As you read this, I will be on a train car filled with about 40 people and heading from Portage, Wisconsin to East Glacier Park, Montana. This is the third year of Switchback having the Rocky Mountain Express and it is a delightful experience. Having a ride on a train is something that most people consider a novelty these days. We are so used to the notion of getting on a plane and whisked away to a destination in a matter of hours. I could travel by plane to Australia faster than the time it will take to make the journey by train to Montana. And that is what is so special about this experience. The journey itself. We live in an age in which instant gratification is instant. Just a century ago, before air travel became a thing, the idea of traveling meant an adventure and not a commute. It was a trip that would require planning on what to pack, what to eat, what to wear and how to enjoy the journey of getting there. A train trip was something very magical. As Steve Goodman wrote in his famous song “The City of New Orleans”
The sons of Pullman porters
And the sons of engineers
Ride their fathers’ magic carpets
Made of steel.
Unlike air travel or even ship travel for that matter, what makes a train journey special is the passing by of landscape. The rails that cross the country do so across areas that for the most part are devoid of roads. They glide past areas that are pretty much the exclusive domain of trains. Paved roads and automobiles may pass landscape and sights as well, but such travel is devoid of community. Here’s where a train journey with people is indeed a magic carpet made of steel, large enough to include a whole group of people united in the desire to share some time, conversation and music together. What a wonderful experience having a group experience can be! This is what makes this journey unique. With a train, people have the ability to move about and talk, eat and relax as they are collectively brought to the destination. When you consider all the modes of travel out there, it is only the train that still can provide such an adventure. Even cruise ships are devoid of scenery, unless you like looking at the waves. And they have enough distractions in order to appease the solitary traveler. Trains do not have that luxury, nor is it wanted by those who chose to ride the rails. It is a wonderful sense of community that occurs when the train trip starts and, on the way, back, it is a very nostalgic parting when we have to return to Portage, WI. It is a journey for all of us, instantly and happily. We live in an age of instant gratification. That price for such a world is isolation, when one follows instant gratification to its very root. It is something that doesn’t allow for the creation of memory or joy. I am glad that my life has been spent in the company of others who believe in joy, community, adventure and art. All aboard!
READ MARTIN'S OTHER BLOG HERE.