Scenery

[benjibear]

Alot of people talk about the great scenery of mother nature. Anyone else think that urban scenery is facinating?

 

[Shanghai]

Yes, I enjoy urban scenery however much of the urban scenery is not very pretty!!

Washington DC, going south between WAS and ALX has nice urban scenery and coming

into Chicago via the LSL or CL has some interesting scenery.

 

[jb64]

I love to see old factories and manufacturing sights. Many of those building are inspiring and you can feel the strength emanating from them. I also mourn what they represent in their current dilapidated state.

 

[reefgeek]

Nature is overrated. Like Reagan said, "if you've seen one tree you've seen them all!" I like old industrial sites, canals, abandoned bridges, and smokestacks bearing the names of companies long gone.. I wish there was less enthusiastic graffiti tagging done, it seems to be nationwide now and it all looks the same. One thing I really like are old painted ads, sometimes called ghost signs. I try to take pictures when I can.

 

[benjibear]

I wasn't saying it was prettier but is is interesting.

The graffiti has gotten a little out of hand. If you like to tag so much why don't I ever see graffiti artists tag their own cars, homes, etc. The other thing that has gotten out of hand in some places is trash dumping. There was one stretch on the NEC above New York that the entire line for miles had trash the whole way. You could tell it was a poor area urban area. Was thinking probably alot of welfare recipiants that they should make clean it up but that is probably another discussion I shouldn't be starting here.

The urban ruins in many cities offer many intersting aspects to me. Sometimes you can probably look at one for an hour and keep picking out different details. I guess as an egineer, I am also trying to figure out why something is there, what was the building used for, and what happened to it. You also see many that have been converted to other uses and modern factories as well. You also see towns, business, etc.

 

[JayPea]

I live in a rural area and to me the urban scenery is very fascinating. I've made the trip to Chicago on the CONO several times, and always am amazed to see the houses crowded so close together that there is no lawn between them. And the high-rise apartment buildings; some of those probably hold many times more residents than my hometown growing up does. I too like the old factories and warehouses that are all boarded up or have all their windows broken out. I wonder what businesses were housed in those buildings in a bygone era. And railroad yards! Tracks and tracks full of railroad cars, locomotives, the occasional rusting caboose, and other railroad-related items just facsinate me. How they can get literally thousands of cars sorted into their proper trains is beyond me.

 

[NETrainfan]

Appreciate seeing the rural, suburban, and urban areas of the US from the train.

Exciting to approach one of our big cities and see the majestic qualities of urban areas.

Also, a reality check to see the outskirts of some cities and the obvious economic needs.

Traveling across country by Amtrak has to be one of the best geography lessons around. JMHO

 

[OlympianHiawatha]

You never know what you are going to see in backyards that face up to the tracks. Usually it is mundane and not too interesting but sometimes something will surprise you. One time on the Texas Eagle someone in the Sightseer yelled out-Look, he's peeing! and sure enough some guy was tight in on the garage wall blowing it out, apparently not realizing the train passing by was carrying passengers :lol:

 

[SubwayNut]

I have a joke with myself that on every rail trip I have to see once piece of urban scenery:

A Junk or Scrap Yard! (they seem to be everywhere on train lines).

One of the reasons I love traveling my rail is entering cities via there industrial back-doors, not via there proud gateways airports.

 

[Swadian Hardcore]

You've just got to see any scenery there is to be seen. If you keep taking the CZ over and over, how would you know about the LSL's route?

 

[benjibear]

The junk and scrap yards are quite interesting. Seeing the old cars and stuff just piled up. Try to pick out recognizable vehicles and items. I saw a tan Chevy Citation on one trip which was my first car.

 

[zephyr17]

The junk and scrap yards are quite interesting. Seeing the old cars and stuff just piled up. Try to pick out recognizable vehicles and items. I saw a tan Chevy Citation on one trip which was my first car.

The southern approach to Albuquerque always sticks in my mind. It seemed like every single backyard had at least one junk car in it...

More on the subject, the steel mills around Gary are extremely impressive, and a HUGE oil refinery near Edmonton, AB I saw on the Canadian in the fall was spectacular.

 

[Steve4031]

I was on 22 departing Dallas riding in a sleeper. The train was creeping along negotiating junctions and grade crossings with the horn blowing. At one point we interrupted a group of gang bangers in a vacant lot. They were not happy at at the intrusion of a passenger train into their territory, and one glowered at the train and threw up gang signs.

 

[WhoozOn1st]

Alot of people talk about the great scenery of mother nature. Anyone else think that urban scenery is facinating?

I enjoy, and am often fascinated by, cityscapes and urban scenery. Whether it's disused and deteriorating factory complexes from a Sightseer Lounge, or manmade skyscraper canyons from a Chicago or New York elevated train, they all tell our national stories in myriad ways.

I think one big reason urban scenery is often neglected in favor of singing the praises of natural wonders is that most of our population is concentrated in cities and their sprawling suburbs. Urban centers and environs are the commonplace, everyday sights, and for most folks hold no special attraction as places they associate with pleasant views, much less breathtaking vistas. For such things they - I think naturally - seek the different and unusual, and in this context that of course is the natural, uncityfied world where they DON'T spend most of their lives.

For rural dwellers there might well be an opposite tendency; that is, a greater appreciation of the urban because their more "unspoiled" environment may have lost a measure of its attraction through itself being the typical and familiar. Residing in a SoCal beach town as I do makes me a variant of that: so used to ocean views and beaches that they're big yawns for me when riding Pacific Surfliners and the Coast Starlight, while most folks rave about those aspects of their rides aboard those trains.

 

[JayPea]

Alot of people talk about the great scenery of mother nature. Anyone else think that urban scenery is facinating?

I enjoy, and am often fascinated by, cityscapes and urban scenery. Whether it's disused and deteriorating factory complexes from a Sightseer Lounge, or manmade skyscraper canyons from a Chicago or New York elevated train, they all tell our national stories in myriad ways.

I think one big reason urban scenery is often neglected in favor of singing the praises of natural wonders is that most of our population is concentrated in cities and their sprawling suburbs. Urban centers and environs are the commonplace, everyday sights, and for most folks hold no special attraction as places they associate with pleasant views, much less breathtaking vistas. For such things they - I think naturally - seek the different and unusual, and in this context that of course is the natural, uncityfied world where they DON'T spend most of their lives.

For rural dwellers there might well be an opposite tendency; that is, a greater appreciation of the urban because their more "unspoiled" environment may have lost a measure of its attraction through itself being the typical and familiar. Residing in a SoCal beach town as I do makes me a variant of that: so used to ocean views and beaches that they're big yawns for me when riding Pacific Surfliners and the Coast Starlight, while most folks rave about those aspects of their rides aboard those trains.

I'm a rural dweller here in southeastern Washington, and Whooz has captured my perspective on urban areas exactly. I still love mountainous scenery, with canyons, rushing rivers, waterfalls, and tunnels, but the wide open spaces of, say, Eastern Montana and North Dakota, as well as the farmlands of Iowa and Illinois, for example, don't do much for me. I'm surrounded by farmland; the only difference between where I live and those places I mentioned above is that it is very hilly where I live. But urban scenery as I said earlier just fascinates me because it is so different from what I'm used to. Even Spokane, 60 miles to the north of me, while not exactly a major urban area, is to me a breath of fresh air, something different. And Chicago and Los Angeles, for example, are far, far different than what I'm used to, with their tangle of railroad tracks, factories, warehouses, etc. And others have mentioned scrapyards, too. Until I was able, a couple of years ago, to purchase a new (used) car that was far superior to anything else I had ever owned, I drove a 1991 piece of crap that was barely roadworthy and held together with gum, spit, bailing wire, and duct tape. It was always reasurring to pass a junk yard or scrap heap and see cars there that were newer that the one I was driving. :lol: :lol: :lol:

 

[manchacrr]

One piece of urban scenery I love is riding into Chicago on the City of New Orleans. It follows the Metra Electric Line into the city. Some of the interesting sights include the old Pullman Factory and company town, the Museum of Science & Industry, Lake Michigan, and Soldier Field. It also passes underneath the McCormick Place convention center and offers a great panoramic view of downtown Chicago, the Willis (Sears) Tower, and all the Amtrak and Metra rail yards as it uses the elevated St. Charles Air Line to access Union Station from the old Illinois Central main line.

Also, the amount of railroad action on the IC Line into the city is phenomenal. There is the Metra Electric, NICTD South Shore Line, and quite a few large rail yards (CN) on the way into the city.

 

[NETrainfan]

Enjoying these posts.

We travel the NYC to Washington DC route often (on our Boston to Florida Amtrak trips.)

One interesting sight -and study in contrasts- is seeing Johns Hopkins University looming over the Projects in Baltimore.

A favorite sight is once again seeing the heart of Washington DC. and Union Station. Get that same elated feeling every time.

 

[SarahZ]

More on the subject, the steel mills around Gary are extremely impressive [...]

YES. I love that approach whenever I travel to Chicago. The industrial complex goes on for miles and miles, and the train goes slowly enough to take it all in (and take lots of pictures). I always think of Bartertown.

 

[caravanman]

Hi,

It's good to know that so many folk are fans of urban scenes... jb64 echo's my feelings ...

I love to see the huge bridges with rivets, post industrial factory decay, as well as the beauty of skyscrapers. There is a type of bleak beauty in the the less advantaged areas of towns too, razed vacant lots, etc, but I can't explain why they appeal to me, possibly the individual nature of older structures being an important factor... The uniform style of modern shopping precincts and malls is so unpleasant, like a visual desert. (The Go Buy Desert???)

I don't tend differentiate between seeing mountains and skyscrapers, both please my visual sense.

Ed

 

[CHamilton]

One interesting sight -and study in contrasts- is seeing Johns Hopkins University looming over the Projects in Baltimore.

I haven't been on a train there in several years, but I think you may be seeing Hopkins Hospital, not the actual university campus, which is directly north of Baltimore Penn Station by about 20 blocks. The ex-PRR line that Amtrak uses is in a tunnel at the closest point to the JHU campus.

 

[rrdude]

Add me to this August group of rail-riders who actually LOVE the urban scenery. My first train trips were primarily from Michigan to Chicago, in the early 70's and 80's. Passing through NW Indiana, and passing almost literally through the blast furnaces of the steel companies simply fascinated me. As did passing by decrepit buildings, and stations (Gary, IN for one) . The train often passes so close, one can see the creases, wrinkles, and grime on workers faces. The forlorn security guards, board-to-death, sitting at the guard gates. As other posters stated so well, the broken down buildings and up-close row homes, looking directly into the lives of those who live next to the tracks.

The pollution, pollution, and pollution. I think traveling past the southern shore of Lake Michigan, and seeing what unregulated industry had done to that once-pristine body of water, REALLY helped shaped my ideas, and seeded my environmentalist bent.

While not Amtrak, when taking the train to Mexico City in the mid eighties, I was transcended by the absolute squalor and poverty-stricken neighborhoods that the train passed through. A fellow passenger stated, "It's like National Geographic (WAY before the TV channel, the magazine), except we are THERE".

That pretty sums up rail travel for me, "It's like National Geographic, except you are THERE". In it. Part of it. At least for the moment. No filters. No images on an LCD screen. YOU are THERE. No one can edit your images or try to persuade you into seeing something OTHER than what you ARE SEEING. Perfect.

 

[Railroad Bill]

One piece of urban scenery I love is riding into Chicago on the City of New Orleans. It follows the Metra Electric Line into the city. Some of the interesting sights include the old Pullman Factory and company town, the Museum of Science & Industry, Lake Michigan, and Soldier Field. It also passes underneath the McCormick Place convention center and offers a great panoramic view of downtown Chicago, the Willis (Sears) Tower, and all the Amtrak and Metra rail yards as it uses the elevated St. Charles Air Line to access Union Station from the old Illinois Central main line.

Also, the amount of railroad action on the IC Line into the city is phenomenal. There is the Metra Electric, NICTD South Shore Line, and quite a few large rail yards (CN) on the way into the city.

Yes Sir, We just took this route into Chicago last weekend and you are so correct. Great views and lots of history.

 

[the_traveler]

Until I was able, a couple of years ago, to purchase a new (used) car that was far superior to anything else I had ever owned, I drove a 1991 piece of crap that was barely roadworthy and held together with gum, spit, bailing wire, and duct tape.

Sounds like you're describing some of Amtrak's cars too! Especially the duct tape!

("Never leave on a trip without it!"

)

 

[benjibear]

Thanks for all the replies to my post. I thought people would think I am crazy for the urban scenery.

 

[JayPea]

Until I was able, a couple of years ago, to purchase a new (used) car that was far superior to anything else I had ever owned, I drove a 1991 piece of crap that was barely roadworthy and held together with gum, spit, bailing wire, and duct tape.

Sounds like you're describing some of Amtrak's cars too! Especially the duct tape!

("Never leave on a trip without it!"

)

Yes, but there's a big difference: It cost me a few million less to replace my car. :lol: