Since I was a small girl, I always loved trains..

My father used to work for the German Railroad Company and we were allowed to travel free of charge on all german trains. I love the smell of oil, steel, smoke and wanderlust on train stations and if you bed me in a couchette coach you can be sure I’m sleeping like a baby as soon as the train starts to move and the soft and comforting rattling of the rails fills the air.

I also enjoy observing and meeting people on trains and I recall one story that still makes me smile. I was a teenager back then and was traveling with my father and on my walk through the wagons, I met a young man, playing the guitar. I entered his department, started to sing along and we spent the rest of the train ride with singing and joking until he reached his destination. One of the songs we sang was “City of New Orleans” and this morning, I grabbed my guitar, sang all these old songs and thought it would be fun to do a recording…hopefully it brings some extra inspiration..smiles

The challenge for today is to write a train related poem. This could be a poem about famous trains like the Orient Express, this could also be about traveling in general, about arriving, departing or some train station story, train history and of course you could also use the train as a metaphor…whatever jumps to your mind. If you like, take the above picture as an inspiration..I shot it on my train ride from Rome to Grosseto a few weeks ago..

So here’s how it works…

• Write your poem
• Post it on your blog
• Click the Mr. Linky button below, and in the new window that opens up input your name and direct url of the poem.
• Visit others who have taken the challenge.
• Have fun..!