Train Travel in the United States

 By Bruce Shawkey

One item on my bucket list is to take a train ride through the Rocky Mountains and on to California. Found this great book on the Internet about train travel.

One excerpt:

Sophie Tucker, America's great vaudeville and nightclub star, once said, "I've been rich and I've been poor. Believe me, rich is better." Well, in my many travels I've been comfortable and I've been uncomfortable. Believe me, comfortable is better. A lot better. And that's just one reason why I take the train. There are a lot of societal and environmental reasons for being pro-rail, and I'll talk about those in another chapter. But for long-distance travel, the train is the only civilized option left for us. You think not? Just consider the other choices. 

See America through a windshield? In Charles Kuralt's delightful book, On the Road with Charles Kuralt, he says, "Thanks to the Interstate Highway System, it is now possible to travel across the country coast-to-coast without seeing anything." Kuralt's exaggeration can be forgiven, but you won't come close to seeing much of the real America until you leave the interstate. When we build superhighways in this country, we level everything, carving swaths hundreds of yards wide across the land from horizon to horizon. When we're through, there's nothing much left to see. The only conceivable reason for traveling long distances by car is to save money, and that, I will argue, is only possible when expenses are divided among a number of passengers. 

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I hope to make the trip some day. I want a sleeper. And a meal plan. It'll probably cost me $1,000 or more, especially if it's a round trip, spending a couple days in California. We'll see.

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