There’s something truly special about train travel. Very likely it’s the sensory elements: the feeling of rocking down the tracks, the clickety-clack sound, the scent that I call—for lack of a better term—“train smell,” and the enchanting melange of creosote and diesel fumes and hot steel. Traveling by rail has, for centuries, been a total auditory, olfactory, visual, and tactile experience.
But it’s more than that, I think. Part of the enjoyment is locked to the fact that once you’ve boarded a rail car, there’s little else to do. Yes, we have our iPads and phones and enough work and entertainment to get a long way down the track. But with, say, a cruise ship, you can always get up and explore the buffet or see a show. With a car? You can take the next exit and find yourself a tank of gas, a Slim Jim, and a new pair of cheap sunglasses. And while I guess the same could be said for planes and buses, they’re not nearly so much fun (especially the latter).
