I WISH TRAIN ENTHUSIASTS WOULD GET A BETTER METAPHOR. An announcement of National Train Day 2009 (May 9: I'm sentenced to grading jail) has headline National Train Day Means Amtrak is Still Chugging Along.

Fish out that old conductor's cap and choo-choo whistle from your youth (or your model-railroading days) and prepare to remember that other methods of cross-country transportation exist aside from the airplane. On May 9, Amtrak will celebrate "National Train Day," bringing awareness to the fact that they not only still exist, but have loyal customers and architectural gems of hub stations.

Here is what chugging along looks like.

John Karlson photograph, fall 1940.

That choo-choo (referring to the locomotive, not this train, which is not a Hiawatha) whisks passengers from Chicago to Milwaukee in 75 minutes. In just over five hours, it will be in St. Paul. Madison passengers will transfer to it at Portage, Wisconsin Valley passengers will transfer from it at New Lisbon, and connections to southern Minnesota points are available at La Crosse.