Seattle Worldcon Report 1: A Train Ride
At this time of the year, when summer’s joys are fading, Worldcon brightens the horizon. Last year I went to Glasgow, a major journey. This year (2025) it is in Seattle, WA. Whenever there’s a Worldcon in your time zone, you should go, because it doesn’t happen that often. Next year Worldcon will be in Los Angeles, but after that I don’t look for another one in the US for many years. So I am determined to enjoy it now.
And, in consonance with the fun retro look of the event (see the image, above) we took the train from Portland to Seattle. I cannot remember ever taking a train in the US. This country has not prioritized rail travel; I’ve happily ridden the Tres Grand Vitesse, German trains, and British Railways but in the US I nearly always drive instead, like most Americans.
But garaging a car in downtown Seattle would be expensive, and the train is convenient. So we went by rail. This was far more adventurous than absolutely necessary. According to Amtrak the trip takes a couple hours. I was traveling with our own Phyl Radford, and we considered this was plenty of time for us to make the panels we were scheduled to be on in the afternoon.
Alas, for good intentions! It took nearly twice as long, more than five hours, because of an active shooter on the tracks. Some nutcase was taking pot shots at freight cars as they passed, and naturally our train had to halt. It took hours until the authorities chased the culprit down, dragged him away, and then searched the tracks for evidence. All rail and highway traffic on I-5 was halted in central Washington.
When we arrived in Seattle it was 2:30. My panel was at three. The one thing you are obliged to do, if you’re on the program, is to show up for your events! We piled into a taxi and sped to the correct building. I left my unlucky husband with all the baggage, and instructions to check into the hotel and then meet me with the room number and key. Then I galloped into Registration. Which, unfortunately, had a huge long line for badges.
Desperate times call for desperate measures! Because there’s been an uptick in the virus this summer, I had a mask. I wear this on a lanyard around my neck because otherwise I lose it and those N95s are not free. I took off the mask and ran past the gate guys, waving the mask on its lanyard. A white thing at the end of a lanyard, it must be a badge, right? Anyway, no one stopped me and I got to my panel only a couple minutes late. And a guy with a gun is a solid excuse for tardiness!
3 thoughts on “Seattle Worldcon Report 1: A Train Ride”
Good God, Brenda–I had no idea of the backstory of your arrival! Yoicks.
From what I understand, the rule of thumb with American train travel is to assume it will take twice as long as suggested. Then, if it runs on time, you are pleasantly surprised.
That’s the rule that you use with home renovations! When I rode the TGV, the super-speedy train in France, I realized that no, we are no longer a First World Nation.
We endured 2 1/2 hours of sitting. No dining car. The engineer had the conductors open the locker with the snack baskets for us. Not much of a lunch but we survived.
Armed security people cruised down the aisle of the train a couple of times, counting noses to make sure the shooter hadn’t climbed aboard and hid among us.
Otherwise the trip was not exciting.
Though when I mentioned the delay in conversation, someone replied “That was last week!”
“No. it was yesterday.” Sounded to me like this is becoming a regular thing on that section of rail.