Behind the Scenes: The Trains
In North America, Erik, the protagonist of the book, is traveling on the big trains in the Midwest and the Rocky Mountains. For Erik’s story is also a travel novel set on rails. The train journeys, which were an embarrassment at the beginning, draw him more and more into their spell. Along for the ride is the “California Zephyr,” with which “Rocky Mountain Railroad Odyssey” begins his adventures in Chicago. He travels to San Francisco, with stops in Denver, Colorado and Reno, Nevada. The trains have sonorous names, some of which are based on the connections of the predecessor railroads, and some of which are new Amtrak names. That is why the chapter names in the book also bear the names of the trains.
Further north, Erik later takes the “Empire Builder” from Seattle via Whitefish near Kalispell and Glacier National Park to Minneapolis. This train again has an entirely different character than the “San Francisco Zephyr”, just as the landscape in northern Montana is different.
From Minneapolis, the journey continues via Winnipeg. Erik takes the “Canadian”, Canada’s great transcontinental train, to Edmonton. A short time later, he takes the train to Jasper, where he meets the love of his life. He continues the journey from Jasper to Vancouver.
But not only the “Rockies” play an important role in this travel novel, but also the west coast on the Pacific. For this is where the third chapter takes place: the trip on the “Cascades” from Vancouver to Portland, where Erik and Amelia make a detour to Mt. Hood.
In Oregon they continue their journey on the “Coast Starlight” to Oakland – where they meet some interesting passengers again. San Francisco and the Bay Area captivate them and they reluctantly say goodbye to the south, travelling south with the Caltrain commuter train. Finally, with the “Pacific Surfliner” from San José via Santa Barbara to Los Angeles. After a stop in Santa Monica, they travel directly along the coast to San Diego on the same train.
Finally, in the fourth chapter, Erik gets to know one of the legendary trains that unfortunately no longer run: The “Olympian Hiawatha” of the “Milwaukee Road.” But even if the train no longer departs, since 1971, you can still ride your bike along the route of the former transcontinental railroad in the middle of the mountains through tunnels and over bridges. The story finally ends in Edmonton. In this post, there are some maps that show where Erik and Amelia’s journey has taken them.
Fotos/Credit: Wikimedia/Carter Pape (California Zephyr), Openstreetmap/Stamen (Maps), Audio Visual Designs, Earlton, NY/Russ Porter, Wikimedia/An Errant Knight (California Zephyr)