Memories from a Cross-Country Train Ride, with a Pair of Lessons

"Awareness is like the sun. When it shines on things, they are transformed."
– Thich Nhat Hanh

The year I turned eight my parents allowed me to skip school for three weeks to go on a cross-country trip with my grandparents. (With permission from my teacher, of course.) My family was living a suburb of Cleveland at the time. My grandparents were going out West to see my Aunt Ellen, Uncle Dale and my cousins in Winnemucca in Nevada. It took three days to go from Cleveland to Reno. Uncle Dale picked us up. I'll never forget the lights as we drove through Downtown Reno at what must have been midnight.

My mother is fond of saying, "It's funny the things we remember." That trip with Grandma and Grandpa is chock full of memories. Here's a story from that adventure.

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We didn't have sleeper cars on this journey. As I remember it the three of us sat side by side with me at the window throughout that cross-country excursion. One highlight was riding through the Rocky Mountains at a relatively high altitude with a deep gorge alongside the tracks to my left. Grandma pointed across the gorge to a train hugging the mountain going the opposite direction and said, "That's where we will be in a little bit." In other words we were on the same track and they were ahead of us by about 15 minutes,

When we reached the far end of this turnabout she had me look down into the valley where there were a dozen abandoned, run-down cabins and bins. Grandma said it was a ghost town, which gave a new meaning to the word "ghost."

This story here is about an experience that took place on the plains, most likely in Nebraska while heading east. It was the middle of the night. I was awake and staring out the window, scanning the darkness when I noticed a very unusual sight. On the ground alongside the tracks we were on there were two streaks of glowing orange. The streaks were glowing like the embers after a fireplace has been spent, throbbing with heat. 

What was it? It was spooky. So I woke my grandmother who was seated next to me and she didn't know either. On and on it seemed to go for miles. 

Suddenly our train began to slow, then the lights went on and we came to a stop. The mystery was explained.

There were two railroad tracks running parallel across the prairie. As it turned out, a passenger train on the other track had come to a halt because the last five cars had jumped the track. The glowing was produced by friction on the limestone that held the railroadties and track in place. Our train stopped, essentially in the middle of nowhere, so that the passengers on the disabled train could be rescued and transported to the next station along the way. 

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LESSON ONE
Occasionally in life we experience mysteries that we don't understand. From the vantage point of the future these mysteries become quite clear. There are simple explanations which we may have understood from the start had we more experience.

LESSON TWO
When our train stopped to help the passengers on the other train, our passengers were inconvenienced for a bit. Not only was there a delay in reachng our destination, there was a need to cram all the extra passengers into our railroad cars. So it is that when people's lives go off the rails or they have simply jumped the track and are stuck... The lesson is clear. The engineer of our train could not, in good conscience, simply ignore the disabled railroad and pass on the other side. Nor should we.

See: The Parable of the Good Samaritan

If I may paraphrase a famous president:
"Ask not what your neighbor can do for you,

but what you can do for your neighbor."

Just In Time for Lilac Lovefest: Full Length Dome Car Is New Addition to the North Shore Scenic Railroad

Earlier this month the North Shore Scenic Railroad welcomed a new addition to their growing fleet of railroad excursion cars. The SkyView is a full length Dome Car, a rare treat here in the Northland. And it comes with a story that I will tell in a minute. 

Many if not most tourists to Duluth are familiar with the Lake Superior Railroad Museum in the St. Louis County Depot in Duluth. If not, then I would add it to your list of must stops during one of your visits to the Northland. Trains have played a significant role in our nation's history as well as Duluth's history. You will learn much by seeing the collection here. 

John Loyear (L) examines the SkyView
exterior with Director Ken Buehler. 

The North Shore Scenic Railroad (NSSR) received its first Dome Car from a supporter. The first class railroad car has been quite popular. "Every time it went out it sold out," said Ken Buehler, Executive Director. "The new Dome Car is a 64 seater. It is the biggest thing we’ve ever done,” Buehler said. “This is our first time taking on debt.”

Though nearly 250 Dome Cars with the abbreviated dome were built, only 30 full length Dome Cars were ever produced. Only 23 or 24 are active today, 11 of which belong to a Mr. Ellis. This is the first one to roll in to the Northland. It's name, appropriately, is the SkyView because of the treetop level views in all directions, including up.

The real challenge has been making it ready for service, a job for which Loyear Disaster Restoration has been commissioned. When I met with Ken Buehler and the team from Loyear, the car had been delayed in getting here. It was my understanding that the NSSR wanted the the restoration finished by July 1. Today I learned that they plan to have it ready to go for this weekend's Lilac Lovefest. When you learn the condition of the car, you'll understand why this seemed an ambitious deadline.

The SkyView had been sitting idle in Oregon for the past year or more. Grime covered every surface. The upholstery was so neglected that mushrooms were growing on the seats. To make matters worse, the exterior of the car was tagged twice on its journey from the Northwest through Nebraska to the Twin Cities and here to Duluth.

Example of the kind of grime and debris inside.

John Loyear, who came up from Minneapolis to discuss the project, admitted that this is the first railroad car project for their team, but a relatively easy project compared to the many disaster sites they've restored over the course of several decades. Loyear Disaster Restoration is Minnesota's 2nd oldest disaster restoration company serving Duluth, the Twin Cities Metro and surrounding areas.

I dropped by early last week and and the Loyear team was busy in every area of the car. When I dropped by yesterday I was astonished at how clean everything was looking. They were cleaning grime out of the oven in the kitchen and preparing to address the exterior today and Thursday. Lilac Lovefest begins Friday.

Oil and filter changes are a maintenance regimen for
trains as well as our cars.

While there Tuesday I also talked with the gentlemen who service all the railroad cars on behalf of the museum and Scenic Railroad. I learned that in addition to the very small full time staff they have about 20 volunteers who assist in various. ways in taking care of the museum's needs. The men were giving the big diesel engine an oil change while I was there, after which they started it up. This is not an engine that makes the train go, but rather a power plant for the electricity, appliances and lights that operate in the car. 

Here are more photos showing the work in progress up to this point.

Tools of the trade. They even use toothbrushes.

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Photo of wall showing before (left) and after in progress.

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A first class Dome Car needs a first class kitchen.

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In a Dome Car, it's all about the view. Here we see what 
a difference cleaning the windows makes.

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All those panels on the ceiling had to be removed. Mildew 
and grime needed to be cleaned in places you can't even see.

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You wouldn't believe what these seat cushions looked like.

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The Scenic Railroad's first Dome Car was called the Silver Club and had been used on the California Zephyr. It came to Duluth a couple years ago and has been very popular.

For those who may be interested, the North Shore Scenic Railroad was started in 1992 by Don Shank, then run by the Goldfine family until the Museum took over in 1996. When Ken Buehler became executive director in 1998, 33,000 passengers partook of the opportunity to take a scene ride on the rails. Buehler said that in 2019, "we carried 105,000 guest/passengers, our best year ever." 

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Related Links

Fox21 News story about the Sky View Dome Car

North Shore Scenic Railroad website

Loyear Restoration home page

Almost Wordless Wednesday: The Old Two Harbors Super One

In the late 80s and early 90s our family used to take some vacation time at some cabins up the North Shore just beyond Gooseberry Falls. Each time we went we'd stop at the Super One grocery store in Two Harbors for supplies.

This summer I learned that the grocery store is no more. Instead, the building is being renovated and will feature  a candy making business and numerous other reasons to stop.

Muralist Brian Olson (creator of the Palace Theater mural in Superior) is making his mark in Two Harbors, both outside and inside the former grocery store. 

It's an ambitious project and impressive space.

TRIVIA:

Did you know that 4 million people drive up the North Shore

through Two Harbors every year? 

This new complex will be just one more reason

to stop along the way next time you're heading North.

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Can't wait till it's completed. My grandson is gonna love it.

Come Along and Ride This Train: Duluth's Historic Depot Offers Glimpse of Another Influence on Bob Dylan

The history of our country is interwoven with the history of the railroad. For a good read about this history you might enjoy Stephen Ambrose's Nothing Like It In the World: The Men Who Built the Transcontinental Railroad 1863-1869.

Before railroads, waterways were a primary means of transportation. This is why cities historically rose up at the edge of bodies of water, and why rivers--the Seine, the Mississippi, the Potomac--are so famous.

On one occasion when Abe Lincoln was a young lawyer, he became involved in a case that involved a railroad bridge over a river. In preparing for the trial it became apparent that someone would have to decide who had the right of way, the boats or the railroads. What Lincoln learned from this experience showed him the future, which is why the Transcontinental Railroad was initiated during Lincoln's first term as president.

My daughter Christina with her husband Joey and my grandson Wally.
Point of Information: All 3 are Dylan fans, including Wally.

The city of Duluth is a prime example of the impact of waterways and trains. By means of the Great Lakes and the St. Lawrence Seaway, Duluth became the biggest inland port in the world for a period of its history, due chiefly to the rich natural resources here. During Lincoln's presidency Northern Minnesota was populated by immigrants who were offered free 40 acre plots if they would cultivate and use it.

Until the railroad was completed, the region's growth was but a trickle. Upon getting connected by rail to the Twin Cities of Minneapolis/St. Paul, 3,000 arrived overnight. The people already here used chalk to draw spaces the size of cots on their wooden floors, renting those spaces out to these newcomers seeking a roof over their heads.

This is the "dashboard" of a massive steam engine.

Trains also figured prominently in the transport of iron ore from the Iron Range to the Twin Ports, and to this day run continuously. Duluth's Historic Depot captures much of this history. The Lake Superior Railroad Museum has seven steam, 14 diesel, and two electric locomotives; and more than 40 other pieces of rolling stock, including an enormous snowplow and another giant contraption for keeping the rails cleared.

This aspect of life in the Northland might explain why the words "train" and "trains" appear more than 45 times in Bob Dylan's songs, plus additional references to railroads. Two albums have railroad-themed titles, Slow Train Coming and Blood on the Tracks.

You can walk inside many of these cars and sense the life lived here.

Because railroads were the new highways, they also had "hitchhikers" who rode the rails from place to place looking for work. Hobo camps sprang up where the railroads ran. There were three in Carlton just south of Duluth, and others along the way. Hemingway wrote about these things in some of his Nick Adams stories.

One of the highlights of Duluth Dylan Fest most years has been the Blood on the Tracks Express, a train ride with electric and acoustic acts performing at each end of the train, along with a V.I.P. car. Dylan fans coming from out of town will want to include the Depot and Train Museum on their list of things to see while in town. It's the starting point for Bob Dylan Way.

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One of the highlights for Dylan fans this year was the release of Bootleg Series #15: Travelin' Through, more than half featuring Dylan making music with his friend and fellow Columbia recording artist Johnny Cash. Dylan and Cash not only shared Nashville connections but also this connection with the common folk who worked in the rail yards and drifters who dreamed of a better life farther down the line, as Johnny Cash sings in Folsom Prison Blues. And it's especially fun to hear Dylan sing Johnny's song on Bootleg 15. "And I ain't seen the sunshine since I don't know when..."

If you live in the Northland you regularly hear them whistles blow, coming 'round the bend.

Here's a picture of Johnny Cash atop a railroad car in a photo taken for the cover of Orange Blossom Special. Released in 1965 it was Cash's 21st album. This particular page from the Bill Pagel Archives has Bob Dylan's assessment and flamboyant signature.

Trains are a central feature of both the Northland and American history.

Related Links
What's It Like to Live Through a Northern Minnesota Winter?
Historic Architecture: Duluth's Union Depot
Duluth's Major Railroads
Bob Dylan's Train Tracks from his Drawn Blank Series

Dylan Fest Postmark Is A Fun Discovery

Well I ride on a mail train, babe,
can't buy a thrill...
--Bob Dylan
It Takes a Lot to Laugh, It Takes a Train to Cry

This year the Duluth Dylan Fest adopted five additional activities in addition to the usual traditions of recent years. One of these was a postage stamp cancellation event. It's something Hibbing's Dylan Days had been doing for many years, marking each year with a special postmark locally designed and approved by the U.S. Postal Service. So on Saturday morning May 28 the USPS setup shop in the Historic Duluth Armory with an official representative there to cancel stamps and post cards that people purchased. John Bushey, host of the KUMD Dylan radio hour, did all the backstage info-gathering and negotiating to get all the paperwork established. I did the concepting and drew the artwork that was used for the "official" stamp. The original concept included a small profile of our native Son, but this had to be negated as a violation of one of the rules. No biggie.

This week I stumbled across a website called CollectPostmarks.com that collects a wide variety of geeky postmarks, including our Duluth Dylan Fest mark.  Postmark collecting is apparently alive and well. Galleries featuring art postmarks, First Day postmarks, event and commemorative postmarks, literary postmarks, military postmarks and more are all part of the site.

When concepting the art it seemed that a train theme is perfectly at home here. We have extensive train yards in this major port town. The annual Blood on the Tracks Express has become a Dylan Fest ritual that few want to miss. In addition, Dylan's album Slow Train Coming signified one of the many turnpoints in his career.

It was fun to make this contribution to the week's happenings. Strangely enough, we've already begun planning for 2017. We'll certainly welcome you warmly if you join us.

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Meantime, life goes on... I'll catch up with you at Hobo Junction. 

Blood on the Tracks Express Bangs Out the Rhythm of the Rails for Duluth Dylan Fest Devotees

Here comes the train!

Last night was the fifth annual Blood on the Tracks Express experience during Duluth Dylan Fest, and gauging from the energy it was another memorable night for many. There's something about trains that connects with people. I myself am enamored with their power, and their history, which is so interwoven with our own history.

My earliest memory with regard to trains is from when my mom used to bring my brother Ron and I to Mrs. O'Ligney's in Cleveland while she was finishing nursing school. She had a steeply sloped back lawn that dropped off to the tracks behind the row of apartment houses. We were not allowed to go down to the tracks where the Rapid Transit would fly past, but I had not learned this till after I'd gone down there once to see the trains up close. I was maybe three or four at the time, and I could tell by the terror on her face, when I looked up into the yard, that something was wrong.

For many people railroads are endlessly fascinating. At age eight I crossed the continent by train with my grandparents, from Cleveland to Reno. This experience cemented my own fascination with railroads.

For a long time one of my favorite films was Runaway Train starring Jon Voight, Eric Roberts and Rebecca De Mornay. After setting up Voight as something of an existential hero, the rest of the film is one long train scene, a wild ride on a runaway train, a suspense-filled adventure as well as a metaphor for life.

If you think in terms of the history of the world, railroads are a relatively new invention. And when you learn about the history of Duluth and the Iron Range, where young Robert Zimmerman was raised, trains played a critical role in this region's development.

The Blood on the Tracks Express is a celebration of music that takes place on a moving stage. Or rather, it's a party on wheels, which discharges its passengers in Two Harbors and returns them to Duluth a little before midnight. I met new friends and old friends from England and France and Chicago and elsewhere. And our locals who, whether Dylan fans or no, know the music will be good.

The length of the train was surprising to me. At the front end there was a freight car set up with acoustic musicians playing, as in years past. On the way to Two Harbors we were treated to the Clover St. Cronies and Feeding Leroy. The return ride featured Tin Can Gin, a high energy bluegrass group who has been performing around the region from the Porcupine Mountains to Minneapolis and Duluth.

The middle cars had lots of seats, some double-decker style, and the ride up the shore is quite satisfying. The music of Bob Dylan provided a continuous accompaniment in most of these cars. There was even one car that was all dark. Something akin to a tunnel of love?

The other end of the train featured electric powerhouses Social Disaster, The Black-Eyed Snakes and Wolf Blood. And at the American Legion Hall in Two Harbors it's The Freehweelers (aka The Boomchucks) with Brad Nelson on drums and Jamie Ness vocals/lead guitar. The "after midnight" crowd could find still more music to enjoy upon returning to Fitgers, or one could save their energy for tonight's Singer/Songwriter contest (Red Herring) and tomorrow's Acoustic Salute to the Music of Bob Dylan.

Here are a few photos of what you missed.

Danny Fox (R) and his father from Chicago.

The Freewheelers, Brad Nelson (L) and Jamie Ness

Tonight Danny Fax is performing during Grog Time 5-7 p.m. at Tycoons. From there the music moves to The Red Herring Lounge for the Singer/Songwriter Competition. Be there.

Train Time

From my youth I've had a fascination with trains. My earliest memory is from a time when I was about four years old. My mother was finishing her education, obtaining her nursing degree, I believe. My brother and I would be dropped off at a Mrs. O'Ligney's apartment. She was an older woman who had a whippet or greyhound. Behind her apartment there was a sloping hill of grass down to the railroad tracks there. My memory is of walking down the hill, rather steep I recall, and walking down by the tracks as a train came slowly round the bend. I heard her cry out to get away from the tracks. In retrospect I am guessing she probably freaked out when my brother and I were not in the backyard and she saw us down by the tracks.

I've already mentioned the trip cross country on a train. (see "1960") There are many remembrances from that experience. Here is one that stands out. Most of the trip I sat next to the window which provided fascinating views much of the time. We did not have sleeping cars so we slept in our seats. In the middle of the night I woke and was mystified by what I saw. Our seats were on the right side of the train. It was dark, near three a.m. I later learned, and there were two lines of glowing red to the right of the train. I couldn't understand what I was seeing. The two red lines glowed like embers in a fire, brightening and duller, then bright again. I tried to decide whether to wake my grandmother who sat in the middle to my left. I believe I did wake her, but she had no explanation.

Finally, we discovered what I had been seeing. Our train slowed, then stopped. The last five cars of a train had derailed and were dragged along the limestone, off track, for maybe fifteen miles. Amazing. An announcement came that the passengers on that other train would need to be squeezed into our train. I've often thought of how frequently we see things that we do not understand, yet which have reasonable explanations once the curtain is lifted.

My dad helped reinforce this fascination with trains by creating a paper mache landscape with a mountain and a lake that became a landscape for our Lionel trains. In this manner and many other ways he demonstrated artistic skills which reinforced my own interest in art later in life. The Lionel train-scape was built on a large 8' x 12' wooden construct that could be lifted with pulleys to become a wall, or lowered to be an area for running trains using transformers and track. It was a wondrous world for us boys.

One of my paintings as an art student was titled Train Coming 'Round the Bend, a self portrait of a young hippie holding on to a pole while the centrifugal force of this massive train curled around an embankment, incorporating some of this early fascination with the power of trains. Another painting, less effectively rendered, involved a horizontal canvas with rows of trains, in sillouette, running across like rows of sanskrit.

Today, I was late for church due to a train crossing a rural roald near my house. My eyes were attracted to the grafitti and, because it was a nice day and very long train, I stepped from my car to get up close and grab some photos. When I remembered that the camera also has a "movie" capability, I captured a minute of rail cars which I have now posted on YouTube.

Life is an adventure. Much of it is infused with art, such as my father's creative Lionel landscape, or the grafitti on the trains. Occasionally there are things we experience that resonate with earlier remembrances that in some way impact us and sometimes even define us. Trains may not be at the center of my life, but I certainly have a fondness for them.

The images on this page were taken this morning, as well as the YouTube video which you can see here. Is it not amazing? Watch for the blue car...