Junamatkailua 1910-luvulla

Nyt kulkevat kuulemma junat Helsingistä Pietariin luodinnopeudella. Toista se oli viime keväänä ja toista myös 1910-luvulla. Francis E. Clark kirjoittaa kirjassa The Charm of Scandinavia (1918):

Even the express trains between Helsingfors and St. Petersburg are no cannon balls or "Flying Yankees," for a mile in three minutes and ten seconds is the best they attempt to do for the whole journey.

Mutta tämä amerikkalainen oli positiivisesti yllättynyt käyttäessään asemaravintoloiden palveluja:

One could never, however, mistake a Finnish railway restaurant for a similar institution in America. Here one sees no quick-lunch counter, no aged sandwiches made the day before yesterday, no greasy doughnuts or any impossible concoction misnamed "coffee." Here verything is neat, nice, and orderly. The coffee is sure to be delicious, for in the meanest Finnish hut, even in far Lapland. the proprietor would be ashamed to give you anything but a steaming and fragrant cup of their national beverage. With the coffee, and for the same price, you get an unlimited supply of little cakes or sweetbread, while if you want a full dinner of three or four courses, superbly cooked and elegantly served, it will cost you only two and a half Finnish marks, or about fifty cents, for a Finnish mark differs from a German marc in being of the same value as a franc.

Turisteja maassa tuskin oli ruuhkaksi asti, mutta heidän matkustamisensa oli tehty mahdollisimman helpoksi:

The notices in the stations and in the cars about smoking, spitting, putting your head out of the window, standing on the platform, and so on, are printed in six languages: Finnish, Swedish, Russian, German, French, and English, and the maps and diagrams and time-tables are so full of helpful information that no wayfaring man need go astray.