Suddenly the out-of-the-way is in-your-face, at least for everyone on the train. Riding metro Orlando's new commuter system, SunRail, reveals a diversity of sights and scenes you typically don't encounter when you stick to the main roads.
I decided to take a leisurely spin on SunRail last week, venturing from downtown Orlando to Altamonte Springs and back. Snaking along freight-train tracks through unfamiliar neighborhoods, industrial districts and a few desolate spaces, my short ride on the rails was a pleasant diversion and a great way to see Central Florida from a new angle and at a brisk clip.
***
"The train goes fast and is going fast when it crosses a little trestle. You catch the sober, metallic, pure, late-light, unriffled glint of the water between the little banks, under the sky, and see the cow standing in the water upstream near the single leaning willow. And all at once you feel like crying. But the train is going fast, and almost immediately whatever you feel is taken away from you, too.” ― Robert Penn Warren, All the King's Men
"Ever since childhood, when I lived within earshot of the Boston and Maine, I have seldom heard a train go by and not wished I was on it. Those whistles sing bewitchment: railways are irresistible bazaars ... Anything
is possible on a train.” ― Paul Theroux
Old Railroad Joke: "Ladies and gentlemen, I have some good news and some bad news. The bad news is that both engines have failed, and we
will be stuck here for some time. The good news is that
you decided to take the train and not fly!"