I love to travel by rail.  I could write pages on this topic alone.  Simply put, it's a nearly meditative mode of travel - removed from the demands of road traffic, I'm free to watch the world at a pace my mind finds completely satisfying.

The San Francisco Bay area has several lines offering passenger service, and for some time, I had fantasized about what it would be like to circumnavigate the bay by rail.  Not only would I be able to indulge my love of rail travel, but I would finally be able to say I had seen the entire Bay Area.....