Trains and Creativity: What's the Connection?

The last post about trains may have caught you off guard. After all, isn't this blog about my creative process? How are trains part of the creative process? I suppose a little context would help. After all, there's a lot in my past and present that can explain the connection.

My maternal grandfather worked for the railroad. I don't know exactly what he did, but I imagine you would call him a "yard worker" (meaning that he did manual labor in the rail yard. Unfortunately, he never talked much about his time in that career. When dementia was robbing him of life he would often wake up in the middle of the night and crawl around in the corners of the bedroom. My grandmother would ask him what he was doing and he would reply that he was "looking for a bolt" or something similar.

In the present day I can see multiple CSX rail lines from my windows. For those in the know, Amtrak in Virginia mostly runs on CSX lines. However, I'm positioned in between the two main Amtrak lines so all I see going by are coal hoppers, boxcars, and tankers. I have ridden Amtrak to DC on multiple occasions and I would love to visit other cities by train one day. Personally, I find it to be a very pleasant method of travel. The more I deal with distracted drivers on the interstates and city streets, the more I like the idea of rail travel.

Recently, I was having a conversation with Stephen. You might know him as the other half of Explore the Everyday, the podcast we cohost together. It was near the end of our first season and we were discussing the possibility of sponsors for season two. Somehow, we got on the topic of our "dream sponsor" and I very quickly suggested Amtrak. And it has stuck. So in the future, our podcast is going to be sponsored by Amtrak. I don't know if they sponsor podcasts or what we would need to do to make that happen, but through the power of positive thinking we're going to get there. So yes, trains are a part of my creative process.