Around this time of the year, I get that mushy feeling. A feeling that lets me know that summer has passed. Autumn is around the corner, and I am ready for it. I see the leaves falling from the trees, like early snowflakes at Thredbo. My wife and I start our train journey during this time of the year. We love it and this year is no different and again; we hit the tracks with no point in mind. The reason; is the sound.

 

There is nothing like the sound of a train as it leaves a station. The steadily increasing chugging sound as the train picks up speed. Then you hear the train running on its rails. The constant repetitive clickety-clackety sound you hear from the plates that join the rails; when your train passes over them, you hear those sounds.

 

Clickety-clackety.

Clickety-clackety.

Clickety-clackety.

 

The sound just can put you to sleep if you are not careful.

 

As the train travels faster toward its destination, the sounds become more of a rumbling sound journeying through valleys and fields all the while. Its whistle sounds like a lonely call in the night.

 

The brakes shush and screech when the train slows down to a crawl as it arrives at its destination.

 

Other sounds will appear during our train journey, but they seem to be drowned out by the rhapsody of the train as it lulls us, calling us to repeat the journey, year after year.

 

Who needs the noise of an airplane as it shears through the air-masses?

 

Who needs the ear-splitting noise of a bus travelling down a highway?

 

We sit back and wait for when we both fall asleep as we listen to the most soothing sound of a train.

 

Clickety-clackety.

Clickety-clackety.

Clickety-clackety.

 

Clickety-clackety.

Clickety-clackety.

Clickety-clackety