Dream - The levitating train

In March 2008, probably on the 22nd or 23rd, I had a dream about a levitating train. Another unusual thing was that I changed, partway through the dream, from a man into a woman.

In the dream, I had gone toward downtown Phoenix, on the south side, apparently walking. I thought something to myself about me doing this again, going to the south-side downtown Phoenix area, because I had done this so many times before, and the thought was almost one of exasperation. I had originally had some kind of purpose for doing this, but I don't remember what it was. It seems that I was going to meet someone, not there or even in that direction, but for some reason I was going there first. It also seems that I was going to meet some family members a little later, and they were going to somewhere in Tempe where we would meet, and that they had something to do with me going out now, though they didn't send me this direction or intend that I go this direction.

I didn't make it all the way to downtown Phoenix, but instead turned and started going back perhaps somewhere around 20th St. or a little past it. I don't think I went back exactly the same way I came, but turned south down a street and then started back east. I came to a big place on the south side of the street where trains went through going north-south and south-north. There were two huge bays that the trains went through, one for each direction, and something else on the east side of the bays but part of the same building, perhaps an area for maintenance. On the west side and attached was an enclosed structure where people worked and train tickets were purchased. The whole thing, including the bays, was roofed.

The trains were very tall, perhaps as much as three stories, and were very futuristic looking. Most of the height was apparently devoted to the engines and perhaps some for storage, with people riding at the very top. The trains did not have many cars, apparently three including the one the engineer and crew were in. The trains were kind of a semi-shiny gray metallic, the sides slanting out slightly toward the bottom and finally bulging out some the last few feet. The sides were largely blank except for some occasional slight indentations and protrusions that were generally in lines and sometimes, relatively rarely, even small slots. Up high, a row of small windows could be seen. One time I saw what was apparently an engineer leaning out of a larger window toward the front and talking to someone on the ground (actually on the concrete).

The trains came and went fairly swiftly for a while. Then a more extended break came, with a train in the west side bay and I think without a train in the east side one (the east-side trains went north and the west-side trains went south). I wandered around, thinking they probably didn't want me doing that but doing it anyway and hoping no one objected. I talked to a person or two on the way, apparently people who did maintenance and washed the trains. They seemed pleasant enough.

As I made my way back toward the street, I changed into a woman. Instead of being over six feet tall and a little overweight, I was now a lot smaller and slimmer and wore a dress, and had dark brown hair that was styled to curl around to the front a little and on the back of my neck. It seemed a smooth transition, though, and I didn't think it was too unusual. It just kind of faded in as I walked along, and with it came a happier feeling, a feeling of lightness.

As I went toward the street, I was getting kind of anxious to get away, I guess maybe to get back on my journey. I was talking to a few people, and some more were approaching, but none of them were very close, the closest perhaps ten feet away. I realized then that whole train complex was raised high above the street (though it wasn't originally), and the northwest corner I was heading toward was particularly high above the surrounding area, perhaps as much as fifteen to twenty feet.

I was still maybe five or six feet from the edge, and felt that I could just step or jump off the edge and land safely, perhaps even changing to a low glide across the pavement before touching down, but I also felt that if I tried to go over the edge it would upset the other people, who did not know I could do this and would be afraid I would get killed. I could picture them calling out, telling me not to do it, and rushing forward. Even now I could see that they were getting nervous, afraid for me. I edged away from the corner, going back to the south, staying several feet from the side. The people were still somewhat nervous and followed at a little distance, talking to me and me talking to them.

I went at a slight angle away from the edge, continuing south. I went past the train terminals a ways and met some other people (I think they were different ones than before). We talked and I saw, perhaps in my mind, a scene of one of the three-piece trains high in the sky, apparently on the edge of space. It looked ghostly, like it was made out of ice, and the cars kept rocking from side to side, the first and last cars going the same direction at the same time and the middle one going the opposite way. I felt that the appearance and the rocking was a normal effect of the engines, of the type of power used.

I was on a small high platform, then, with a barrier and railing around it. A few other people were with me. They were being taken north, back to the trains, on this moving platform. There was another platform with other people behind us, and perhaps more behind that. The platforms were on top of tower-like structures, probably square or rectangular in cross section, that were narrower than the platforms. We had gotten on the platform by going up stairs that were inside the tower-like structure.

I was laughing and talking about it finally coming true, about how we had ghost cars and ghost trains and ghost something else, referring to the train high in the sky (it was apparently normal for the trains to travel this way). The woman I was talking to was smiling and seeming to accept what I was saying, though I was wording it somewhat awkwardly.

The moving platform reached the place at the station to give or show the train tickets and get on the train, and two women were leaning out a double window opening toward us, to be shown or given the tickets. They had smiles on their faces and seemed to be very happy in their work, and I had the impression that they did a lot of chatting with each other while waiting for the platforms to bring the passengers. I explained to them that I wasn't going on the train, I was just talking to the other people while they took the ride (on the platform) over to the train. I said that I would just get off here. The women workers, though, smiling big and looking at each other and at me, said, through one of them, that I couldn't do that, that I had to take the platform back. I didn't want to do that, I would be going out of my way to go way back there, but it didn't seem that they were going to give in.

The platform had a tall railing that had flat panels on the sides except at the bottom, with three bars going down the sides to support the top rail and the panels. The platform was much narrower than it was long and the three bars were on one of the long sides, with a narrow side facing the worker women. The bars, which were formed of sheet metal and may have been square in cross-section, had different amounts of spacing and were widely spaced enough that I could slip through them.

I quickly slipped through the opening at the southeast corner, on the end away from the worker women. The bottom of the platform was perhaps eight feet above the pavement. I fell quickly and landed lightly, with my knees bending slightly as I hit and then quickly straightening. When I slipped through the bars I could hear the women workers going "Ohhhhh" and could sense them leaning over and looking at me, worrying. I stepped quickly away after landing, a little smile on my face, assuring everyone I was alright.

The platform behind us was starting to approach, though it wasn't too close yet. There was a man on it that I knew. Another person or two were on it as well, but I didn't get a good look at them. The man was leaning forward, looking out toward me and saying something. I don't think he was very concerned that I might be hurt, though he might have been a little surprised and I think maybe a little amused.