Trainspotting

I've always been a train person. I'd pick train over bus any time that's possible.

(Picture above not by me, taken the year I was born.)

My dad's been working for the railway company since 1976, so when I was a kid I was entitled to discount or free trips and such. Family trips were done mostly by train. I lived close to a railroad, and heard the trains if I listened hard enough. There it goes again, the same night train from the south, bringing back tired travelers. Oh there's the long and slow freight train! Oh does it ever end?

Railways in this country are ok, but recently the trains have been late quite often, and the entire company has become a joke. I don't know if I should join the annoyed consumers or stand my ground and be for the company instead of against it. I like trains, and the system works if you aren't in a hurry.

In Japan trains are a whole other ballgame. There are the superfast trains such as Nozomi (which goes 300 km/h), but also the local trains. I have to admit that I prefer the local ones. The slow, noisy trains with no air condition which stop at the smallest stations. The ones that go around the mountains whereas the bullet trains go through them.

One of the most amazing experiences was taking the local trains through southern Kyūshū, slow trains going by rivers, small villages and endless, endless mountains that would make Bilbo say that he's seen enough already. Sometimes an elderly woman would get on the train, sometimes a group of schoolboys, sometimes there'd be just empty station. It took 7 hours to go the less than 200 km trip, but it was full of amazing sceneries, and I'd do it again if I had the time and money to spend time there.

I was reminded of the shaking trains and small stations when I went to visit a friend a while ago, and took a route I hadn't taken in almost 10 years. Finnish old trains have nostalgic value to me, and I for some reason prefer the old ones over the new and fast ones. The seats are uncomfortable, there is no air condition, the toilets are dirty. Still I like them. They are full of memories. They go on routes that faster trains won't go anymore, they stop on a stations faster trains don't stop anymore. They go through the wilderness with speed that allows you to look around and feel a lot more. On summer the windows are open, and the wind is actually a better option than the noisy/broken air condition in the newer trains.

There's something nostalgic about trains. There's something strong and secure. The history. Tunnels. Bridges made of stone and steel. The weight of the locomotive. Smoke, oil and iron. The smells at the station and the platform. The announcements.  The conductor's uniform. The waiting. People and their luggage. Restaurant cars. Tickets bought, stamped, lost or thrown away. Crossings and the sound of the warning bell that passes by like a memory gained and lost. Abandoned stations in empty villages. Father meeting their children on the platform. Old ladies hugging each other before the other gets on the train.

Roads can go anywhere, but a railway is a special thing.