Brutkey

Ross of Ottawa
@ottaross@mastodon.social

Ugh the 'stuck on a #ViaRail train' thing is such a part of my life. I can't count how many times it's happened to me over the decades. In my first 20-25yrs the train was a big piece of life in a railway town.

Cold waiting for a connecting train in Sudbury, with the train 12-14hrs late due to prairie weather.

Even more recently taking a 3hr train from Montreal, realizing I could've driven to MTL and back in the time we were stuck in the middle of nowhere. Double-ugh.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/via-rail-toronto-ottawa-brockville-9.7011570?cmp=rss

Ross of Ottawa
@ottaross@mastodon.social

…The photo on that article is so foundational in my life too.

It's that classic Cdn train station, and with that old luggage/freight wagon too! Now it's just decorative probably, but I remember them carrying stuff to the baggage car.

My early childhood days involved sitting on one of those, dangling our legs counting the train cars whizzing by.

We'd sing song-like reading the boxcars: "Canadian National, Canadian National…"

#unsolicitedHistoricalTales

rag. Gustavino Bevilacqua
@GustavinoBevilacqua@mastodon.cisti.org

@ottaross@mastodon.social

I remember the old days when even here in Italy it was possible to go to the train station and send things via less polluting rail rather than with DHL, UPS or FedEx stinky vans (and it was cheaper!).

Ross of Ottawa
@ottaross@mastodon.social

@GustavinoBevilacqua@mastodon.cisti.org A good point. The overlay of package transportation with public transit is something that is probably almost non-existent now!

I recall that both with trains and with the bus network. People would send parcels that way all the time - no separate trucking required, just using up some space on regularly scheduled trains and buses.