Here's Amtrak's Downeaster just pulling into the Portland station on a recent morning. The train is still an 'in process experiment' bringing back the rail travel to the city, if you ask me. Now, ask the powers that be in the city, and they'll probably tell you the train is back! To be honest, ask most people, and they'll tell you, they hope train travel in southern Maine and north, for that matter works. But really, making this work is still up in the air around here... with, of course, economics at the base of the issue. We took the 8:30 train to Boston two summers ago. The trip down was quite fun passing all the stations south to big city. The day was perfect, yet a bit warm for walking the Freedom Trail, but it was something we had wanted to do as a family for a long time. J- is a history buff and shared numerous insightful historical moments along the Old Boston trail. Along the way, we even took in a draught at The Bell in Hand, the country's oldest continuously operating pub. The day was warm and tiring, so the trip back was sleepytime.http://www.thefreedomtrail.org/
I always forget there's a rail system to connect us to Boston. May have to ride this someday . . . you have made it sound intriguing to me!
ReplyDeleteMost towns of any size had buses or street cars in the early part of the last century. Tulsa certainly did. There are different stories on why they fell into disuse. The cost and environmental impact of personal transportation may bring decent public transportation back. I hope so. We waste so much driving around in automobiles.
ReplyDeleteI used to love riding the train when I was a kid! Train service through here was halted after Hurricane Katrina and I don't think it ever started back up again.
ReplyDeleteThis day trip is still inside my idea folder. I better bring it out before it's no longer a viable option.
ReplyDeleteI've taken that train at Christmas time to Boston and back and all the train personnel wore santa hats for the passengers' amusement. They made the journey great fun.
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