All Aboard

article and illustration by LOU DAVENPORT

Train I ride….sixteen coaches long….

I do not remember when I first became fascinated by trains.  It could have been being brought up in Bastrop, where two sets of tracks bisected the town, and you could count on being stopped by one anywhere you went, at any time!  The trains served International Paper when it was there, and those trains brought all kinds of things that the mills needed, or needed to ship out.

“Hobos” rode the freight cars then, and I often saw them.  One night, I even saw a train with one of its wheels on fire!  That was a little scary!

The mills eventually closed, and the railroads were sold.  I only know of one of the tracks that’s still operational, the “Short Line” that’s owned by AL&M Railroad (Arkansas, Louisiana and Mississippi).  It comes by five days a week, Monday through Friday. 

It is so predictable, you could set your watch by it.  I also learned about “Short Lines,” never knowing that “Take a Ride on the Short Line and win $100,” when playing Monopoly was a real thing!  “My” short line goes from Monroe to up above Crossett.  It seems to have all kinds of different cars, from grain bins to tankers, and a lot of freight cars.  

My family visited New Orleans every summer for years.  All I wanted was some beignets, and to go ride the train at Audubon Park.  I think they just left me on that train while they toured the rest of the park!  Hey, that was okay with me!  

Later on, I got to ride more trains. My son, Adam, was a real train nut when he was little. We lived near Amory, Mississippi back then, and every year, there was a Railroad Festival. They also had a real train to ride. It only went a few miles, but it was so much fun for him, Paige, Carolyn and ME! I would have to take him by the train depot every time we went into town so that he could see the freight trains, and he’d make his “train noise!”

I once rode a train in Rusk, Texas, complete with a fake bank robbery that you got to act in.  There was a train in Branson, Missouri I got to ride, and saw some of the prettiest scenery I’ve ever seen up there.  

In Dallas, I could catch a train right at the hotel and ride it over to Ft. Worth.  At the station, you caught a bus that took you right to The Stockyards.  When you were through sightseeing, you caught the bus back, hopped on the train, and it brought you right back to the hotel. 

Overall, I think the best train ride I ever took was riding an Amtrak from Longview, Texas to Santa Barbara, California.  Longview was the closest place to catch an Amtrak, but I keep hearing that “one of these days” there will be service from Jackson, Mississippi to Longview.  That would be so nice to hop on here in Monroe, and go somewhere either way!

The Amtrak I caught was called “The Silver Eagle,” which I boarded in Longview, Texas.  It took me to Austin, Texas, where it changed engines, and was then called the “Sunset Limited.” 

I don’t have many complaints about riding Amtrak, but I will get a private room and go first class next time.  I had a sleepette, which was spacious enough, and the way the train just rocks along, sleep was never a problem.  It was fun to go to the glass topped lounge car, and there was always great food. Passengers were assigned times, so you never knew who you would be sitting with.  That was so much fun, and I met so many different people.  Most of them loved my Southern accent, and I taught many of them to say “y’all” the right way!  There was always the best coffee anytime you wanted it, and the porters were extremely nice.  One porter on my car had been “riding the rails” for nearly 30 years and was ready to retire, but he did say he was going to miss it.  He’d been everywhere, and told me all kinds of stories.

The view you get while riding an Amtrak is totally different than what you see riding the highway.  I saw the backside of so many towns and cities, not always at their best, but nonetheless interesting to see.  Somewhere along the way we rode right through the biggest train yard I had ever seen! I also learned that the Amtrak train would pull over to tracks on the right to let the freight trains go by uninterrupted.  They had priority.

“The Salton Sea” was something very unexpected, and I had to ask a lot of questions of the porter about that place.  It looks like a surreal landscape that Salvadore Dali might have painted.  It was intended to be a big resort in the desert, but since it is one of the few landlocked lakes in the country, pesticide run off, and algae bloom killed most everything that lived in it.  Its considered toxic, and there are remnants still there of what that resort once resembled.  It’s a creepy kind of place, but I’m glad I saw it.

Since I had made friends with that porter, he let me go out on the end of the train where there’s a little balcony. I rode over the Rio Grand River outside! 

There’s no rails on that bridge, and the river itself is so far down, it looked like a small silvery snake. That was exciting!

One morning, I woke up to a landscape full of wind turbines.  Those things are huge, and there were so many of them. I knew I must be getting close to the agricultural part of California, and shortly, there I was, surrounded by field after field of avocados, almond trees, celery fields, lettuce, almost anything you could imagine. 

I passed through Ventura, and Santa Monica, and saw the pier with the ferris wheel we’ve all seen in many movies and TV shows.  By that time, we were stopping almost every 15 minutes, and I knew it wasn’t far to my last stop, Union Station in Los Angeles. I caught my last train there, and it took me on into Santa Barbara. My best recollection of Union Station was how big and beautiful it was. I saw “Birds of Paradise” growing in their landscaping like daylilies grow around here.

I have to add that Santa Barbara is a beautiful place, too. Our beaches are better, in my own humble opinion, but the weather is so nice. It was a little chilly in the morning and late afternoon, but the rest of the day was almost perfect. Also, it never rained. When I had to leave, I took a plane, but I’d rather have taken that train.  Flying is okay, but it can’t hold a candle to riding on a train.

I asked a lot of my Facebook friends about their experiences with trains, and I was floored by how many train lovers are out there. I got so many comments and stories, and I don’t have room for them all, but I picked some, and we all agreed that trains are great.

Some of my friends had taken international trains. Wayne Horton rode on a supersonic train in Europe that went over 100 miles an hour. Brian Sivils rode trains to the beach in India, round trip for a little over 25 US dollars. Kathleen Simpson Scott rode all over Switzerland and then, Scotland!

Many people have caught the Amtrak in Jackson for a trip to New Orleans.  Many said it was because it’s fun, and there were no parking or driving hassles in New Orleans. Many took their children to give them the experience of riding on a train, or to go to a Saints game.

I’ve had a few cousins that have ridden the train. Rusty Dennis, when he was only 13 years old, rode from New Orleans to Washington D.C. to the National Boy Scout Convention.  My cousin Ronnie Ecklund takes the train from New Orleans to come home to Monroe most of the time.

I found out many of my friends have taken the Amtrak all the way to Washington D.C. Carla Howell caught hers in Meridian, Mississippi and Shelley Coats rode with her 3 ½ year old all the way. That was surely an experience!

Many other people have caught the Amtrac in Jackson and gone to Chicago.  Brian Crawford, Peggy Reynolds, Kathy Warwick, Brett Auttonberry, Chad Brooks, and even my son, Adam, took that train when he was in college.

Ron Watson lived in New York City for two years, and rode “The Crescent” back and forth home to New Orleans, catching it at Penn Station.  Bob Eisenstadt made the trip from Washington D.C. to NYC and back to Washington D.C. many times. Dana Nelson Hall and Sonny Cathey took their children to New York to see the annual Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade!

Dale Benz told me his story about boarding a train with his friends, guitars in hand, and they gave the whole train car a concert.  He said they used the “clickity clack” of the train as their drum set!

I wish I had the room to really tell all the stories I was told by my friends, but I do want to thank each one of them for loving trains as much as I do! I might have to write a part two!

“Mystery Train,” Elvis Presley….thank ya, thank ya very much.