I rode my first train at age 13 in the amazing capital of the world! New York City.  Having grown up in the Caribbean, trains were not a part of my transportation vocabulary, however, that day a whole new world opened up to me.  What started off as fear ended up being a thrill that would last way into my 30s and beyond. My first wave of fear was in learning that the train ran underground. The second wave did not lap gently on the shores of my mind, instead, it crashed like a tsunami and that was upon learning that the train also ran underwater in a container called a tunnel.  what!! “let me out of here” was my first thought. As we journeyed on the F train from Sutphin Blvd subway station in Queens to Coney Island Brooklyn, I stared in awe as the over-sized wall posters quickly took on the characteristics of a disjointed story captured on a flip chart. The train whizzed by and my fears slowly dissipated as we flew through Manhattan into Brooklyn and finally above ground to Coney Island. Then I realized that I actually enjoyed the ride, and at that point, I decided that one day I’d like to see as much of the world as I can by train. Unfortunately, life happened and as I traveled to Spain and  Portugal in my 20s I forgot all about my desire. In my late 20s hopping around the UK with very little money left me with no choice but to ride the Metro grudgingly. Japan in my 30s, rekindled the desire and I gladly rode the rail just to get an idea of what it feels like to be a sardine.  And yes, the Japanese know how to fit 300 people in a train car designed to hold 150. As luck would have it, one of the companies that supplied my employer with equipment added the rail industry to their portfolio and started to publish a calendar with nothing but TRAINS from every part of the world.  Big smile! So I have saved many of the calendar entries throughout the years and this is my way of honoring my desire. I intend to add a wee bit of history for each entry and any interesting links and tidbits that help to tell the story of the trains. There are some pictures without any caption (I inadvertently snipped off 1 entire year’s worth of captions). Perhaps I’ll let my imagination weave together an adventure or love story or an adventurous love story, or maybe even something comedic. Either way,  I believe that every train has a story, and damn it – I intend to tell it- enjoy!!!