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| Amtrak Train Headed to Paso Robles Depot |
I actually see the trains most often when I'm walking in Larry Moore Park in the late afternoon. They run above the park about 4:45 PM. If I'm far into the park at the right time I can often get a shot. If I'm not as close as I'd like to be when I hear the whistle blow from Templeton, I hurry quickly to the river's edge to see if I can beat the train to the place with the clearest view. Even then I have to use my zoom, since the train is on the other side of the river.
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| Train Leaving Paso Robles Station Heading South |
One late afternoon in October 2014 I was walking along Pine Street near Fourth Street when I heard the whistle of the train leaving the station. I knew I'd have to walk pretty fast to get a shot. This was the best I could do with my zoom that day. All I have is a point and shoot because I need a small camera when I'm out walking.
One day I got really lucky. I heard the train pull in when I was right by the station. I ran to the sidewalk next to the tracks and got this video just as the train was leaving to go north. It's a bit shaky at the beginning because I was running.
That same day I took this picture as passengers were boarding before the train pulled away. Then I turned it into a poster on Zazzle.
How often do you get close to a train? Do you travel frequently by train?
Your photographs are lovely and evoke such memories!
ReplyDeleteAt one time, I loved riding the trains. Wonderful fun! Big, roomy seats and equally big, wide windows through which we could watch the scenery passing by.
Our last ride, which was down your way and back up north, I was shocked at how cramped and dirty the trains were, both ways. Dirty windows, and small, cramped, filthy seats, except in the lounge cars, which were always crowded with people who, like us, wanted to sit in a more comfortable seat and watch the world lumber by.
If ever our train system improves, I expect to become a regular traveler again. It's just one of the best ways to see the country.
Thanks for a quick jog down memory lane!
Grace, my experience riding trains has been mostly negative. But none of it is recent. I remember a trip from Los Angeles to Galesburg, Illinois, in 1970 on the Southern Pacific. We were all bundled up for the destination, but had taken most of our layers off because the train was so hot. Then, after we were trying to sleep at night, they turned the heat off completely. By the time I arrived a day and a half later, I was too sick to enjoy the conference I went to attend and too sick to return to work for a week after I got home.
DeleteIn 1972 we went to Europe. We enjoyed the German trains. They were clean and comfortable. But when we transferred to a Greek train to get to Yugoslavia, it was filthy. That experience is worth its own blog post somewhere, but doesn't fit this blog because it's so far away.
Thank you so much for sharing your memories.