It’s amazing what can happen when you tell a story different ways. Ben Jervey, reporter for Good Magazine, knows that the United States’ rail system isn’t much to write home about compared to it’s international counterparts. But why? He jumped on the Amtrak for the 3,397-mile journey from New York’s Penn Station to Oakland, California to find out what America’s rails are up to these days. With a mix of still photographs, video footage and a written story that reads like a personal journal, “Train in Vain” shows, at minimum, the dynamic capabilities of a good ol’ American travel story.

(photo by Amy Stein via GoodMagazine.com)