We built this city on lilacs (not)

A couple of my readers gave me some grief about the column item praising train travel.

They found it a bit too rah-rah for their taste.

Fair enough. But let me just state, for the record:

I realize Amtrak’s service record isn’t perfect.

I am aware that the railroads have caused some environmental problems. (Name a transportation industry that hasn’t.)

And, yes, I’m glad Riverfront Park is no longer a tangle of tracks.

But.

I don’t see how you can live in Spokane and not feel a connection to rail travel. Perhaps it would be overreaching to make the claim now. But this was a Train Town.

And in some hearts, it always will be.