Transit Tuesday – How I would have loved to take the train to Albuquerque…

But instead, all I got was this tiny seat on a tin-can of an airplane.

I investigated the details of how I would possibly get to Albuquerque by train. In the adventure category, it puts plane travel to shame. But we’ve gotten used to departing and arriving the same day for most points on the globe. It’s hard to look at the two to three trains, fifty-some hours over three days (not counting layover time) with a straight face. Long distance train travel is primarily about the trip, with the destination coming in as a solid second. Otherwise, you would fly.

Southwest Chief, The Capitol Limited, The Lakeshore Limited – you can’t deny there’s more glamour in those route names than in a small bag of peanuts.

The Replacement: Alvarado reconstruction of Albequerque’s train station, demolished in the 1970s. RL Fifield, 2012.

About Becky Fifield

Becky Fifield is a cultural heritage professional with 25 years experience in institutions large and small. She is currently Head of Collection Management for the Special Collections of the New York Public Library. An advocate for preventive conservation, Ms. Fifield is a Professional Associate of the American Institute for Conservation, Chair of the AIC Collection Care Network, and former Chair of Alliance for Response NYC. She is also a scholar of 18th century female unfree labor and dress. There's a bit of pun in the title The Still Room, delineating a quiet space brimming with the ingredients of memory, where consideration, analysis, and wordcraft can take place. Ms. Fifield’s interests include museum practice, dress history, historic preservation, transit, social and women’s history, food, current events, geneaology, roadtrips, and considerations on general sense of place. Becky and her husband, Dr. V, live in the Hudson Valley.