On the Train Winter 2015

Leaving Sudbury this morning was much harder than I thought it would be. My daughter has driven me to the train station, to catch the train out west, a number of times. But on those other times - I was just going for a week or two, or at the most for eight weeks. This time it is for four and half months. This time, when I return to Ontario, it will be just for a visit. I must confess I was more than a bit choked up.

The train was of course a bit late. By the time the train pulled out of the Sudbury Junction station it was 6:30. I suppose for Via Rail being just over an hour  late after travelling from Toronto to Sudbury - a six hour drive by car - is not that bad. It could I suppose been much worse.

The train is surprisingly full. My memory of last Christmas when I travelled out west for a visit is that the cars felt half empty. I can remember at least one person who sat by himself in seats designed for four people. Today I think that there are relatively few empty seats. While I am sitting alone right now, I would think that I will not be  alone for the whole trip. While the company might be nice - it also means that I can't spread out as much as I would like.

The car, in spite of the fact that is more crowded than normal, is quieter than usual. There is a young family at the front of the car, but at least up to now the children are quiet. Other people seem to be sleeping. Across from me are two young guys who woke up an hour or so ago, went for a walk -perhaps to get a coffee - came back and seemed to have fallen asleep again. The seats in front of me and on the other side are each configured for a family group. It would appear that mom and her teenage daughter have one such four seat arrangement, and dad and son have the other. Again they have been very quiet either reading or sleeping.The only thing I know about the person behind me is that they have a bad cold and frequently cough. There are other people who are coughing in this car and I suspect that anyone who has not yet been exposed to this year's cold virus - will have ample opportunity to inhale more than the required volume of diseased droplets  to develop a cold.

4:45PM.
The train remains quiet. Much to my surprise it is on time.  I don't think we have had to pull over onto a siding to let a fright train go by more than twice. On both occasions we waited no more than ten minutes.  I mentioned my surprise on being on time to one of the VIA employees and they told me that the train had been on time on his last run too. Will wonders never cease!

I got out at Hornepayne. The sun was shining, which was a nice change from the grayness of the past few days, but it was rather cold - colder than I had experienced this year.  Within the last twelve hours it had snowed just enough to cover the barren and frozen earth and to lay a thick dusting on the bows of the tamarack and spruce trees. It made for a very pretty scene. I thought about walking up to the store but it was very slippery walking along the train tracks. There was nothing I really needed to buy that was worth falling for.

After the train started up again there was a bit of a magic show. The magician, who was getting free passage to do a couple of shows a day for both the economy class and the rich class was alright. Not wonderful (except for his steel ring tricks which were quite impressive), but it must be very hard to do tricks on a moving train with people within a foot of you. He was entertaining and if some of his tricks were a bit obvious - I think everyone who was there enjoyed it.

I am looking forward in some perverted fashion to sleeping tonight. I hope my body remembers how to sleep while folded up on a too small seat.