Wagons West! Part 2

Everyone should travel by train…at least once.


But you can’t be in a hurry, and you can’t be snob or a recluse, or turn your nose up at the vast in between of America.

My Dad and I decided a while ago to take a train trip to New Mexico. My Grandfather on Dad’s side was a railway worker, and so my Dad spent much of his childhood summers travelling the country on the vast network of rails that so many of us have forgotten about. While the Golden Age of train travel has come and gone, it still had a great deal of meaning for my Dad.

As soon as we started planning the trip, it struck me how different it would be from any trip I’d taken before. I was no stranger to travel; I used to work for a consulting firm and travelled just about full time. But this trip was different, and not just because of its medium.

For the first time that I could remember , the trip was the thing….The destination was almost secondary.

We departed from Chicago’s Union Station, bound for Albuquerque, New Mexico. Even before we boarded, there was something palpable in the air. It could be felt among the passengers and the crew…a journey was forthcoming. Not a hop or a segment or a flight…the sort of journey that seemed an anachronism.

What I also found fascinating were the attitudes of my fellow passengers. Dad and I were riding for novelty and nostalgia, but I had no idea why anyone else would ride the train. It’s not fast, it’s not glamorous, and riding means being stuck in fairly tight quarters with one’s fellow passengers. Still, I was amazed to see how packed the train was, and at the enthusiasm with which everyone boarded.

Yes indeed, a journey was forthcoming.