Let’s be honest: assuming there’s no traffic, driving is both quicker and cheaper than taking the train to New York. But there often is traffic, and that can be pretty stressful. Flying is also stressful, what with security and the fact that it’s a pain to get to downtown from either of New York’s airports. So why not take the train? It’s scenic, fairly quick (a little over four hours; the Acela is about 45 minutes faster), and it’s not (that) stressful. So why not?
Here are the pictures I took on the ride – there are a lot.
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| The train at South Station. |
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| It looks like we’re inside a plane! |
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| Leaving South Station. |
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| A nice view of the city. |
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| Gross bathroom? You betcha. |
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| The sink and trash. |
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| The dining car. The pizza, interestingly, is the same brand of microwave pizza I eat. |
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| The whole menu. |
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| Some tables in the dining car. |
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| Going between cars. |
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| What a lovely picture of the light. |
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| Some nice views. |
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| Luggage racks and a trash bin that you probably can’t make out. |
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| Look at all those boats! |
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| A water view. |
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| A really high bridge. |
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| The bridge definitely taints the view. |
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| New London seems like a really nice town (city?). |
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| More boats. |
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| Another view. |
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| There are a lot of boats along the Northeast Corridor. |
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| A swamp. |
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| A yard. |
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| I like “mind the gap” more. |
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| More boats! |
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| These apartments mean we’re getting close to New York. |
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| The train goes on a spectacular bridge between the Bronx and Queens, and is really high up for a while. There’s a fantastic view of the skyline. |
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| Some apartments. |
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| Another view. The train goes underground after a while, going under the East River in a tunnel. |
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| The gap at Penn Station was huge! |
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| It’s not that nice, is it? |
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| And now, the ride back, on the other side! This is a Metro-North train we were racing. |
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| Look, more boats! |
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| A nice view across the water. |
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| More of an industrial scene. |
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| Well, isn’t this just lovely. I think this is Bridgeport. |
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| There was a lot of urban decay in what I think was Bridgeport. |
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| Lovely. |
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| A Metro-North yard with some older trains. |
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| And a school bus yard. |
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| Various swampy views. |
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| This one’s less swampy. |
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| Though this one is. |
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| A beach! |
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| That’s really nice. |
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| Not so nice. |
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| Another awesome view. |
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| That monument is intriguing. |
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| Beautiful. |
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| More boats! |
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| And more! |
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| More swamps! |
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| More water! |
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| Man, I really want to know where that road goes. |
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| Spooky… |
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| A view out the back of the train! |
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| A nice touch in the dining car. |
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| Yay! |
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| More lovely bridges. |
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| Crossing the Providence River. The Providence station is underground, and is really dingy. |
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| Providence. |
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| A Commuter Rail yard. |
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| And finally, the train from the front, looking a bit dirty. |
