I was recently on a train for the first time in months, and I just had to put on Kraftwerk's "Trans Europe Express" with a big goofy grin. — Even though I've been on trains many times throughout my life, it just never stops being special to me.
holy shit I need to make a train playlist now
next addition: Tangerine Dream, Love on a real train
perhaps some elvis too? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XA5HErVE9oI (okay maybe not)
I found a YouTube link in your comment. Here are links to the same video on alternative frontends that protect your privacy:
i'm jealous, i love riding around on the train so much, but I never really have anywhere to go so i don't do it often :D
just go places anyhow if its not cost/time prohibitive
I've done it a few times, taking a new line I hadn't been on before, or going along with a friend on a trip for an event I didn't have tickets to, its always fun
I wish rail travel to and from where I am wasn't the absolute worst. I'm on a peninsula in the only city you can really call a city until you hit Montreal, which is about 12 hours by car although you'll spend 2 getting into the city because of infinite construction. The train, however, makes a stop in seemingly every single small town in all of New Brunswick and takes 30 damn hours. And it was $200, fuck via rail
somehow worse than amtrak?
I took a nice train trip last may and I think service has even expanded since then (the amount of trains/day was quite bad, but not nearly as slow as what you describe). I always feel like I'm just making an excuse to take the train rather than actually wanting to go to those places but maybe that's just because I haven't taken a full length (least one week) vacation in ages. Maybe I can save up for a cross country trip next year or over the winter
Honestly it's the only time I took a passenger train. In the states I've generally been touring eith a band and therefore driving and otherwise I've gotten around by hitchhiking, I'm right in that zone between too scary for someone sketchy to pick up and not too scary for someone cool to pick up. If you're a socially inclined person, it's pretty fun and if you know how to depart your town reliably you're looking okay. For me the first bus in service in town is a 4am one to the airport, it gets you there at 4:30 which is absolutely perfect because it gives you a half hour to walk to the exit ramp cause trucks leave at 5, get one of those and sometimes your still getting 12 hours out of town.
I've never hitchhiked any significant distance but I can see how it'd be fun, I might also land in that nice zone of not-getting-fucked-with tbh, though I'm not thaaat "socially inclined", as you put it so it would give me mad anxiety the first couple times
I don't drive that much any more but I used to love picking up hitchhikers, you just don't see them that much anymore in the city because of piggie harassment I assume. And my uncles used to hitchhike to work every day in this town 
Socially inclined is less in the desire sense and more in the skill sense. I'm funny as hell in a conversational kinda way especially. I'm witty and dry and have had the social ace up my sleeve since 7 that I can make anyone laugh more or less at will (everyone secretly does love puns and dad jokes). Also I carried a crocodile dundee knife as well as fireworks and if things went sour I'd threaten em.witj a knife and then set off fireworks in the cab. But that's just deterrence.
I saw the driver and another driver swap. I don't think there are conductors.
I went through many tunnels and in fact got off and back on underground!
I am now on a return train