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The Tranquillity of Train Travel 5th February 2022 5/5 **“Even if you're on the right track, you'll get run over if you just sit there.”** -Will Rogers. **Hello Hello you beautiful and awesome bunch, how is your weekend going?** I didn't get to the beach today, however I was in the next town this morning getting some messages and walked past the train station. Normally I take the train whenever I can as I just love that mode of transport. However, as it was bucketing down with rain and there is a bus stop a couple of hundred yards away from my house, I took the bus today. The walk to my local train station is about fifteen minutes, so the bus won this time. Seeing this wee train I decided to make a post about trains.

All aboard! Burntisland train station is a typical village British train station with two platforms. Trains stop here every half-hour so and Edinburgh is about half an hour away.

Talking about capital cities, when I was working in Madrid, I use to take the high speed train back home to Málaga on a Friday night. It is called the AVE and operated by Renfe. It made the UK trains seem like snails as it went up to 300km/h (which is 186mph). The actual journey took about two and a half hours. It was almost as quick as flying by the time you drove through Madrid traffic to get to the airport and then the check in and security and all that palava! I don't like flying and some of you know why 🤣

Source Image by Antonio Garcia Prats from Pixabay https://pixabay.com/users/antgarprats-2241814/?utm_source=link-attribution&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=image&utm_content=4711205 https://pixabay.com/?utm_source=link-attribution&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=image&utm_content=4711205 That is a train at Jerez de le Frontera train station. I used to catch a train from Cádiz to Jerez before catching the flight to Madrid Unfortunately they was no direct high speed line from Cádiz). If you are ever in the Seville region, you should go to Jerez, it is the home of Sherry and had the world famous white horses of the Royal Andalusian School of Equestrian Art, not to mention awesome flamenco and ferias(festivals). The trains take you through the countryside that you would not be able to pay attention to if you were driving, nor see if you were flying over it through the clouds. And you can partake in a wee libation or three! No breathalysers on the train, well apart from the driver! Talking of a libation. When I was living in Aberdeen and working in London, I would fly one way on a Friday afternoon and then go back on a Sunday night on the sleeper train. A couple of drinks in the bar and then sleep, before I knew it I was at London Euston station ready to take the tube to Hammersmith to goto work all refreshed, and no rushing through Heathrow airport early on a Monday morning!

Image by Monica Volpin from Pixabay https://pixabay.com/users/monicavolpin-1476511/?utm_source=link-attribution&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=image&utm_content=2658429 https://pixabay.com/?utm_source=link-attribution&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=image&utm_content=2658429 The beauty of catching the sleeper was that in the morning there would be a chap at the door like the ones in the picture and the guard would come in with a cup of tea and a shortbread biscuit. Awesome service it was! Nowadays you have fast wifi so you can surf or work if need be, or just chat to people. I find that people are friendly on trains, well apart from the London underground that is. Back to top and Burntisland to Edinburgh train route.

This is one of the platforms at Edinburgh Waverley station. The beauty of Waverley is that you can see some of the buildings from Princes St from it. Even with the hustle and bustle of busy city railway stations, travelling by train to me is very tranquil. However, one of the main reasons that I do it, is because it is greener than using a car all the time! I got rid of my car at the start of the pandemic and have no intention of getting another one! We all need to do our part to save our planet, and so I will be taking trains as often as possible.

Some train engines (like this engine that was used to haul coal) are lucky enough to be restored when they have reached their shelf life, and are put out to graze so to speak. I just hope that we will be useful too once our working lives are over! Thank you for reading and have a wonderful rest of your weekend. Copyright @TengoLoTodo   2022 and yes All Rights Reserved. All images, words, and ramblings are from the author unless otherwise stated. https://read.cash/@TengoLoTodo 100% original content from this mad Scotsman And don't forget ;) **Haste ye back.**

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