Couldn't decide what to post today, then I went
(as always) to bombay clicks and got inspired.
Thanks, Rahul.
Train travel isn't as sexy as it used to be, unfortunately.
Pulled into the Bologna train station once on the Eurostar,
saw the Orient Express on the next platform—all shiny
black and gleaming brass—and (literally) gasped. Maybe
one day (if I win the lottery).
Brings tears to my eyes sometimes the way things ain't what they used to be. Well, maybe Smokey's the exception, huh?
ReplyDeleteAt first I was wondering—"Freight train? Commuter train?" Then I realized that commuters are little more than freight themselves these days. Commuter trains are just freight trains with seats (for the lucky few who can grab one in rush hour).
ReplyDeleteThe lighting gives your photo a kind of forlorn quality that is moving in a detached, alienating way. It's funny, it could be near dawn or sunset but the light just looks too tired for it to be dawn. I wonder what time of day this was taken.
I have always thought that train stations are somehow romantic, but once you get in most trains, it isn't.
ReplyDeleteI like trains, though I probably wouldn't if I had to ride them everyday. and this is a great shot.
ReplyDeleteTG -- yeah, Smoky's "tracks" are the best. BTW, is he called Smoky because of his voice?
ReplyDeleteThis is a commuter train, and the shot was taken at dusk. After my daily subway commute, I'm thinking that they probably wouldn't pack freight in like that, lest it break!
According to Wikipedia when William Robinson was still a child he was nicknamed "Smokey Joe" by an uncle because of his love of cowboy movies. In his teens, this was shortened to "Smokey".
ReplyDeleteThat's funny. As you say, those commodities known as commuters are held in even less regard than freight. Freight is handled with some consideration because of the possibility of breakage. People? People are cattle.
My daily commute by train and subway in Tokyo wasn't so bad for most of my years there because of late working hours. But that final summer when I kept regular hours. Whew. Well, Japanese people do like fish. Especially sardines.
TG -- Yikes! One assumes that you were taller than your fellow commuters and therefore could at least breathe! NYC is sometimes that bad, btw.
ReplyDeleteIf you can call what enters one's nostrils in such a crowded train "air" then, yes, I could breath up there. Gotta watch the old bean on the way in and out though. I fear there may have been some brain damage due to a number of less than gentle impacts here and there during my stay in that land so inaptly sized for me.
ReplyDeleteI suspected that NY subways might be similarly congested. Thanks for the confirmation, Alexa.
By the way, I met a Japanese guy, a pro volleyball player, who was taller than I. (The lucky stiff married a fab secretary who helped look after our workplace. Never was I able to parlay my own height to such advantage.)