Who among us cannot remember their first real job? Mine was working as floor manager for one of the two TV stations in Hartford, Connecticut. My official title was “messenger” because the first few hours of every day were spent running actual errands . . . like meeting the train coming up from New York…
When I tell people that I take Amtrak everywhere I go when I’m on the mainland—even traveling coast-to-coast—I get a lot of strange looks. But here, in no particular order, are seven reasons why a long-distance train really isn’t such a crazy idea at all. 1. Stress-Free Departure The last time I flew out of…
One of the more interesting trips I’ve taken was a train ride from Moscow across Siberia to Mongolia, then across the border into China and south to Beijing and Shanghai. Once again the message to be heard and hopefully learned: Fundamentally, people are all the same. The first of many surprises was realizing that in…
Many rail fans know that the gauge of the track changes at the Russian border. It widens from the international standard of 4 feet 8 1/2 inches to about 5 feet. I had been told that the reason for the difference was to delay any invading army at the Russian border because, presumably, it would…