Thursday, December 22, 2016

Making Tracks

Terry Pindell, Making Tracks: An American Rail Odyssey (New York: Henry Holt & Company, 1990), 399 pages, a few maps.

            A few weeks ago, ironically just before Castro's death, I attended a poetry reading at the Savannah’s delightful Book LadyBookstore.  Featured that evening was Virgil Suarez, a Cuban poet who lives and teaches in Florida.  The reading was enjoyable and I purchased and read through his collection of poetry, 90 Miles: Selected and New Poems But my real find that evening, in the book store was a used copy of Making Tracks.  As I am drawn to travel stories and especially train one.  I purchased this book and quickly devoured it.  Years ago, I had read Pindell's book, Last Train to Toronto (I don't know what happened to that book and it may have been a library one).  In it, he tells the story of the Canadian rail system as he rides over much of the lines (some of which were being discontinued).  Now, a quarter century later, I have come across another of his books (and after some research, learn that he has yet another rail book about Mexico). 
            In 1985, Pindell took a train from his home in New England to Florida, to visit Disney World.  That trip sparked an interest in traveling by train.  After the death of his father, Pindell decided to make his dream a reality and in 1988, he spent the year riding Amtrak around the nation.  In four trips, mostly loops covering large sections of the country, he rode approximately 30,000 miles on iron rails, riding all the major Amtrak lines (including a couple of lines that longer exist such as the Desert Wind (Los Angeles to Salt Lake) and the Pioneer (Salt Lake to Portland and on to Seattle).  Having ridden almost all these lines (I have two major missing links: the Sunset Limited from San Antonio to New Orleans and the Southern crescent from Atlanta to New Orleans), I found myself reliving, while reading, many miles and days I've spent on the train.
            As he shares his experiences of riding the trains, Pindell weaves in the history of various rail lines and their signature passenger services.  He also provides some of the history of towns around the tracks as well as the politics that went into the track’s development.  The building of the transcontinental lines are especially interesting.  A southern route would have been the easiest to build but the upcoming Civil War stopped that.  Some of the railroads fought with Native Americas while others (such as the Sante Fe) hired natives to help build and maintain the lines.  One of the last line built, the Great Northern, who originally operated the luxury "Empire Builder," runs just south of the Canadian Border.  While riding this line, he stops at Essex, Montana where he stays at a lodge next to the tracks for a few days.  As he explores part of Glacier National Park, we learn about a passenger train caught in these mountains in an avalanche for a week and how they survived.  Another story is of a derailment of corn cars on this line.  The corn spilled out on the ground and what couldn't be salvaged was buried.  A few months later, train crews began to notice strange behavior of bears in the area and they learn that the bears have been digging up fermented corn and were essentially becoming drunks.  One also learns where phrases like "wrong side of the tracks" came from (Dodge City, Kansas), and about the railroad robbery industry that developed in the 19th Century. 
            In addition to stories on the rail lines, Pindell tells about the people he meets traveling.  There are those looking to see America and who want to slow down.  Others are in search for sexual encounters or appear to be running drugsIn riding the rails so frequently, he often reunites with crew members from one train on another train a few months later.  One of the running theme through much of the book is his grandfather, who was an engineer.  He stops in his home town along the railroad in Illinois. 
            There is a political element to this book which was written at the end of the Reagan era.  There is no doubt he has a liberal lean in his politics.  He jokingly referred to the old Pullman cars which Amtrak received from the railroads as Republican cars as most were only stainless on the outside and had rusted so badly underneath that they were no longer safe and had to be rebuilt or replaced.  However, the Budd cars (which he suggested were Democrats) had stainless insides and were still rolling strong 30 and 40 years after they were manufactured.

            If you like trains, I'd recommend this book.  Unfortunately, it is no longer in print, but used copies are available on Amazon.  Pindell entertains us with great stories.  There are a few places where he has his facts mixed.  He speaks of the Southern Railroad buying North Carolina Railroad (this they wanted to do, but didn't and the line is still owned by the state even though it leases the right to run over the line to Southern Railroad).  I also questioned his interpretation of the Mormons being run out of Illinois based on Joseph Smith's revelation of polygamy.  Although polygamy was practiced in Illinois and led to their departure, the "revelation" didn't become public knowledge until the 1850s, long after they'd settled in the Salt Lake Valley.  But these were small mistakes and didn't distract my enjoyment of his stories.  

22 comments:

  1. Talk about irony! I was just in conversation with a friend about her Amtrak experiences and she has me excited about buying a frequent train passenger card and heading out across the US. I haven't been on a train for years or even talked about getting on one. Now, here I'm encountering train travel talk twice in a week.

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    1. All Aboard! I took the train last week to Florida (5 hour ride) and plan to take it to a conference in late January (1 1/2 day ride each direction). To learn more about Amtrak (and for a book a bit more up-to-date, check out "Waiting on a Train" I reviewed it five years ago: http://sagecoveredhills.blogspot.com/2010/08/waiting-on-train-book-review.html

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  2. This sounds like a compelling read. One of my resolutions for 2017 is to make more time for reading.

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  3. An interesting find! I took what would now be the Capitol Limited and then the Southwest Chief with my family in 1976.. Memories to last a lifetime, including the AC giving out (late June) and a very drunk man in the bar car!

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  4. The book sounds fascinating, Sage! I have loved trains since I saw my first one. I was very sad when Nova Scotia's trains were discontinued and all the tracks torn up. There is still one that comes from Upper Canada through Truro and into Halifax, but that's it. Progress!!! I'm on the move again ~ sitting in McCarran Airport in Vegas. Terry surprised me with a trip to Calgary to spend Christmas with my side of the family. Only my sister Donnie knows we're coming, so everyone is in for a big surprise! Merry Christmas to you and your loved ones!

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  5. Darn it, just when I was starting to make a dent in my pile, I now have three more books in my shopping cart waiting to be ordered when I get back. Thanks for the review!

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  6. Many thanks for the review - there are many who love to read about trains.

    We have been watching a very good TV show here in the UK about Extreme Railway Journeys
    http://www.channel5.com/show/chris-tarrant-extreme-railway-journeys

    Merry Christmas Wishes to you and yours

    All the best Jan

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  7. While it's not my type of book, I'm glad to hear you found one that you liked.

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  8. I need to tell my SIL about this one. His History Master's thesis was train-related, so I know he'd enjoy it.

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    1. I am curious about your SIL Master's thesis...

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    2. The title of it is "Changing Modes of Transportation in North Louisiana: 1850-1970". And for the record - my daughter's thesis title (they met in grad school) is "One of the Biggest Booms in the World: Discovery, Settlement, and Stability in South Arkansas Oil Boomtowns of the Early 1920s." I have a copy of hers, but am ashamed to say I've not read it!

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    3. They both sound interesting! My dissertation was "Presbyterians and Miners: The Church's Response to the Comstock Lode, 1860-1924." (The Comstock Lode is the area around Virginia City, Nevada) Extraction industries, and the boom camps that tend to come with them, do seem to have similarities (mine was more of a social history).

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    4. My daughter always leans toward social history (particularly women's) and I imagine there would be many similarities here. Interesting!

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  9. I've only traveled by train once, it was 1987 and I was in the army and on a REFORGER. My unit was in West Germany and we had to get back to Amsterdam to repair and turn in the vehicles we drew upon our arrival.
    It was a fascinating experience and I can't help but wonder if the United States would be better served if in fact we did build some of those high-speed rail lines like Europe.

    I'll have to look up and see if I can snag a used copy of Pindell's book on Amazon.

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  10. As usual Jeff a good write up on a subject you are very eloquent about. I think most of my RR time was spent on Canadian Rail between Windsor and Toronto or Ottawa.

    Do you think that AMTRAK is going to get an upgrade in the next few years?

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    1. Amtrak has slowly improved over the years, in my opinion, but it will never be the type of service you have in Europe unless the country begins to support it the same way we support other private forms of transportation. This is the only area that I have much hope with what Trump might do--as he seems to be interested in intrastructure.

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  11. that poetry sounds interesting. I always like to have some poetry books around for spontaneous reading.

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  12. This sounds really interesting! Co-incidentally I'm currently reading Italian Ways, Tim Parks' book about travelling Italy by train - I definitely recommend it! I don't know if you saw my reply to your comment on my blog about trails to walk in Scotland, but The West Highland Way may be one to try, it has some spectacular scenery - it also has it's own website, which you'll be able to find by just using a search engine! The coastal part of the John Muir Walkway is great for burdwatching and as for the Moray Coastal Path, I've never walked that (well possibly a very small part of it neat the town of Moray itself)

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  13. How's this for one heck of an idea. The Eu is planning to give every 18 year old a month long Interrail Pass. https://interrailplanner.com/blog/the-eu-considers-giving-a-free-interrail-pass-to-all-18-year-olds

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  14. My husband used to take the Amtrak train from our little town of Bryan, OH to Chicago whenever he had conferences there for work. He enjoyed taking it. Sounds like an interesting book.
    Merry Christmas to you and yours!

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  15. Sounds like an interesting book - sociologically, politically, historically.

    Happy Holidays, Sage.

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