Monday's Poetry: "The Wreck of the Old 97"

 

by Pa Rock

Train Rider

A major part of my grand plan to free myself from he abject tyranny and misery of airline travel is to begin relying more on riding the rails.  Train travel may be slower than flying, but at least you don't have to fight your way across glorified hog pens in your stocking feet in order to board a train.  Aside from the slowness of the travel, an aspect that I like, there is also the very real problem that trains in America have limited routes.

Our new transportation secretary, Mr. Pete Buttigieg, appears to be promising to address both issues, if the Republicans in Congress who work for the defense industry can be persuaded to actually allow some of the national treasury to be spent on the needs of people - for a change.

This past weekend, on Saturday afternoon, there was a deadly passenger train derailment in the farmlands of northern Montana, one that killed three and sent seven to local hospitals - and I am certain that airline industry flacks are already on the news and entertainment shows bemoaning what they will claim to be the dangerousness of train travel.  But I have done both and I know that when a train crashes, many more people are likely to survive and even walk away that when a airplane crashes.  When a big passenger plane goes down, the passenger manifest is almost always going to be the obituary list as well.

Train travel is ultimately safer than air travel - and I will not be convinced otherwise!  Train travel is much, much more comfortable than sitting with your knees tucked under your chin between two large and annoying people on an airplane.  The seating on a train is more spacious, and passengers have the freedom to get up and walk about whenever they want - even to adjoining cars - and to exotic destinations like the dining car, club car, and even the observation car.  Every seat is no more than one place removed from a wide window, and sleeping cars are available for those who wish to travel in ultimate comfort.

The train that crashed in Montana was an Amtrak, part of its "Empire Builder" route that runs between Chicage and Seattle.   The tracks it was traveling belonged to Burlington Northern Santa Fe (BNSF).  as of yet the reason for the crash has yet to be determined.

I have not ridden the "Empire Builder" yet, but plan to do so by next summer.  That route has a stop within a couple of miles of my cousin's home in Idaho, and it connects with another train at the beautiful King Street Station in Seattle, a train that I have ridden that has a stop within a couple of miles of my daughter's home in Oregon.  

Again the limited routes are a problem.  Right now my two best ways of catching the "Empire Builder" heading west are to drive to Kansas City, board an Amtrak heading east to Chicago, and then backtrack westward - or to drive to Minnesota, like a friend of mine does, and catch it at one of its stops there.  Both are far from ideal, but again, Secretary Buttigieg is gong to add some routes and introduce some high speed trains  -  if  -  we can keep Republicans out of power long enough to let some real progress happen!

But regardless of the inconvenience, I am determined to make travel more relaxing and enjoyable in the coming years - and that ain't a-gonna happen riding airplanes!

A very famous train wreck occurred one-hundred-and-eighteen-years ago today.  The Southern Railway Company had a "Fast Train" #38 which rain a southerly mail route through Virginia,   But that particular train was out of commission and had to be replaced with a substitute for a time.  That substitute, "Old 97" was being pushed to make up time when it derailed and overturned on a trestle in Danville, Virginia on September 27th, 1903.  Eleven people were killed in the train wreck, and seven more were injured.  Henry Whitter wrote a song about the incident, and today many claim that song was the first "million-seller" in country music.  It has been performed by such greats as Woody Gutherie, Hank Snow, and Johnny Cash, and is still a staple of classic country music.

Here is a story of what can happen when you get in a hurry:

The Wreck of the Old 97

by Henry Whitter

They give him his orders at Monroe, Virginia
Sayin', "Steve, you're way behind time
This is not 38, but it's Old 97
You must put her in Spencer on time."

Then he look around and said to his black, greasy fireman
"Just shovel on a little more coal
And when we cross that White Oak Mountain
You can watch Old 97 roll."

It's a mighty rough road from Lynchburg to Danville
In a line on a three-mile grade
It was on that grade that he lost his airbrakes
Oh, you see what a jump he made

He was goin' down grade making 90 miles an hour
When his whistle broke into a scream
He was found in the wreck with his hand on the throttle
And was scalded to death by the steam

Now ladies, you must take warning
From this time on and learn
Never speak harsh words to your true love or husband
He may leave you and never return