M.E.O.W. brings you October's Getting to Know You!

[Great Khan Artist]

9 hours ago, Corsair said:

Quizzle for 12 October 2022:

Do you like to ride trains?

 

I ride the LRT downtown, which is great, because I won't drive there. The problem with the train is that you can ride downtown for free, and it attracts people who shouldn't be on it, especially in the winter. Calgary is one of the few cities in Canada that has a transit police, so it does keep that down. The Amtrack in the Boston area was pretty good. The funnest one is at Heritage Park. We're planning on going to their Halloween party, so hopefully it will be running. 

[Inarah]

11 hours ago, Corsair said:

Quizzle for 12 October 2022:

Do you like to ride trains?

 

Generally yes, though we don't have any here.  It's been a few years since I've been on one. 

 

[Zink]

11 hours ago, Corsair said:

Quizzle for 12 October 2022:

Do you like to ride trains?

 

Not many passenger trains in my part of Canada. I've had a few rides on small tourist attractions, like literally a few minutes a ride. 20+ years ago I had a day long ride on the train from Volgograd to Sochi in Russia. It was ok. After that I had considered taking the trans siberian across Russia in stages. Never happened but in 2008 my wife, MIL and 2 preschool aged boys took the express train from Vladivostok (where she lived until marrying me) to Omsk to visit her father's relatives. 5 days and 6,000 km in a booth a bit longer in all dimensions than I am tall.

 

The women had taken the train across Russia before so they knew how to prepare. We had most of our food and water with us. Every 4 hours or so the train stopped for 15 minutes at one of the larger cities. Everybody bailed off the train for a bit of fresh air, stretch our legs and maybe buy something at the station. You can see by our pictures each day how it wore on us. We were kind of scruffy and worn out by the time we arrived. Pretty much killed my desire for train rides.

[Cranky Dog]

12 hours ago, Corsair said:

Quizzle for 12 October 2022:

Do you like to ride trains?

I do! But like @WhiteWulfe said, they aren't very competitive compared to all other alternatives.

 

But I've done a few train rides in my life. With Via-Rail, Montreal-Quebec City is a standard route around here. And I've done Toronto-Quebec City too. It helped that I grew up in a town with a trainyard and the train station was less than a 10 minute walk from the family home.

 

I've done commuter rails when I lived in France in the late 80s, the GO Train in Toronto, and rode the Shinkansen when travelling in Japan between Nagoya and Osaka.

 

And finally:

33 minutes ago, Zink said:

 

Not many passenger trains in my part of Canada. I've had a few rides on small tourist attractions, like literally a few minutes a ride. 20+ years ago I had a day long ride on the train from Volgograd to Sochi in Russia. It was ok. After that I had considered taking the trans siberian across Russia in stages. Never happened but in 2008 my wife, MIL and 2 preschool aged boys took the express train from Vladivostok (where she lived until marrying me) to Omsk to visit her father's relatives. 5 days and 6,000 km in a booth a bit longer in all dimensions than I am tall.

 

The women had taken the train across Russia before so they knew how to prepare. We had most of our food and water with us. Every 4 hours or so the train stopped for 15 minutes at one of the larger cities. Everybody bailed off the train for a bit of fresh air, stretch our legs and maybe buy something at the station. You can see by our pictures each day how it wore on us. We were kind of scruffy and worn out by the time we arrived. Pretty much killed my desire for train rides.

I had a very similar experience. In 2012 (before the Sochi Olympics, and back when Putin was simply unlikable), my mother and I did the Trans-Mongolian rail ride from Beijing, through Mongolia (Ulaanbaatar), and all across Russia (Irkutsk-Yekaterinburg-Moscow-St. Petersburg). Overall one of the best trips in my life (though not currently recommended in 2022). Unlike you, we'd disembark for a day or more at the larger cities as part of our organized trip. Our longest non-stop stretch was three days, with the occasional 15 minute stop in smaller towns.

 

So I know those wagons well. Depending on which segment of the itinerary you were on, you'd have the same overall wagon design, but they getting more and more modern the further west you went. From the 70s-80s (a bit drafty when sleeping at night, no hot water in restrooms, maybe toilet paper), then the 90s models, and finally the 2000s series (modern amenities).

 

All of them had hot water samovars, and we were notified well in advance to bring "add hot water" instant food for our meals and a thermos. In addition to snack bars or local vendors at our pitstops. It was clear which passengers were long time users and familiar with the system.

 

Weirdest event is that China has a different track gauge than Mongolia-Russia. So when we reached the border in the evening, during the night *while* the passengers stayed on board, they'd bring the wagons to a special yard where they'd hoist the wagon off it's bogies and switched them to another with the right gauge. I stayed awake around 1-2 am to see it live and took tons of pictures.

 

[Auberon]

18 hours ago, Corsair said:

Quizzle for 12 October 2022:

Do you like to ride trains?

 

I'd have to ride a real train first.

[strawhat]

20 hours ago, Corsair said:

Quizzle for 12 October 2022:

Do you like to ride trains?

 

Unfortunately, the only train I get to ride is one at the local zoo that takes you around the entirety of the campus.  They have two steam engines (and a diesel for service work).  One of the steam engines began service in 1890 (not at the zoo, though--this engine came from Austria).  Although we haven't been to the zoo much since COVID, riding the train was always a favorite activity of Strawbonnet.

 

I would like to travel by train one day, though.

[Rahz]

On 10/11/2022 at 12:19 AM, Corsair said:

Quizzle for 11 October 2022:

Do you have a family member who drives you NUTS?

Yes...  and we'll leave it at that.  😳

21 hours ago, Corsair said:

Quizzle for 12 October 2022:

Do you like to ride trains?

Love it!  Did a 2 month tour of Germany by train when I was 17, took trains back and forth between France and Spain.  More recently, my wife and I took the train to other cities to go to Cons to avoid having to drive.  Good way to travel. 

[haldir]

21 hours ago, Corsair said:

Quizzle for 12 October 2022:

Do you like to ride trains?

 

TBH, it's been so long since I've been on one, I can't really remember the feeling, ha ha.

 

I think the last one I was on was a zoo train when we went to Portland, OR many years ago.

[Corsair]

Quizzle for 13 October 2022:

Do you dress up your pet?

[WhiteWulfe]

34 minutes ago, Corsair said:

Quizzle for 13 October 2022:

Do you dress up your pet?

Don't have one, but if I did the furthest I'd go is paw booties in the winter.

[ratsmitglied]

5 hours ago, Corsair said:

Quizzle for 13 October 2022:

Do you dress up your pet?

What pet?

[malefactus]

6 hours ago, Corsair said:

Quizzle for 13 October 2022:

Do you dress up your pet?

 

I never have. Actually I never even thought about it. With a cat it could be dangerous to attempt.

[Chaoswolf]

6 hours ago, Corsair said:

Quizzle for 13 October 2022:

Do you dress up your pet?

I like not bleeding, so no.

(For those who don't know, I have cats)

[chaosscorpion]

7 hours ago, Corsair said:

Quizzle for 13 October 2022:

Do you dress up your pet?

No, that counts as cruel and unusual punishment in my book.

[Cranky Dog]

7 hours ago, Corsair said:

Quizzle for 13 October 2022:

Do you dress up your pet?

Still no pet.

 

But if I did have one (most likely a cat 🐱) that went outdoors, it would have a geeky style collar. Probably a D&D or D20 themed one.

 

Anything more than that and I'll need stitches. 🤕