what a rush

[15_the_circle]

[OT from cottage renovations]
[crossposted to railroading]

through I try to avoid  wasting  devoting too much of the content to the topic in this space, there is such a thing as an aesthetic of railroading.  like the subject it can be astonishingly diverse, multifaceted and polymorphic. 

railroading is an undertaking that is visual, auditory, tactile and olfactory.  trains: you can watch them, ride them; you can follow their progress in the real world, in real time across data networks and over the years through the histories of the people, institutions and economies they touch.  but every encounter is different from the one before and the one that will follow. 

---

since its inception the Grove has always been served by rail: it was the opening of the B&O's Metropolitan Branch that made the Grove even possible.  whenever I can I try to take advantage of that convenience by arranging travel around the weekday service running downtown in the morning and returning in the evening.  the trip back from Vermont worked out quite handily in that regard: one flies into the Baltimore airport, catches a shuttle bus over to the rail station, rides the next southbound train to Union Station and then comes home on the commuter train. 

(click through this thumbnail for higher resolution image)

---

BWI rail station

the BWI station is on Amtrak's busy Northeast Corridor so that wait is often enlivened by the passage of other trains.  before the southbound local was due this Acela express came though.  heir to the Pennsylvania Railroad's Congressionals and to the Metroliners, its electric locomotives are quiet almost to the point of inaudibility.  what it lacks in the way of sound it compensates for with pure speed: the thing came whooshing though the station so quickly that the waiting passengers to the L haven't been able to turn their heads fast enough to track its movement from L to R. 

the moment is all the more intense for its brevity.