My view from the treadmill today — a Virginia Railway Express train headed rapidly toward downtown. The heat is excruciating today, at 85 degrees at 7:30 am. This heat often leads to train slowdowns as the rails buckle from the hothouse humidity of the air coupled with the intense friction from train speed — but this driver seems determined to make the schedule, which I admire from a punctuality standpoint (and former train commuter) but from my perch inside this wonderfully chilled community center gym, I silently wish for safe delivery of all passengers.
Just before this commuter train whizzed into view, the longest freight train I’ve ever seen in the city ambled by at a speed of no more than 20 mph — each car swaying in waltzing fashion slightly to and fro, frame in-tact, but timid in approach. As my footfalls caused me to start feeling the sweat and I turned on the extra fan on the treadmill’s dashboard, I wondered how it comes to be that toxic chemical containers on freight trains are situated right next to newer cars with eco-friendly bamboo floors. How do all of these co-mingled things live side-by-side for endless miles, couple and uncouple, to land products on the shelves of Target stores near and far?
Trains: transportation of people and goods, and the truest view of the world.
3 Coffees A Day 