would be a strong reason to go summer, but if the rails are clear, I feel like a snowy trip through the Rockies would be tough to beat...
I did it over the course of a month, spending a week each in Vancouver, Toronto, Montreal and Halifax, which was the benefit of doing it that way vs just flying straight through. I did it in early to mid spring, so the prairies were a bit dull compared to winter, but there was still a fair bit of snow on the rockies
I'm not saying I'm going to stay around the PNW after the AAS this year to take that one again, but ...
And I didn't know about that one. It seems like a great route, though -- Amsterdam, Rotterdam, Antwerp, Brussels, Paris ... Need to find a conference in one of those to go to...
Taking the train from Los Mochis to Cd. Chihuahua, MX. The train goes from the subtropical coast through Las Barrancas del Cobré over the high forested mountains and down into the desert. I spent the day riding on a flatcar talking to fishermen and indios. When it got cold, we went inside, listened to somebody playing guitar and ate potato chips with hot sauce.
I'm thinking I might already know the answer, but was this a train ride you paid for? I'm looking at that route, and seeing some photos from Puente Chinipas right at the Chihuahua / Sinaloa border and dang, that ride looks gorgeous.
I actually bought a ticket. Tickets for the second class train were really inexpensive. There's a first class train that's very modern and fast but it's really only for tourists and businessmen. Besides, they don't let vendors on the first class train so there's nothing to eat.
It's a shame! Amtrak isn't the fastest, but it's best when it's the classiest. And there's a lot of love for the Coast Starlight on here, which makes me happy.
multi-day journey through rural West Virginia! Started in the open air cars and then transitioned to the actual antique passenger train. Saw parts of the state only accessible via train!
my favorite was definitely the Chunnel! Based in the US and have never ridden a proper train here (aside from the Denver light rail). It was incredible riding in a fully featured train UNDERWATER between two countries. Also very inexpensive!
I haven't done the Chunnel yet, but it's one of those things that's just too cool to process. A TRAIN, traveling under the OCEAN, to a separate COUNTRY, and it's not even a big deal?!?!
A friend of mine was able to get on board the JR train at the stop (closed at last notice) INSIDE the Seikan Tunnel, underneath the Tsugaru Strait which divides Honshu from Hokkaido.
Ever since she told me about that, I've thought it would make an AMAZING opening scene for a film.
we took the Empire Builder route between Chicago and Portland. The trio had a lot of woerdness, but going across the Western states was awesome. Though expensive, we loved eating in the diner car and striking up interesting conversations with the random people we were seated with.
Oof, going for the feels with that one. I'm glad you have the memories, at least, but it's a good example of train trips being about more than the view.
Good memories, yes, but also my first forays into traveling by myself as a young person. It felt revolutionary, because it's so rare to be able to do it in America.
I had a friend take the Amtrak from Chicago to Detroit, and she made quick friends with a guy who brought a hearty supply of wine. Suffice to say, when I picked her up from the train station, she only had excellent things to say about her experience!
Saint-Petersburg to Odessa, express #21. I traveled it a lot when I was a child. It takes the perfect time of 1.5 days and also means I was going home ^_^
Favorite train trip was "The New England States" route from Chicago to Boston, when I was a kid; it was our family route for visiting grandparents in W-Mass. And we kids could drink orange and grape "Fizzies" along the way! cheers
Probably not the answer anyone is expecting, but my most memorable train journey is one that you can't take anymore—from Frankfurt/Main to West Berlin through East Germany during the Cold War. Crossing the heavily fortified inner German border was something I'll never forget.
I was on the train from NYC going back to Toronto. In the winter. Just before reaching the border into Canada, some trouble on the track forced us to stop. After being stuck a long time, I chose to just walk across the border! First time I ever walked back into my home country and got a good kick out of it! Had to go through customs in the lane for cars. My wife picked me up on the other side. 😄
Sounds like it makes for a great out-of-context story, too. "That reminds me of the time I walked home from New York City. Boy were they surprised to see me walking up in the car lane at the border!"
My least favourite was probably a trip on the ICE (nominally super-high-speed) between Berlin and Munich, which was slowed down to a literal walking pace, and sometimes stopped, due to signalling and other problems on the line. We arrived three hours late.
The worst part of it was, I was stuck in a six-person compartment with five PHP developers returning from a conference, talking excitedly in a mixture of German and English about… well, PHP.
It was supposed to be the end of the world as we knew it, and I … and I sat in a speeding glass-domed #rail car; chewing some bizarre meat-spread sandwich I’d purchased onboard; watching the clouds glide past, busy attending to their cloudy affairs, completely unaffected by all of us panicking humans below them … and I suddenly felt fine.
@_astronoMay For High Speed Rail I would have to say that both the TGV (Paris-Lyon) and the Shinkansen (Tokyo-Osaka) were cool. Domestically Amtrak’s California Zephyr through Colorado was amazing!
you already got a lot - and I got to many. The rail from Copenhagen to Oslo, along the east coast of Sweden + through the mountains of Norway to Bodø. Through Finland with the thousand lakes. Through the highlands of Scotland to the west coast. Enjoy.
There are some lovely routes up there. Have you ever seen any of the Slow TV videos online? Just a camera on the front of a train, recording the entire ride from A to B. The first one they made, back in 2009, was Bergen to Oslo.
Amtrak stuff up and down the west coast of the US can be amazing - definitely don't get it if you want to be somewhere in a hurry, but with some splendid views and a sometimes gloriously eccentric experience.
(On a train from Seattle up to Vancouver BC, progress was halted due to a swing bridge getting stuck in the open position. Once the bridge was fixed, setting off was briefly delayed because the driver had gone missing - apparently she'd wandered off to get a sandwich...)
You've definitely got to lean in to the eccentricity if you take Amtrak. Or get a private room, I guess. You overhear some fun conversations just sitting in the lounge car.
Seattle to Portland is definitely a fantastic trip - and a roughly similar distance to the Thalys from Brussels to Paris, which I'd often taken previously.
Although - the in the time it took me to get from Seattle to Portand, the Thalys could have gone from Brussels, to Paris, to Brussels and back to Paris again...
The 3 day, 4,000 km trip on the Indian pacific, through the middle of Australia. Just an endless expanse of the most beautiful nothingness as you stared out into the Nullarbor
I have experienced both ends of the spectrum. Taking the high speed train from Shanghai airport to the city was fun. A night sleeper from Prague to Krakow was also nice. Been on lots and lots of trains in India, which are a different kind of fun, mostly interacting with the people and watching humanity.
I'm surprised Prague to Kraków is long enough to even get some sleep in. That sounds fun, though! A good sleep on a train, waking up in a new city... It's tough to beat!
This was in 2009. Things might have changed since then, but I boarded the train in Prague around 9 pm and was in Krakow for breakfast at around 7 am! :)
I recently popped across the English channel on a trip from London to Brussels using the Eurostar and as dull as it may sound to some, I love being able to zip across the continent purely by train!
Helps me feel more connected to our nearest neighbours.
I love what rail networks do to uniting a region. I realize it's a loaded topic to get into, but I wonder what effects an Irish Sea tunnel ever being built would have.
Waaaay back in 2001, my wife and I took the overnight sleeper train from Tallinn in Estonia to St Petersburg in Russia. Reached the border in the early hours, at which point armed Russian border guards went through the train checking passports. No pictures of that journey, but many many memories.
There are a lot of people listing overnight trains -- I think they're what the people want more of! I guess a passport check is basically just a more thorough version of the conductor walking along checking tickets, too.
Don't know if it's my favourite, but certainly memorable. 2 days to travel 2/3 the length of New Zealand - 3 trains, 1 ferry & 1 bus - from my aunt's home in Dunedin to my parents' home in Mt Maunganui. Wonderful coastal stretch in the South Island (Christchurch to Picton). Leaving the capital they'd oversold tickets, so some of us rode in the guard's van until Palmerston North where enough people got off we could get seats to sleep in overnight. Definitely not highspeed rail!
I ended up on an over-booked train from Busan to Seoul with a standing room only ticket. I was able to grab a seat at first, but I kept on getting bounced as more people showed up whose seats I was in. By the end of it, there weren't any seats left, and I was hanging out in the vestibule for the last twenty minutes. I'm glad you at least got a chance to sleep on a seat!
My favorite train ride was a sleeping car in Norway. It was some lower class, where instead of beds, there were chairs, but you could recline it to almost 45 degrees. It was the most comfortable ride I ever had. I experienced elsewhere actual beds in sleeping cars, that were less comfortable than that.
Mine was with my Gramps who was a train driver, as a wee girl on a track that no longer exists, northwest of Whangārei in Tai Tokerau, Northland, Aotearoa New Zealand. I still remember it and it was nearly 50 years ago! Have loved trains all my life & my mum tells of having to take me on train rides to settle me as a baby. Some others have been the Taieri Gorge Railway from Ōtepoti Dunedin, Ōtākou, also in Aotearoa New Zealand, another that is no longer operational, sadly.
I just watched a video of the Taieri Gorge Railway. That looks really nice! I've got a soft spot for tourist trains, and that looks like it is/was a great one.
My best was probably my most recent and that was 2018. A trip from Manchester, UK via London to Colchester. I discovered first class for Man-Lon was quite affordable and it was great — roomy seating, good food, nice view. I could get used to traveling like that. But haven't traveled much lately — didn't leave Onondaga County at all in the first year of the pandemic. And have heard enough air travel horror stories recently to keep me at home.
I kept very local for the first year, too, not going more than 15 miles from my house until ... June 2021, maybe? I've gotten much more footloose since getting the vax(es), though.
I've hopped on some first class trains before upon realizing just how cheap the upgrade is. Nothing like the cost of moving to the front of the plane.
The great thing about rails in Europe is that they can take you to a country that is doing a better job 😉 . I definitely hear you about the slow trains + lush countrysides.
I once lived in a dorm that overlooked a fairly well-trafficked train line, and it was mesmerizing watching trains glide along in the dark of night. I'd probably not like to have my back yard pressed up against a passenger line, but it's fun to see people going about their lives, whether looking from the train or into it. (And accessible trains are the best trains!)
The bullet trains get all the attention, but the smaller trains seem to be the real hidden gems in Japan. The Maple Tunnel that's gone around the web a couple times seems like one heck of an experience.
Oh my, that's lovely! It's the Rhine, obviously, but where exactly is that? It reminds me of Neckarsteinach, where you can hang out in an old "castle" and watch S-Bahn trains zip along the river.
Speaking of Inverness, some of my more memorable train journeys have, alas, not been good for the scenery. Chiefly because they've been sleeper/overnight trips. Most recently, the summer before the pandemic, my family took the sleeper from London to Inverness. The stop in Edinburgh was in darkness, but the sun was well up to see the approach to Inverness.
this is where the earlier mention of the Cold War also comes into play. The Inverness journey was, in part, an anniversay trip for me because I was in the UK near its end. In March 1989 I and 3 other students spent most of a night during our Easter break in the Hannover train station, waiting for an overnight train across the Inner German Border and the Wall to West Berlin. Not much scenery seen but they did stop the train & patrol alongside it with German shepherds at one point.
The great thing about Inverness is how north it is. If you're heading up in the summer, you'll have plenty of daylight to enjoy the views on the train with.
My favourite train ride was from Odawara to Hakone with the Hakonetozan line. The landscape is so beautiful and it's so steep and narrow that the train has to go back and forth on a zig-zag line to climb the mountains.
the summer before the pandemic, I went to Istanbul by train from Wakefield (in the north of England) - obviously a multi-leg journey involving three sleepers and breaking the journey overnight in Budapest and then Bucharest. Amazing trip.
I was in Istanbul this past summer, and it was a major bummer that I couldn't make a train ride back into central Europe work with my schedule. That sounds fantastic...
my favorite train journey is the one that does not get canceled by Deutsche Bahn and doesn't have me sharing the carriage with an idiot who vapes instead of wearing a mask.
a couple years ago, I took an Amtrak trip from Raleigh > DC > Chicago > Denver > SLC. I planned it out so that I would stay overnight at least 1 night in each city, mostly sleeping on friends' couches.
It's genuinely amazing to step off the train and be directly in the city center; stepping off the train and going directly to the Chicago Art Institute and then walking to meet my friend for dinner felt totally novel.
Plus, tons of great convos with folks on the train too!
There are some cities where the station isn't quite downtown -- Cleveland, Detroit, e.g., -- and I just want to shake those cities and say "What are you doing!?"
Chicago is real nice, though, especially being a major Amtrak hub. If you have to wait a few hours for your next train, it's nice to pop over and enjoy a meal / visit a comic book store / go to a museum / etc.
completely agreed!! one of the best benefits of rail travel is the ability to travel without having to deal with a car when you get to your destination. Put transit hubs in city centers!
Yeah, although that stretch also has a lot of snow sheds, so the views are a bit intermittent. Lots of nice uninterrupted views in the Rockies the next day though.
oh oh oh! Pick me! In 2009, I found RT tickets from St. Louis to Madrid for $215 (!). I decided to spend most of my week in Ronda the hills of in Andalusia. Birthplace of bullfighting (not endorsing). For Whom the Bell Tolls is set here. Explored the anthro museum across from Atocha before boarding 1st class -- along with a very beautiful pro basketball team. Seated next to a well tailored gent who gave great advice. The train in Spain does not stay mainly on the plain.
thank you! It was magical. My parents lived in Andalusia the first four years they were married. I grew up hearing about Granada, the Alhambra, Seville, and even little Ronda.
Were you on the Jacobite? The one time I was in Fort William I couldn't quite make my schedule work out to take it, but even the regular trains look fantastic on that route!
My favorite was during interrail. I bought the European rail time table which looked like a phone book and contained a whole lot of information about different rail systems around the world. Did you know interrail has a similar ticket called the indrail ticket? My favorite journey during this time was the night train from Prag to Sofia, during which I drank Rakia and played cards with strangers the whole night through 🎴
A few decades ago, I was 17 I believe, taking the train from Cataluña (NE Spain) to my home in the middle of Germany. I spent the major part of the journey including the night - all through France - in a compartment with two Dobermen and their humans. Slightly intimidating but in this case extraordinarily well behaved.
I can see that being a bit intimidating! But, if you have to share a compartment, there's something to be said for half of the occupants being unable to talk...
😄 I think the other half were French which I didn't speak and in those days French would rather rarely extend much effort to talk to a German. But the atmosphere was nice and friendly and apparently quite memorable to me.
I’ve only really traveled by train when traveling outside of the U.S. but one of my favorite train rides was through the Canadian countryside from Montreal to Quebec and I purchased a glass of wine and it came in a fruit juice box with a little straw.
Max "Buzzworthy" Eddy
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Unknown parent • • •It's never too late to take a train!
Well, other than when you get to the station as the train is leaving...
Thomas Connor
Unknown parent • • •GMate8
in reply to Thomas Connor • • •Here are 2 pictures from those memories! Can you guess where did we go? 😁
Thomas Connor
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in reply to Thomas Connor • • •en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hospit… and budacastlebudapest.com/militar…
I know, the pictures don't really fit the topic, but that's because of I took them on-the-road, nit when we arrived! 🤓
Museum of Military History
Buda CastleThomas Connor
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in reply to Alex, the Hearth Fire • • •"cleaner and more accessible than is historically accurate" 😂
I've only ever taken BART in the Bay Area, but regional rail is the best. Especially if transit agencies can deliver hourly-or-better service and weekend trains, as well.
Alex, the Hearth Fire
in reply to Thomas Connor • • •if Caltrain is rail from the idealized 1920s, BART is from the gritty, grimy 80s
and the transition between them at Millbrae is pure 50s brutalism
Thomas Connor
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in reply to Thomas Connor • • •that makes sense
I was born in 1992, so 100 years ago has always been in the 20th century for me
2000 was ten years ago for the entirety of the 2010s
now it's 2022, and 2020 was ten years ago :P
Thomas Connor
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in reply to Thomas Connor • • •Probably has to be Oakland to LA. ^_^ Once you're south of Monterey, you're headed through some absolutely gorgeous rolling vistas.
Memorable bonus: frolicking dolphins as the track passed very clsse to the shoreline around Oxnard.
Thomas Connor
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in reply to Thomas Connor • • •The disadvantages of the more complex monorail train mechanism makes me think they will always be niche. Standard train rails and wheels abuse some simple physics to prevent derailing you lose with a monorail.
I just want more trains, let's go Amtrak expansion.
Thomas Connor
in reply to gudenau • • •Between the complexity of their operations / maintenance and that Simpsons episode, I think you're right that they'll stay fairly niche.
Sadly, there's talk of making a major transit project in LA a monorail. It would drastically reduce the efficiency of the line supposed to reduce one of the city's main commuting backups.
Andrew Connor
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Unknown parent • • •Sounds rough, but, on the plus side, at least you were then in Istanbul!
There's a lot of development going on in Turkey, and I hope that fifteen years from now it's possible take a fairly high speed train from Istanbul to Sofia to Budapest.
Thomas Connor
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Unknown parent • • •Erin M. May, PhD
in reply to Thomas Connor • • •Thomas Connor
in reply to Erin M. May, PhD • • •(It is that bad)
((It's still pretty good, though. Just not European.))
Typical Angry Byke
in reply to Thomas Connor • • •Thomas Connor
in reply to Typical Angry Byke • • •Typical Angry Byke
in reply to Thomas Connor • • •Thomas Connor
in reply to Typical Angry Byke • • •Thomas Connor
Unknown parent • • •I'm not saying I'm going to stay around the PNW after the AAS this year to take that one again, but ...
And I didn't know about that one. It seems like a great route, though -- Amsterdam, Rotterdam, Antwerp, Brussels, Paris ... Need to find a conference in one of those to go to...
Rafael
in reply to Thomas Connor • • •Thomas Connor
in reply to Rafael • • •Rafael
in reply to Thomas Connor • • •Thomas Connor
in reply to Rafael • • •Rafael
in reply to Thomas Connor • • •Michael Ekstrand
in reply to Thomas Connor • • •Thomas Connor
in reply to Michael Ekstrand • • •Justin Ferrell
in reply to Thomas Connor • • •Thomas Connor
in reply to Justin Ferrell • • •Michael Busch
in reply to Thomas Connor • • •Thomas Connor
in reply to Michael Busch • • •Michael Busch
in reply to Thomas Connor • • •Alexis
in reply to Thomas Connor • • •Thomas Connor
in reply to Alexis • • •Alexis
in reply to Thomas Connor • • •Delta Sierra
in reply to Thomas Connor • • •Thomas Connor
in reply to Delta Sierra • • •clacke: exhausted pixie dream boy 🇸🇪🇭🇰💙💛 likes this.
Delta Sierra
in reply to Thomas Connor • • •publius
in reply to Thomas Connor • • •A friend of mine was able to get on board the JR train at the stop (closed at last notice) INSIDE the Seikan Tunnel, underneath the Tsugaru Strait which divides Honshu from Hokkaido.
Ever since she told me about that, I've thought it would make an AMAZING opening scene for a film.
clacke: exhausted pixie dream boy 🇸🇪🇭🇰💙💛 likes this.
Thomas Connor reshared this.
Delta Sierra
in reply to publius • • •Thomas Connor
in reply to Delta Sierra • • •Jim Jones
in reply to Thomas Connor • • •Pete
in reply to Thomas Connor • • •Thomas Connor
in reply to Pete • • •Pete
in reply to Thomas Connor • • •Thomas Connor
Unknown parent • • •Chedim
in reply to Thomas Connor • • •Thomas Connor
in reply to Chedim • • •Thomas Connor
Unknown parent • • •Thomas Connor
Unknown parent • • •GooseThird
in reply to Thomas Connor • • •cheers
Thomas Connor
in reply to GooseThird • • •Bram Boroson
in reply to Thomas Connor • • •Thomas Connor
in reply to Bram Boroson • • •Larry Anderson
in reply to Thomas Connor • • •Thomas Connor reshared this.
Thomas Connor
in reply to Larry Anderson • • •smays.com
in reply to Thomas Connor • • •Things I Learned While Riding the Train | smays.com
www.smays.comSteve Roy
in reply to Thomas Connor • • •Thomas Connor
in reply to Steve Roy • • •publius
in reply to Thomas Connor • • •My least favourite was probably a trip on the ICE (nominally super-high-speed) between Berlin and Munich, which was slowed down to a literal walking pace, and sometimes stopped, due to signalling and other problems on the line. We arrived three hours late.
The worst part of it was, I was stuck in a six-person compartment with five PHP developers returning from a conference, talking excitedly in a mixture of German and English about… well, PHP.
clacke: exhausted pixie dream boy 🇸🇪🇭🇰💙💛 likes this.
Thomas Connor
in reply to publius • • •Rodolfo
in reply to Thomas Connor • • •@xxyxxyart
#RTP to #NYC on the eve of #Y2K.
It was supposed to be the end of the world as we knew it, and I … and I sat in a speeding glass-domed #rail car; chewing some bizarre meat-spread sandwich I’d purchased onboard; watching the clouds glide past, busy attending to their cloudy affairs, completely unaffected by all of us panicking humans below them … and I suddenly felt fine.
#train
Thomas Connor
in reply to Rodolfo • • •fuzzface
in reply to Thomas Connor • • •Thomas Connor
in reply to fuzzface • • •fuzzface
in reply to Thomas Connor • • •Jameslew
in reply to Thomas Connor • • •Thomas Connor
in reply to Jameslew • • •Jameslew
in reply to Thomas Connor • • •Chris Jakobsen
in reply to Thomas Connor • • •The rail from Copenhagen to Oslo, along the east coast of Sweden + through the mountains of Norway to Bodø.
Through Finland with the thousand lakes.
Through the highlands of Scotland to the west coast.
Enjoy.
Thomas Connor
in reply to Chris Jakobsen • • •Chris Jakobsen
in reply to Thomas Connor • • •Coprolite9000
in reply to Thomas Connor • • •Amtrak stuff up and down the west coast of the US can be amazing - definitely don't get it if you want to be somewhere in a hurry, but with some splendid views and a sometimes gloriously eccentric experience.
(On a train from Seattle up to Vancouver BC, progress was halted due to a swing bridge getting stuck in the open position. Once the bridge was fixed, setting off was briefly delayed because the driver had gone missing - apparently she'd wandered off to get a sandwich...)
Thomas Connor
in reply to Coprolite9000 • • •Coprolite9000
Unknown parent • • •Seattle to Portland is definitely a fantastic trip - and a roughly similar distance to the Thalys from Brussels to Paris, which I'd often taken previously.
Although - the in the time it took me to get from Seattle to Portand, the Thalys could have gone from Brussels, to Paris, to Brussels and back to Paris again...
Tigerion
in reply to Thomas Connor • • •Just an endless expanse of the most beautiful nothingness as you stared out into the Nullarbor
Thomas Connor
in reply to Tigerion • • •West Coast Birder
in reply to Thomas Connor • • •Thomas Connor
in reply to West Coast Birder • • •West Coast Birder
in reply to Thomas Connor • • •PaulR 🐻
in reply to Thomas Connor • • •Thomas Connor
in reply to PaulR 🐻 • • •Miguel Roca
in reply to Thomas Connor • • •I recently popped across the English channel on a trip from London to Brussels using the Eurostar and as dull as it may sound to some, I love being able to zip across the continent purely by train!
Helps me feel more connected to our nearest neighbours.
Also I 💚 Europe generally so... win win!
Thomas Connor
in reply to Miguel Roca • • •Miguel Roca
in reply to Thomas Connor • • •Giles Turnbull
in reply to Thomas Connor • • •Thomas Connor
in reply to Giles Turnbull • • •Iain
in reply to Thomas Connor • • •Thomas Connor
in reply to Iain • • •Etam
in reply to Thomas Connor • • •Thomas Connor
in reply to Etam • • •Thomas Connor
Unknown parent • • •Central&Western Archive Social
in reply to Thomas Connor • • •Thomas Connor
in reply to Central&Western Archive Social • • •Hexbolt
in reply to Thomas Connor • • •Thomas Connor
in reply to Hexbolt • • •Rich Holmes
in reply to Hexbolt • • •Thomas Connor
in reply to Rich Holmes • • •I kept very local for the first year, too, not going more than 15 miles from my house until ... June 2021, maybe? I've gotten much more footloose since getting the vax(es), though.
I've hopped on some first class trains before upon realizing just how cheap the upgrade is. Nothing like the cost of moving to the front of the plane.
Thomas Connor
Unknown parent • • •Thomas Connor
Unknown parent • • •Thomas Connor
Unknown parent • • •Thomas Connor
Unknown parent • • •Axel Antoni
in reply to Thomas Connor • • •Thomas Connor
in reply to Axel Antoni • • •like jam or bootlaces
Unknown parent • • •Speaking of Inverness, some of my more memorable train journeys have, alas, not been good for the scenery. Chiefly because they've been sleeper/overnight trips. Most recently, the summer before the pandemic, my family took the sleeper from London to Inverness. The stop in Edinburgh was in darkness, but the sun was well up to see the approach to Inverness.
this is where the earlier mention of the Cold War also comes into play. The Inverness journey was, in part, an anniversay trip for me because I was in the UK near its end. In March 1989 I and 3 other students spent most of a night during our Easter break in the Hannover train station, waiting for an overnight train across the Inner German Border and the Wall to West Berlin. Not much scenery seen but they did stop the train & patrol alongside it with German shepherds at one point.
@thomasconnor
Thomas Connor
in reply to like jam or bootlaces • • •ossifog
in reply to Thomas Connor • • •Thomas Connor
in reply to ossifog • • •Thomas Connor
Unknown parent • • •Kuroneko
in reply to Thomas Connor • • •Thomas Connor
in reply to Kuroneko • • •Dr Jo Kershaw
in reply to Thomas Connor • • •Thomas Connor
in reply to Dr Jo Kershaw • • •Dr Jo Kershaw
in reply to Thomas Connor • • •guenther
in reply to Thomas Connor • • •grant
in reply to Thomas Connor • • •a couple years ago, I took an Amtrak trip from Raleigh > DC > Chicago > Denver > SLC. I planned it out so that I would stay overnight at least 1 night in each city, mostly sleeping on friends' couches.
It's genuinely amazing to step off the train and be directly in the city center; stepping off the train and going directly to the Chicago Art Institute and then walking to meet my friend for dinner felt totally novel.
Plus, tons of great convos with folks on the train too!
Thomas Connor
in reply to grant • • •There are some cities where the station isn't quite downtown -- Cleveland, Detroit, e.g., -- and I just want to shake those cities and say "What are you doing!?"
Chicago is real nice, though, especially being a major Amtrak hub. If you have to wait a few hours for your next train, it's nice to pop over and enjoy a meal / visit a comic book store / go to a museum / etc.
grant
in reply to Thomas Connor • • •Doug Tabacco
in reply to Thomas Connor • • •Doug Tabacco
in reply to Thomas Connor • • •Thomas Connor
in reply to Doug Tabacco • • •Doug Tabacco
in reply to Thomas Connor • • •Amanda Finley Digs All Things
in reply to Thomas Connor • • •Thomas Connor reshared this.
Thomas Connor
in reply to Amanda Finley Digs All Things • • •Amanda Finley Digs All Things
in reply to Thomas Connor • • •Andrew McPhee
in reply to Thomas Connor • • •Thomas Connor
in reply to Andrew McPhee • • •gabert
in reply to Thomas Connor • • •Thomas Connor
in reply to gabert • • •gabert
in reply to Thomas Connor • • •schrotie
in reply to Thomas Connor • • •Thomas Connor
in reply to schrotie • • •schrotie
in reply to Thomas Connor • • •Alyson Decker
in reply to Thomas Connor • • •Thomas Connor
in reply to Alyson Decker • • •