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Tailgating On a Train
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Tailgating On a Train


May 31, 2021, 12:30 PM

Public transportation during the 1920's and '30's was primarily by train or bus. Almost every town and village in the United States was served by one or both methods. The two major bus lines were Greyhound and Trailways. There were numerous long distance railroads plus numerous short lines. My Dad was the Station Agent and Telegrapher for the Seaboard Airline RR in Florida. One of his perks was a pass, the ability for he and his family to ride free on the local passenger trains. The first few years of employment the pass was available only on the railroad on which he was employed. After obtaining a higher level of seniority, he was eligible for obtaining a pass on other railroads.

We were living in Florida at that time, My Mother was born in Wisconsin, the 10th and youngest of her siblings. Every three or four years my Mother would take three or four of the youngest members of my family to Tennessee, Wisconsin and Michigan to visit her siblings. These were not one week trips, they were usually four to six weeks. Most of our clothing and other items were packed in a huge trunk and it was checked through to our next stop. We usually had two "carry on" suitcases and the best item of all, a basket filled with food.

The train always had a dining car and several Pullmans but with 4 or 5 of of us, that would have cost a fortune. So, we traveled in the coach along with that huge basket filled with food. There was fried chicken, ham biscuits. a pie and/or a cake, bananas, apples and oranges and other stuff. Sometimes my Mother would get a cup of coffee from the dining car and us kids would get a soft drink. My favorite drink was the Nehi grape soda. There was nothing that would compare with the "clickety-clacking" of that train, black smoke "belching" from the locomotive and that steam whistle warning everyone the train is coming so get out of the way. All of that seemed like it was adding more taste to that drumstick I was gnawing on.

After a few days at our first stop, it was time to pack up and get back on the train but not before the women of the house fried more chicken, made more ham biscuits and refilled that food basket. We always had to go to one of the railroad terminals in Chicago and I had never seen so many trains in my life. Our next stop was usually in Wisconsin. In one of my Aunt and Uncle's home was an animal's head mounted on the wall. I don't remember if was a deer, elk or moose. After seeing the head, my brother and I rushed outside to see the rest of the animal but we were never able to find it.

I don't remember how many Aunts and Uncles we visited but when we left their homes that food basket was always refilled to the brim. Tailgating on the train was always a lot of fun and most of the passengers in the coaches were doing the same thing. Fried chicken must have been the favorite for most of the passengers. The coach was beginning to smell like the inside of a Kentucky Fried Chicken franchise.

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Re: Tailgating On a Train


May 31, 2021, 12:43 PM

I can't see any millennials surviving this way of life Joe. Fond memories.

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Re: Tailgating On a Train


May 31, 2021, 3:11 PM

Don’t trigger them. They are literally shaking and just can’t even.

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"Anybody that says Coach Brownell is the best coach to come through Clemson is going to start an argument." -JP Hall


Re: Tailgating On a Train


May 31, 2021, 1:45 PM

I've never tailgated on a train, but unfortunately was involved in one. In 1981 I had tickets to Super Bowl XV in New Orleans. The old Southern Cresent Railway was about to go out of service (Philly to New Orleans) so we decided, since it came through Greenville, we would ride the train to New Orleans. We boarded the train in Greenville around 3 AM. It had already been trashed by Philly fans who had been up all day partying.

Thankfully, we had a sleeper car so we got some sleep. The train arrived in New Orleans about 5:45 the next afternoon. The train was, as they say, a total trainwreck.

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Re: Tailgating On a Train


May 31, 2021, 1:46 PM

Thanks for sharing your memories Joe.

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Re: Tailgating On a Train


May 31, 2021, 3:33 PM

Joe, my uncle, Herbert Walker, was the Seaboard station manager/telegrapher in Chester, SC. His ability to use travel perks apparently extended beyond immediate family. Every summer my family would take me to Greenwood, SC to board the "local" to Chester to visit Uncle Herbert and Aunt Viv for a week Heaven indeed for a young train enthusiast, traveling "alone"on the iron horse! Of course I was not alone - all of the train crew knew all of the station managers and checked on me regularly, from Greenwood until they handed me off to Uncle Herbert in Chester. On one of those trips Aunt Viv gave me a homemade sock monkey - made out of a man's wool sock - the kind that is grey on the upper and lower parts and with a red heel - you can guess which part of the monkey's anatomy the red part became. One of her friends made them, and Aunt Viv got that for me, for my "visiting present". It is sitting on the top shelf of a glass-fronted cabinet, beside an autographed Joe Theismann football from his super bowl win (also a gift).
Love your stories and memories, bro'. You're only about 20 years or so ahead of me, so I can relate to many/most of them!!!! And many, many thanks for your service. I am very glad that this day is not for you - what an incredible gift we would have lost, if it were. But I celebrate the lives and memories of our comrades and shipmates for whom this day IS remembered!! Every veteran is someone who, at some point, wrote a check to us and our nation, for any amount, up to and including death, which could have been cashed at any time. For those whose checks were cashed, with their last full measure of devotion, we DO celebrate their lives, their memories, their devotion and dedication to duty and country - not just today, but every day. R/TLM

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