civilized ku # 176-180 ~ the time machine
Thursday, June 25, 2009 at 10:21AM 
Train depot ~ Westport, NY • click to embiggen
Waiting for the train • click to embiggen
Former freight platform • click to embiggen
Sprawling vegetation • click to embiggen
Amtrak arrival • click to embiggenYesterday I had to zip on over to the train depot in Westport to pick up coma-girl upon her return from the Bahamas. Ahhh, the life of leisure of a college girl.
I have always considered the train deport in Westport to be a kind of time machine. In part, that is obviously due to the fact that it is an active old-time country train depot that is so typical of thousands(?) of such rural depots from a bygone era. Many of those depots are long gone, some sit in a state of genteel decay, and some have been converted to other uses - restaurants, art/craft galleries, and even homes. So it really is nice to have one that still functions as a train depot.
That said, the primary reason that I consider the depot to be a time machine is because every time I take the train from NYC to Westport the transition from one of the biggest cities on the planet (with all of its attendant hustle and bustle) to the (apparent) environs of idyllic rural life is rather dramatic. It really does feel as though one has stepped back in time to a slower and more simple place and time. That feeling is enhanced to a great degree by the train ride itself as the train transitions from big city to small and eventually to places where cities do not even exist.
FYI & BTW, there is one train a day from NYC to Montreal (and vice-versa). The trip has been ranked by National Geographic as one of the top 10 train trips in the world. That ranking is due in large part to the incredible scenery along the trip's route - once the train is out of the NYC environs, it travels up the east river bank of the Hudson River, most of the time only a few yards from the river itself. After the Albany / Schenectady scrawl (about the halfway point), the train traverses the Lake George / Lake Champlain Basin and, once within the border of the Adirondack Park, it again travels mere yards from the shore of Lake Champlain (with incredible views of Vermont and the Green Mountains.
The other "feature" of the transition is that upon your arrival in Westport, you de-train into the great outdoors. If it's raining and you don't have an umbrella, you get wet. If it's -10˚ and you're wearing shorts and a t-shirt, you freeze. If it's 90˚ and even if you're wearing nothing at all, you still sweat. Point in fact, there is an immediate and direct connection to natural world which, considering that you have de-trained into the largest wilderness in the eastern US of A, is quite an appropriate welcome, don't you think?
The only thing missing from this trip is a dining car. When I was a kid, my family would travel to and from NYC by train 3 or 4 times a year (my dad worked on the railroad and the trips were free). Some of my fondest memories of those trips were created on the return trip as the train went up the Hudson - we usually left NYC late in the day/early evening - and we dined rather sumptuously and elegantly in the dining car (with the sun setting slowly to the west). Followed, of course, by a visit to the club car.
For some strange reason, Americans decided that this was an inferior way to travel and we set about destroying a wonderful (and a very fuel efficient) way to travel - just another fine of example of the free market getting it totally and utterly wrong.
FYI & BTW #2, if you are ever in the Westport area, the train depot's former freight area is a very well respected and classic example of American summer stock theatre. It is aptly named the Depot Theatre.
Reader Comments (1)
Ahh, trains. As a mere yout (misspelling intentional), I rode the "City of New Orleans" frequently, tween Chicago and Danville Ill. Somehow, riding in a sardine can that can, and will fall down and go splat, does not seem an improvement in travel.