Writing About Long-Distance Train Travel … and Getting It Right.
I use Google Search to keep up with stories in print and on line having to do with train travel. Every few weeks, up pops a piece written by someone who has just taken their first long-distance ride on Amtrak. Predictably, they all talk about getting used to the leisurely pace, describe their accommodations and the dining car meals, and of course they rave about the scenery.
There are almost always errors, too, and it drives me crazy. One woman, writing about her Amtrak ride from Los Angeles up to Portland, Oregon, kept referring to the train as the “Coastal Starlight”. It is, of course, the Coast Starlight. Seems like a rather basic point to get right.
In another story, the writer praised the “porter” in his sleeping car for being so pleasant and accommodating. That was nice, but the official Amtrak job title for those folks is “car attendant”. It’s not such a small point, either. Back in the so-called Golden Age of train travel, the Pullman porters were all black males and, while those jobs were highly prized, much of the work was demeaning. For instance, passengers turning in for the night would put their shoes in a little compartment that the porter could open from the sleeping car’s corridor. While passengers were sleeping comfortably, the porters were busy most of the night shining all those shoes.
And having no interest in knowing their porter’s actual name, many passengers in those days had the unfortunate and insensitive habit of simply addressing all porters as “George”, after their employer, George Pullman. In fact, that’s one reason why Amtrak has always made a point of requiring their car attendants to wear name badges.
But getting back to the articles by first-time train travelers, the one thing they always write and rave about is the experience of meeting and chatting with other passengers during their rail journey. It’s quite true: you meet and actually get to know people over leisurely meals in the dining car or relaxing in the lounge car. It is, in fact, what I enjoy most about long-distance train travel.
Funny, isn’t it? On a five- or six- hour flight across the country in a jet airplane, you can sit next to someone in quarters so confined that you actually have to share an armrest … and never exchange a word. I wonder why that is.
I fly only occasionally, and almost always for business. Always in coach though. For that reason, although I am chatty, I rarely interact freely with other passengers. I’m either trying to get caught up on my sleep, or I’m working. When I was commuting by train (Metro-North, NEC) routinely it was the same thing, only worse. It seems like everyone has a morning routine, and God help the person who tries to interupt it. Afternoons, same thing. Of course, there are always exceptions. The times when I travel LD by train, it is vacation. Totally different mind set.
As for seating next to someone big. At 6’4, 290lbs, I realize that I am not a small guy. I do fit (barely) in a standard airline coach seat (without an extender), but my knees take a beating. In any case, I am aware of my size and the concept of personal space. While I try very hard to be cognizant and respectful of other people’s space, many folks do not. Final thought. When you are flying, or commuting, I think most people are in “endure” mode, not “relax” mode. This effects personal interactions.
P.S. Great site, Jim. Thanks.
Absolutely true. When that happens, I tell them I’m going to try to get some sleep, and I close my eyes. That generally works. Only thing worse than a non-stop talker is a seriously overweight person. I was in the window seat on a flight to Dallas – an eight-hour red eye! – and a very hefty woman had the seat next to me. It was so tight, I had to eat my meal left-handed.
On long plane journeys I usually say no more than hullo until at the end, when we are waiting for the doors to be opened and the slow shuffle to the front of the plane to begin. Sometimes I regret I had not spoken earlier as the person has something interesting to say. I think, like many people, I am afraid of being landed with a bore or non-stop talker from whom one has no escape. On a train journey you can always retreat to the privacy of one’s own compartment if necessary.