The train came by

The train tracks ran quite closely to the shoreline on Puget Sound. I thought erosion and thing like that made it not possible to be so close to the sea.

I was wrong.

And just to prove that it was an active, working railroad track:  the train came by as I stood on the bridge.

Rail museum

The sign in the photo says not to climb on the train engines

...but that's exactly why we come here.

What little boy--and all the others with him--don't love climbing on old trains, trying out the gears in the engines and pretending to blow the whistle?
Or making train sounds of our own as we trail down the tracks?

Good fun.

It's terribly designed as far as museum quality and presentation of facts go.  Terrible.
The four year old with us knew the most because he watches Thomas the Tank Engine.

Trains are such an important part of India--past and present.
And because of that...

I suggest you follow that arrow and visit the Rail Museum.

Living by the tracks

Every day the people living beside the train tracks watch hundreds of people pass by on trains.

And in turn, passers by catch glimpses of them in their homes, in their yards.
Bathing, cooking, doing the laundry.
Heading off to school.

One life standing still, one blurring past.

Or maybe standing still an illusion.

Out the train window

Train riding is a great way to travel, to see India.

I'd like to show you a few of the sights...

If you thought you were safe from staring eyes...
....think again...

City streets, and always there's someone on a bicycle.

Underwear--or innerwear--advertising.

Waiting for the train to pass.

And isn't that a lovely rainbow?

Shatabdi

The shatabdi trains are among the fastest trains in India.  They are day trains, have fewer stops than most others, and they all return to their origin in the evening.
Most leave fairly early in the morning.  Which means you have to be serious about getting up in the morning and being on time. I had to run to catch my train because the taxi was stuck in the traffic jam well outside the station.
After my taxi had not moved for about ten minutes and my watch said the train would leave in eight minutes, I said to the driver, "How far is the entrance to the station?"
"It's just there around the corner and to the right.  When is the train?"
"In eight minutes.  Do you think I should go on foot?"
"I think you should go on foot, and you should go quickly."
So I paid him, ran to my train and did just barely make it.
Shew. 

Now this is not luxury, but there are some pretty good things about the shatabdi.

The shatabdi breakfast, complete with ketchup

The cars are air conditioned.and they serve you a meal and give you a newspaper to read.

And you MUST take the newspaper.  You must.
I refused it.  And the man threw it into my seat anyway.  Then five minutes later, he came back and threw in another one.
Thanks man.  I'll be sure and read it all twice.

I guess they want to be sure you have something to do while they prepare to bring you your meal.

Most people around me were sleeping.
I spent my time looking out the window, seeing the sights.

Steaming hot tea

And then came the tea.

the hot water for your tea

With a thermos full of hot water so you can make it yourself just the way you like it.

As my train adventure began with running, so it also ended.
On the morning I left to return home, my taxi arrived late.  I arrived at the station at the time my train was supposed to be leaving.  I ran in, and asked the nearest newspaper seller which platform the train was at.
"That train is right there," he said, pointing to the nearby train that was beginning to move.
Ah!
So I ran and jumped onto the nearest car, and--shew, again--did make it home.

Girl power

Derailed train?
No problem, these tough women can take care of it.

Once again, I am amazed by what the women of India can do.
In flip-flops, no less.

Wreck and destruction

How does something as horrific as this happen?
Train cars piled on top of one another, wheels torn off and metal crumpled like a soda can.

It must have been terrifying for those on board the train.



The Kalka Mail derailment was all over the news headlines.
Until it got eclipsed by news of the blasts in Mumbai.
Then the news of the terror attack in Norway and it's strange aftermath story took over. Hatred, by the way, is one destructive force.

One after another after another.
I think it's terrible that these things happen. I think it's worse that we can gorge ourselves on one gory tragedy after another and then forget them all together.

I have wondered, but haven't heard much about how the people of Japan are faring. They are an "astonishingly" resilient people.
Haiti is no where near recovered from the earthquake that hit in January of 2010.

It's much easier to live inside a bubble where the world's troubles don't affect me.
But that isn't good for any of us.

So I'm making it a goal to pay attention to the pain of someone other than myself today.

The railroad

My grandpa tells the story that he used to walk down these train tracks to school everyday.
My grandma says her cousin used to work at the train depot downtown.
"There used to be a depot right here, too, around the corner" my Grandpa said as we drove past, "but I guess it's all closed up now."
"I guess everything's closed up now," said Grandma. "The grocery store, the post office, the school. Even the mill now."

The train does still come through town. Slowly, sometime before noon.
It stops at the co-op, to ship produce to wherever it must be needed. And then it moves slowly on its way again.
The slowness of a past way of life is leaving us.

Railroad Tracks

Train

The Indian train experience: not to be missed.

What it might be okay to miss?
The train omelets and the toilet afterward.

Indian Railway commercial

This commercial for the Indian Railways keeps showing up on the big screens at the games.
I like it.