Chance to ride the rails is a dream come true

The Dispatch ^ | Thursday, September 02, 2010 | Barbara Presnell

[Willie Green]

Trains are as American as apple pie and baseball, which, let's face it, have struggled in popularity since the advent of Breyer's ice cream and ACC basketball.

Think Petticoat Junction. Think that old lonesome whistle. Think John Henry, steel-driving man. And don't forget "If you miss the train I'm on, you will know that I am gone," and Boxcar Willie, hoboes, Saturday morning "Soul Train," "Throw Mama from the Train," "Trains, Planes, and Automobiles," "I been working on the railroad" and, of course, Johnny Cash's "I hear that train a' coming."

When I was a little starry-eyed girl, my friend Jean invited the second-grade Girl Scout troop to her house for a birthday party. Her father had something to do with the railroad- - or else he was just a train hobbyist - and train tracks wound through the woods and fields around their house. We all piled into the cars of the little child-size train, her father put on his engineer's cap, and we rode and rode around those tracks, that whoot-whoot of the whistle blowing around each bend.

I loved it. I'd seen people riding trains in plenty of movies, even sleeping overnight in those little compartments, but I'd never ridden one before. I'd listened to my grandparents tell stories of riding trains with the ease I was used to riding in cars. They depended on them, whether they were going from the country to the city or from city to city. My grandfather rode trains when he was a young soldier. I could picture him looking out from the window, my grandmother standing at the depot, waving the handkerchief she was also using to wipe the tears from her eyes.

I can count on my fingers the number of times I've ridden trains since second grade, and most of those times have been within the last five years. But all that is about to change.

If the North Carolina Department of Transportation's grant application to build a depot in downtown Lexington is funded, we'll have as many as eight routes per day picking up and letting off passengers within just five years. This is great and exciting news, not just for me but for our town.

Right now, two trains - the Carolinian and the Piedmont - pass through Lexington en route from New York to Charlotte, or Raleigh to Charlotte, and back, but the engineers and conductors, and the people in the seats barely glance this way, and the town flies by in a blur. If we want to catch a ride, we have to drive to the depot in High Point or Salisbury or one of the other towns along the way.

With the new depot, the train will stop here, just like it does during the Barbecue Festival, to drop off passengers or pick them up.

But will stubborn Americans who are used to cars and independence give it all up to ride the train?

There are skeptics. A Dispatch letter writer last week said, "All this money [is] being spent to provide rail service for passengers who do not exist."

Well, I exist. And I'm betting the farm that I'm not the only one out there who's tired of traffic jams, Richard Petty wannabes, tailgaters and the stress that comes from the interstate highway.

This has long been my dream: to live in the South and ride the train to work and back.

I'm a commuter, making my way to Charlotte four days a week. I don't really complain about the drive, partly because it's what I consider "down time," nobody to bother me except other drivers on the road. But if you press, I'll tell you that the route's getting old along with me. And especially once construction on the new Yadkin River bridge begins, it includes a level of stress I'd just as soon do without.

When the train stop comes to Lexington, I'll park my car at the depot right there in the vicinity of the farmer's market, ride the fast train to Charlotte while I'm grading papers or reading a book or sleeping. At the Charlotte depot, I'll catch the light rail train to the university, and in the afternoons, I'll reverse direction and wind up back at the depot by dinnertime.

I'm not the only commuter in this town, and poised at the juncture of several major highways close to cities that continue to grow outward, Lexington, with all the charm of the small town, is set to become even more of a commuter town in the years to come.

If you build it, they will come. If you build it, they will ride.

You bet they will.

And as they do, some independence may be lost, but we'll grow in community, both economically and socially.

And for adults and children, we'll keep this one small part of Americana alive.

[Grunthor]

Chance to force others to subsidize your ride on the rails is a dream come true

[Dem Guard]

Doesn’t it depend on what it costs? The ticket each way between Raleigh and Charlotte is 50.00. How are you going to get to work from the station?

[cripplecreek]

And as they do, some independence may be lost, but we'll grow in community, both economically and socially.

Some call that "freedom".

[1rudeboy]

Heck, I'd be in favor of steam engines if we brought back THIS.

[Grunthor]

“Some call that “freedom”.”

Only those pushing this insanity.

[Recon Dad]

When the train stop comes to Lexington, I’ll park my car at the depot right there in the vicinity of the farmer’s market, ride the fast train to Charlotte while I’m grading papers or reading a book or sleeping. At the Charlotte depot, I’ll catch the light rail train to the university, and in the afternoons, I’ll reverse direction and wind up back at the depot by dinnertime.

Don’t you love a dreamer......or is he on drugs?

[Gondring]

I’d be in favor of cutting the subsidies of trucking instead of adding more to the rails, too.

[Gondring]

Who?

[Hodar]

Have you priced what it costs to travel the rails? Given the taxpayer (Gov’t) susidies, the cost to travel by rail is not only woefully inconvenient, slow; it’s outrageously expensive too.

Consider, the destinations are limited, but for me to leave from Ogden, UT and travel to Memphis, TN - that trip, one-way will cost me $240.50 and involves the following.

I leave 5:10pm on Tuesday, and after a bus ride, and a transfer - I arrive in Memphis on Friday at 6:27am. 3 Days of sleeping in a chair for a one-way ticket. Round trip is going to run an extra $315.

For that price, I can fly First Class round trip - and my travel time will only be a matter of a couple hours.

[snuffy smiff]

Why not? AMTRAK’s been doing it for YEARS!!!

[Willie Green]

The ticket each way between Raleigh and Charlotte is 50.00. How are you going to get to work from the station?

Actuallly, the standard one-way fare from Raleigh to Charlotte is only $25.
However many discounts are available for seniors, students, veterans, etc. etc.
There may also be special rates available for frequent passengers/commuters.

[cripplecreek]

Its a fantasy that will never happen and a money grab that will. You’ll notice that nobody ever mentions the eminent domain property siezure that will have to take place.

That’s because the lawsuits alone will triple the costs. The con men who push this crap know this and are just getting while the getting is good.

[Bender2]

Gadzooks! Maybe it is my age... but every time I hear "trains," this comes to mind:

These are the times that try men's souls. In the course of our nation's history, the people of Boston have rallied bravely whenever the rights of men have been threatened. Today, a new crisis has arisen. The Metropolitan Transit Authority, better known as the M. T. A., is attempting to levy a burdensome tax on the population in the form of a subway fare increase.

Citizens, hear me out! This could happen to you!

(Eight bar guitar, banjo introduction)

Well, let me tell you of the story of a man named Charley on a tragic and fateful day.
He put ten cents in his pocket, kissed his wife and family, went to ride on the M. T. A.
Chorus:
Well, did he ever return? No, he never returned and his fate is still unlearned. (What a pity! Poor ole Charlie. Shame and scandal. He may ride forever. Just like Paul Revere.)

He may ride forever ‘neath the streets of Boston. He's the man who never returned.

Charlie handed in his dime at the Kendall Square Station and he changed for Jamaica Plain.
When he got there the conductor told him, “One more nickel.” Charlie couldn't get off of that train.

(Chorus)

Now, all night long Charlie rides through the station, crying, “What will become of me?!!

How can I afford to see my sister in Chelsea or my cousin in Roxbury?”

(Chorus)

Charlie's wife goes down to the Sculley Square Station every day at quarter past two,
And through the open window she hands Charlie a sandwich as the train comes rumblin’ through.

(Chorus)

Now, you citizens of Boston, don't you think it's a scandal how the people have to pay and pay?
Fight the fare increase! Vote for George O'Brien! Get poor Charlie off the M. T. A.

(Chorus)

He's the man who never returned. He's the man who never returned.

That you... Charlie?

Speaking of trains, my Cowboys Third Teamers will run over... the Doll Phins Third Teamers in about two hours!

Don't know about y'all, but me and Bender are... READY FOR SOME FOOTBALL!

[Dem Guard]

I read 50.00 in the paper last week, but I’ll check.

[Recon Dad]

The guy that wrote the article and thought he was going to live in Lexington and teach school in Charlotte all in the same day......by train.

[Grizzled Bear]

Actuallly, the standard one-way fare from Raleigh to Charlotte is only $25.

However many discounts are available for seniors, students, veterans, etc. etc.

That's a lie. The passenger might only pay $25; however taxpayers cover the rest of the ticket.

You're a thief, Willie.

[harrym]

I recently took the California Zephyr from S.F. to Chicago. Just felt like it. It was a wonderful 3 day ride. The food in the dining car was good. The company at table was interesting. And I thoroughly enjoyed it. Price with sleeping car was about $600. Much more than flying but I just wanted to do it. One thing that struck me was just how big this country is. It makes midgets out of those idiots in Washington. It’s actually almost too big to screw up, no matter how hard they try. We should be concerned about the present situation but never afraid. We outnumber them millions to one.

[OrangeHoof]

Pimping those 19th-century solutions again, Willie?

[RightOnTheBorder]

This is the same problem with buidling power transmission lines. Obtaining the land for a serious transmission project is near impossible. I’ve always wondered why we don’t let Amtrak go bust and then use their right of ways for power lines.