Trains in winter…
There’s something captivating about trains in winter. Picture this, the snow-streaked blue and white ridgeline of a mountain pass borders the pale blue sky. In the river valley a conifer forest grows right up to the rocky vertical slopes of the mountains. The river flows like blue crystal between snow mounded banks. Following the rivers edge a steel track arcs in harmony with the patterns of the surrounding nature. It’s quiet in this winter valley. The river babbles and whooshes between boulders and ice sheets. Birds land in the open space of the railway to peck around for seeds and grubs. A steam cloud rises from the top of the forest where the mountains draw close together. It approaches the quiet valley with a tsche-tsche tsche-tsche, tsche-tsche. Steadily the steam stack presses nearer and nearer with the tsche-tsche sound intensifying every second. A red flat face appears where the river bend comes into view, and a low constant rumble adds a base line to the churning rhythm. The birds take flight back into the tree tops as the red engine roars by pulling cars that flicker the daylight like an old movie projector on the snowy green patches of forest. Through the warmly lit passenger car windows brief scenes of activity come to life. Children play and run between the scenes of friendly chatter and quiet pursuit of newspapers and chess games. Diners sip soup and cut into platefuls of delectable entrees. One little girl presses her nose against the glass looking upon the cold silent exterior beyond the cozy confines of the train. In a moment she is gone, replaced by opaque boxcars and open top gondola cars that roll along in a perfect line fast, fast, fast down the mountain pass. Until, at last, the caboose with a watchful conductor surveying the ever receding ridgeline bids farewell to the riverbend valley laying a deepened hush over the stealthily hidden creatures of the forest.
Trains are always interesting and often romantic, but a train in winter is pure magic. Like the roadside tavern, the train is place of contrast to the winter world while also complementing its aesthetic and ambience. The roadside tavern or inn is place for people to stop, to rest. Trains offer rest and leisure as well, but they also provide transport. They aren’t just a place where you can comfortably look out on the winter, they are a place where you can comfortably traverse it.
Transportation is magical in general. Whether by horse, plane, car, or bike, the things that move you in and through the world evoke destination, adventure, trip, travel, voyage, departure, and arrival. The ones that get you from here to there fast or across long distances or difficult terrain are especially romantic. Our vehicles are our wings. They take us beyond our bipedal limitations to glide further and farther with relative ease. They enable our inherent human curiosity and impulse to explore and discover. They are the vehicles of life: moving people, moving things, connecting and interconnecting societies. And rising above them all as the most beautiful mode of transportation is the locomotive. Ships are a close second, but they are limited to that desolate and godlike expansive mass of water that separates continents. They may take you from port to port, but they cannot carry you through the mountains, or from Paris to Istanbul, or into the heart of Berlin, or from coast to coast across the United States. Trains run elegantly amongst and through both nature and city. They reveal to you the variety of the planet and the marvels of the people that populate this planet while you safely watch it all sweep by. Trains take you from station to station through the world while simultaneously setting you apart from the world. You step onto the train and enter a portal that whisks you along its track where you may witness, if you wish, the changes of things between your point of departure and your destination. Your arrival is timely, precise, and expected. You exit the portal at your destination, the end of your journey and the start of something new. The train stands stately against the platform like a loyal steed ready to take you somewhere else, somewhere new, or back home at the cost of a ticket and with the call of a whistle.
Getting on track…
When we fall off or fall by the wayside from our plans or our set goals or intentions we often refer to resuming or correcting our misalignment as getting back on track. Like a train runs along the rails, we follow the cleanest line to our goals when we follow the plan or stay on the tracks. The tracks are the infrastructure for momentum. They lay out the path, from where you embarked all the way to your destination. So what does it mean to get back on track? If you picture a derailed train, some substantial part has come off or separated from long running parallel lines of steel. Bringing the train back on track means righting turned over cars, severing or rejoining links in the train connecting all the way back up to the engine, and setting the wheels in complete alignment with the rails. Another way to look at it is to re-aim. Examine the goals and objectives, the intentions, the steps, and the plan. Try to see where you’re trying to go and aim again.
I’ve been falling off my 10 Weeks of Winter project. It’s predictable, I even wrote about it a few days ago (Thirds of Change). Still, even though I know I’m in the vulnerable spot, I find myself not following through on my protocols. If I don’t make the changes I planned, how can I expect different results? I have to get back on track. This means I have to stop just trying to push ahead, and, instead, I need to reset, make sure I line up with the tracks. There are many ways to do this, but all of the possible approaches boil down to making the plans (or processes, or protocols) a priority. Something has to get cut out or set aside so that I can get back to it. I’ll be using an early bed time to try to reset and get back on track. I’m not getting up early enough to do all of my protocols, and so I stay up late trying to fit things in because I’m behind, which makes me tired in the morning and inclined to sleep too late. Tonight that stops. Tonight the priority is to be in bed no later than 10:15 and to get up at 6:30. If that means I don’t get everything done tonight so be it. I can’t continue to perpetuate habits that aren’t supportive of my goals. I’m getting back on track.
Train inspiration and aesthetic…
Trains in Winter Wallpapers: https://wallpaperaccess.com/winter-train
Nordic Train Sounds: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MpDLyLjQz6E
Cozy Winter Train Ambience: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G8PvZbMWACA
Christmas Train Ride: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ZuPRyXGXCI
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