"Travelling by train is always magical."
A friend of mine told me this. If she had told me that before the 27th of last month, I might have been reluctant to agree. But then I travelled with Snälltåg from Norrköping to Lund and I was reminded of the magic.
When I say "reminded" it from two things. One: The Hogwarts Express vibe. I remember reading the first
Harry Potter book at 11 and wishing I could travel on the Hogwarts Express myself. Imagine the passenger carriages holding six person compartments set along a corridor. All of them bustling with excited students and magic tingling in the air. And hearing the Candy lady with her trolley full of Pumpkin Pasties and Chocolate Frogs making her way along the corridor to the hungry students. And then imagine the view from the windows. The filelds and country side from London up to Scotland...
Now, a muggle tain does not have Hogwarts student onboard traveling towards Hogwarts, or a trolley full of Chocolate frogs. But the Magic in the air is still there. The train I traveled with relayed on the open windows for fresh air and a breeze. I walked out in the corridor and gazed over the open field beyond the glass windows as the sun was setting and was filled with a kind of peace and happiness over it's beauty. My creativity sparked and made me pull out my pencil and started scribbling words behind the back of two A4 pieces of paper, as I had not brought a notebook with me. I did not want to type it into my phone as that did not feel right. This train needed the physical paper and pen to do the words justice.
The second reminded was from my first time travelling by train in Sri lanka. The same thing applied there, the breeze was supplied by the open windows, the view was beautiful and there was a kind of magic floating through the carriages bringing me calmness and joy.
The reason why I would not have agreed with my friends words before I took this trip was because I can't feel this magic on todays modern trains. Today's trains purpose is to just take you from one place to another as quick as possible in this societys hectic lifestyle. The comfort of over head lightning being at its brightest, AC and no access to open windows. The view is still nice, but the quickness makes it hard to appreciate it as much.
It is what it was built for. A measure of transportation from place A to place B.
With the wonder and magic lost from it...
So here is for the magic of the slow going, lovable train with their charm still with them.
