These early mornings, while the sun decides whether or not to appear, I often drink my coffee to the background of US railways. This is merely to show some sign of life in the world, while I attempt to find my head. The coffee ought to do this, especially now I am slurping to a Sainsburys 'Winter Edition,' ground coffee.
'A medium dark roast coffee,
with hints of cinnamon, dried fruits,
and bittersweet dark chocolate.'
Hmmm, thought I, this sounds like the scrapings of the leftovers from the other coffee's. And lo and behold, on the back we read this coffee comes from Ethiopia, Guatemala and Indonesia! As I thought, the leftovers mixed together to create a 'Winter Edition,' dark, strong and rough. Still, Sainsburys only made £30 billion profit last year, I understand when they have to scrape things together.
What the coffee on Amtrak railways is like I cannot say, though it must be better than this. As the greyness seen behind closed curtains lightens slowly I watch Amtrak, interrupted by an occasional CSX freight hauling over a hundred wagons, heading from Richmond, just a short ten minutes south of Ashland, all the way to Boston Massachusetts. This is a long trip and I wonder why people board the train here at 6:19 in the morning. Leaving Richmond at 5:35 am it arrives in the far north at 15:47 pm, all things going well. Notoriously, Amtrak trains do not get priority on US lines. These lines are owned by the bog US rail companies, CSX, BNSF and Union Pacific amongst them. This means they own the lines and their freight gets priority. As a result many trains run hours late, though on this line such delays are less common than on other lines.
So, when they board in Ashland, Virginia early on, where are they going? Washington DC is the first major city on the run and arrival just before 9 am would suit commuters I suppose. If you do commute this way at what time would you return? Allowing for delays you might not get back that day, or that week if the snow falls and lies deep. Most either remain in town for a week or have other business up that way.
I would love to travel these long lines in the USA. This one goes through Washington, Baltimore, Philadelphia and New York, before the engine become electric and continues to Providence and Boston. More than a thousand miles covered here, so few must do the entire trip in one go. Surely for Americans aircraft would be better on such a distance?
There are of course other stops along the way, and other trains cover a similar route, some beginning in Miami where Donald Trump plots to remove President Musk, and goes all the way to New York or Chicago. Such long rail trips, and I can hardly get a train to Liverpool Street these days. That is something I must do soon.
There is something about rail travel, apart from commuting, which is enjoyable. If you commute daily it becomes a slog, especially if using one of London's stations, however, a reasonably long trip by rail can be enjoyable, much better than by bus, as long as the train is not crowded and the passengers, sorry we must call them customers these days, behave. I must get among them this year to commemorate 200 years of rail travel since the opening of the Stockton to Darlington line in 1825. 200 years of innovation and indeed disaster, fun and joy, economic growth and the opening of new vistas to people of all levels. Rail changed the way the world lives more than computers I say, I say while using a computer...
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