Rail Travel Has Its Advantages

After driving 1,500 miles since last Friday, with 500 more to go tomorrow, a train trip sounds really nice about now:

If waiting more than a minute for an elevator makes you mad, chances are train travel is not for you.

But if you’re wondering whether riding the rails might at times be the better way to go, read on.

Are you a control freak?

If you believe that the journey is as important as the destination, you might be a train traveler. However, “you are NOT a train traveler if you want 100 percent control over your schedule; you are then a driver,” suggests J. Bruce Richardson, president of the United Rail Passenger Alliance. “There are many flaws to train travel as there are to any other activity. At times, trains are delayed, or equipment malfunctions, [or] there are grade crossing accidents,” he adds.

That said, Richardson notes that “train travel seems to bring out the best of many people, coercing conversations with newly made friends.”

This serendipity is one of the best aspects of rail travel, agrees John Pitt, author of the guidebook USA By Rail.

“I've heard marvelous stories sitting by chance next to Tennessee Williams’ former chauffeur and once watched a football game on TV with Bill Cosby in New York's Penn Station waiting room,” Pitt recalls. “You can easily mingle with fellow passengers on board, watch a movie in the evening, have a drink at the bar, or just enjoy the passing landscape.”

There's a lot more information in the story that for those of you who might want to ride the rails on a future trip.