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Elsewhere in the train are molded white plastic cabins, small rooms where the bottom benches fold down to become coffin beds, wrapped sarcophagus-style with pilly beige blankets. Rooms come with four or two beds; and my room has three - young Japanese girls, that is. Shifty characters, brushing their teeth, and putting on their slippers for the night. I’m resentful of having the bottom bunk, which is too small for me to sit up in, while these tiny girls lounge luxuriously in their undeserved top bunk glory. - holla Backpack
This post by a traveler on an overnight train in Spain (is it mainly on the plain?) is a must read - it absolutely evokes the sounds and feeling of rattling down the rails.
I love to travel by train. I love the space and the wobbly walk to the cafe car. I love the sound of the rails and the reflections on the windows as the day fades to black. I love to check out my fellow passengers and to stand in between the cars at brief stops when the doors are open. I love to watch people saying hello and goodbye in the stations, to chat with the conductors, to doze quietly with my shoes off and my iPod on, my own railway based soundtrack playing in my head. Good morning, America, how are you? In February, I took the train to Venice (vanity link) and if I close my eyes, I can replay the trip as though it were yesterday. And I still think about that wacky sex therapist in the llama boa from that train trip to Eugene. She was a card. Also in my memory? Peering out of my bunk at night on a train in India, a young Sikh at one end of the railway car, his long hair down his back while at the other end his companion helped him refold the blue banner of his unwound turban. Maybe this was a dream but that hardly matters.
It looks like a few savvy rail travel companies are cashing in on the train's appeal. Check out the swank style of these Christian Lacroix designed cabins. And yes, thank you for asking, I DO want to take a deluxe rail tour in India. I also want to take the luxury trains in South Africa, the Orient Express, the Canada Pacific Line, and every other line mentioned in this round up. Check out this suite. It's ON A TRAIN, people!
Kids can Travel has safety tips for traveling with the offspring on trains:
The following tips will ensure there are no accidents along the way. Stay well back on train platforms and keep children close - especially toddlers. When boarding or walking beside the train keep hands and feet from underneath and don’t let children near the wheels (trains can move at any time). Teach kids not to touch exterior doors or emergency windows and always supervise young children when using the restroom. Watch mobile toddlers closely, as playing in the aisles may be dangerous or annoying to other passengers. Walk cautiously and don’t go barefoot, especially when traveling between cars. If children are in another car or area of the train they should return immediately to their seats if the train stops at any time.
Via Seasons Travel, here's a video of what it looks like from the conductor's point of view. And here are the Flickr search results for pics tagged "train travel."
Just surfing these blogs has made me jones for a train trip. Hate to fly? So do I. Consider the alternatives. Now, I must go cue up a little Michelle Shocked. "If love were a train..." And then, a little Folsom Prison Blues. "I hear that train a comin..." I hear it too, but unless that whistle is right in front of me, it's too far away.
Pam blogs about travel and other adventures at Nerd's Eye View.
