On Tue, 12 Oct 2004 19:15:40 +0100, Cotty <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > http://home.earthlink.net/~digisnaps/4712b.html > > > Whenever I see a North American railroad engine, it always takes me back > to when I was eleven years old (1971), and my mother, grandmother and > myself were travelling across Canada after getting off the boat from > England at Montreal, to meet my father and sister in Vancouver after a 6 > month sojourn in the UK. > > We spent three glorious days on a Canadian Pacific train, complete with > observation cars and everything. <snippage of Cotty's lyrical reminisces of Trans > Canadian Train Travel>
A couple of summers ago, my youngest, Claire, and I, travelled from Toronto to Halifax by train. We didn't get a roomette, or even berths, but went coach (t'was only one overnight, but let me tell you, it's hell on the coach). Claire and I still talk about it often - even though she was only 9, I think it's something she'll carry with her to her dying day: " the summer me and dad took the train to Nova Scotia". We spent most of the time up in the observation car, and while the scenery isn't quite of the same category as Western Canada, it was still fun (we played a game looking for beaver damns - found dozens of them). She also loved eating in the dining car - having scrambled eggs and juice while the scenery whizzed by made quite an impression on her. Normally I fly down East - when one's visiting relatives, a two hour flight as opposed to two long days on a train gives one much more "visiting time". But, there's still a certain romance and elegance to a train. It's so cool being on a train with a ~name~ (I think this one is called the "Scotian") - rather evocative of the 30's and 40's I should think, when one hopped on the "20th Century Unlimited" from New York to LA or something. If one has time (and money - travelling with a family on a train gets expensive compared to a car), one should do a train trip at least once. Just to say you did it... <vbg> Thanks for the chance to reminisce, Cotty. cheers, frank -- "Sharpness is a bourgeois concept." -Henri Cartier-Bresson
