Trains

Last night, as I walked home from work late at night, I had the pleasure of watching a freight train pass through Mountain View.

It's not a common sight for me — though doubtless it is for others — and there was something magical about the thousands of tons of steel, coal, goods, and locomotive hurtling past; hoppers and boxcars, spraypaint and bolts, wheels grinding and rails singing.

There were dozens of cars, and the train took minutes to pass; a stark contrast to the relatively stubby Caltrain locomotives seen on that line. As I walked, my eye tracked the carriages, giving a bizarre sense of immobility; the noise and the rush distracted me from the sensation of my feet on the road, and my eyes flicked, flicked, flicked as they saccaded along with the train.

Like a telegram, the freight train seemed to drag a wave of the past with it. Not a remnant, or a sad thing, but more a stubborn insistence.

Posted at 2005-09-27 13:44:32 by Richard • Link to Trains
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