No kid with us this time. And I think that was fairly lucky. I love trains and was excited to take the 97 from West Palm Beach to NY-Penn Station. As we sat down, I pulled out the map and watched as my companion lost the rosiness in her cheeks. Like a prisoner looking down the barrel of a long sentence she marveled at the seemingly endless hours. I, on the other hand, was beaming, happily ready to rest and meet new people in the dining cars.
She quite rightly worried about potential weirdos and all manner of dregs including the one sitting across from her. She wondered aloud why anyone in their right mind would do this on purpose. Planes going the same route take about 2 hours she said, this isn’t 1900, and Flagler is not on board. At that she smiled. Luckily for both of us I guess, we booked a cabin – it is not the cheapest way to travel but it is certainly worth it.
After about 10 minutes a person who works our train car – 11 I think it was, came by and gave us a fairly sour mini-tour of our home for the next day. (She was more dour than about any other staffer on the train which was impressive). Either way she told us that breakfast was still being served, and if we rush we could get there. And she puts down the beds at 8:30 to 8:45 which is about 3 hours before I go to bed. But we rolled our eyes and went with it. Other cars seemed to have their pick of the litter so we tried to go with the flow.
Getting our sea legs we tumbled down the small moving hallways and through the what do you call them- joints in the cars, and got to the dining car. From a “trainspotter” who sat across from us- which is the tradition on trains- we learned all about the car–8504– how it was manufactured in 1948 and moved all across the country…
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