Take a Virtual Trip
The evolution of the train is much like life, its journey through time collects treasured memories of people and places as it stops and goes from one station to another. Have you ever thought about comparing life to a train ride or a series of train rides?
While we may say goodbye to an era once vibrant, let us not forget the impact of the railroad as America rapidly became an urban nation. Where would America be today without the expansion of the railroad?
A little extra. . .
The remainder of this post is at catnip’s sister site, Awakenings. It was featured last November just prior to our 2012 Presidential Election. Included in the original post are some nuggets of railroad history and poetry from Awakenings from Then ’til Now – Poetry of Steam.
We’ve come a long way from the days of steam powered locomotives, which demanded back-breaking drudgery, to trains of today having advanced to high-speed technology centered on magnetic levitation. However, from the steam engine to the electric to the diesel to the stream-lined locomotives none compare to the poetry of steam.
“There is no value in life except what you choose to place upon it and no happiness in any place except what you bring to it yourself.” —Henri David Thoreau (1817–1862)
catnipoflife 
What great memories. I always loved riding in trrains and listening to them roaring across the country while I slept–a comforting sound.
Life as a train ride is one of my favorite analogies. There is something special and romantic about trains.
I love train travel – you can read, talk, eat, snooze, enjoy the view, make friends… there must be more !!!!
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This is a fantastic post, Sharla! I haven’t been riding in a U.S. train for a long time, but here in Europe trains are quite common and I still do use it from time to time.