I wonder why the good old U.S. of A. has never heard of passenger trains?
> They had heard of them a few decades ago; must have forgotten. Pity. Trains are so much better than cars for cross-country travel.

Yes, I remember those days. I lived in Kentucky for a while and you could ride the train between towns. I used to ride from Blacky to Hazard a lot, but you could go to Lexington or Louisville or Cincinnati on the train if you wanted to. If the train didn't go where you wanted to go, there was the bus. Now I live in a town with no train service and no bus service. It's drive yourself or walk. You can't even get a taxi here. But in the past, this area was served by bus, train, taxi and steamboat. The town started as Lenoir Landing, then became Lenoir Station, and in 1907 it was incorperated as Lenoir City. That was when public transportation was available.

I also lived at Ft. Pierce, Florida for a while and there was excellent train service up and down the coast. But that was 50 years ago. I think you can still ride from Miami to West Palm, but I don't know about the other routes.

Some areas even had inter-urban trollys. I remember riding one from Norfolk, Va. to Ocean View. It followed the streets for a while and then took off through the woods. It was a great ride and we got off right by the beach. I think they ran all the way to Virginia Beach in those days.

My all-time favorite train trip was from London's Paddington Station to Cardiff, Wales. Beautiful country side, even at 125 mph! Does it get any better than that?

Trains are a really good way to travel, and they are in widespread use in many parts of the world. But I guess backward, undeveloped countries like the USA haven't gotten the message yet.
Howard