Staying on Track is published monthly by the LMRA - David Lamberts, editor.
Visit us on the Internet at http://www.railserve.com/lmra
E-mail me at DWL1944@cs.com
Our mailing address is PO Box 53674, Lubbock, TX 79453
by Wilma Rugh Taylor, as published in Guideposts, April 2001, p. 23.
Chapel Car Grace. Though faded by years of exposure to the elements, the name was still visible on the sides of the old railcar. I'd seen Grace sitting off by herself in a corner of the American Baptist Assembly grounds in Green Lake, Wisconsin, many times. The first was when I was just a teenager on a church trip. When Norman and I came to Green Lake for our honeymoon in 1958, the railcar still sat there, her end door locked tight and the grass growing up around her rusting iron wheels.
"It's a kind of church on wheels," I'd explained to Norman. "The American Baptist Publication Society used to run it across the country when the West was opening up." With that, I'd pretty much exhausted my knowledge of Grace.
After the Civil War railroads raced to span the country. Profit was the prize, and tracks couldn't be laid fast enough. Farmhands, Civil War vets, immigrants, newly emancipated slaves - all saw their future waiting for them out West. Towns spring up virtually overnight, and along with them came "civilization," and all the mingled blessings and curses thereof.
During those first wild years of rail expansion religion was a little like a rickety caboose at the end of the train. Beyond a token prayer at the start or completion of a construction project, who had time to build churches when there was a continent to gird with rails? Yet mobile saloons, casinos and brothels rolled from town to town, leaving misery and ruined lives in their wake.
Before long, it was obvious the frontier was badly in need of a strong injection of church. That's where chapel cars like Grace came in. The very first of them, the Cathedral Car of North Dakota, was launched in 1890 by an Episcopal bishop named William David Walker of Fargo. Others followed - 13 of them eventually - and for the next 50 years they rolled across the same tracks that had brought those rolling saloons, casinos and brothels out West.
It was a sunny June afternoon in 1983 when Norman and I climbed the steps of Grace's observation platform and finally stepped inside. That first step took us up into the hushed, holy atmosphere of another time. A smell of old varnished wood filled my nostrils. Row after row of dusty but dignified oak pews faced an imposing brass podium a the far end of the chapel, above which were written the words God is love. Sunlight streamed in through the green-tinted arches of the stained-glass trimmed windows, bathing the podium and the old-fashioned pump organ next to it in soft layers of color.
I think that first glimpse inside was what put Norman under Grace's spell once and for all. In 1990 Norman asked for permission to restore Grace. It was happily granted. We were provided lodging on the campground, and soon Norman was a work on Grace. (To be continued) see Chapel Cars 2
Back by popular demand, Randel Bittick will present part 2 of his lecture (series) entitled "Wiring Locomotives."
The 13th Annual National Cowboy Symposium & Celebration will take place September 6th - 9th in Lubbock, TX. From the brochure - Cowboy poets, musicians, storytellers, artists, historians, authors, editors, publishers, photographers, cooks, real cowboys and many others are heading to Lubbock for the 13th annual national Cowboy Symposium & Celebration. It promises to be one of the modern west's most exciting explorations of the traditions of the American frontier. Your attention will be captured by cowboy poetry, music stories, panel discussions and exhibits of products for the American cowboy and all who see him as our mythical national hero. It starts on Thursday September 6th, with a trail ride and continues through Sunday, September 9th with a free tent show concert that begins at 1:00 p.m.
We will set up the club pike on September 6th from 9:30 a.m. to 10:30 p.m. and run the trains on September 7th - 8th from 9:00 am to 9:00 pm. The event takes place at the Lubbock Memorial Civic Center. They have a web page at www.cowboy.org. I under- stand Jack is going to get name badges for the volunteers who operate the trains so they can come and go without paying.
On October 20 we will have a "playday" at the church meeting room. Setup will be Friday, October 19 from 6:00 pm to 9:00 pm. We intended to charge admission of $1.00, with children under 12 getting in free. Two clinics will be presented, one on scenery making by Jack Seay and one on airbrushing by David Lamberts. The modules will be used, although if you have anything of interest to railroadiers, bring it along. The room is very large!
by Chris Van Wagenen as published in the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal, June 17, 2001, Section D, p. 1.
AMTRAK, the federally subsidized national rail system, is changing tracks so to speak as part of a reroute that will eventually carry passengers through Big Spring, Midland/Odessa and Pecos.
So why not through Lubbock? That's what the Lubbock Chamber of Commerce's transportation committee and others are investigating A day after the chamber's annual business expo, committee members met with Joy Spencer Smith, general manager of AMTRAK's Southwestern Business Group, about the possibility of running its new route through Lubbock.
Sue Castles, a sales account executive with Southwestern Public Service, said Smith took a look at Lubbock and plans to return in the not too distant future with a team of engineers to study the possibility. While Lubbock isn't currently on the radar screen, Smith said that could change given AMTRAK's long-term goal of boosting ridership nationwide. Castles said AMTRAK will have to investigate what track infrastructure is already in place as well as the demand level for such service.
AMTRAK's Texas Eagle California schedule - which runs from Los Angeles to Fort Worth - is being rerouted in order to save time, about 10 hours from what I determine via the Internet.
AMTRAK first began talking about its proposed reroute five years ago during a meeting of the Texas Association of Mayors, Council Members and Commissioners. Profitability is the bottom line where the railroad is concerned.
The railroad determined just two years ago that an El Paso to Fort Worth route mad a lot more sense that an El Paso to San Antonio route, given population numbers. In fact, a proposed schedule change I looked at dated October 27, 1999 mentions Lubbock, in addition to Big Springs, Midland/Odessa and Pecos. That suggests to me that they've at least thought about us during the rerouting process.
Castles said Southwestern Public Service, part of Excel Energy, believes AMTRAK's presence in the region could do wonders for the city's long-term economic development efforts. "But the next step is to get the engineers out here to determine if this is even feasible. We don't have a date yet, but (Smith) does intend to bring them and a marketing person out here to continue this dialogue," Castles said.
If getting AMTRAK to Lubbock seems a bit farfetched, consider this. A couple of years ago people thought the same about Ports-to Plains - the four lane divided highway project, a relief valve from I-35 running from Denver to the Mexican border that could eventually carry traffic through Lubbock. (To be continued) see Amtrak 2
In the old days, even before the Internet, a great deal of mail was carried by steam engines. Railway mail cars in which mail was sorted en route were equipped with moveable iron arms, called mail bag catchers, which were swung outward when the train was in motion to grab mail pouches suspended from mail cranes, usually at stations. They were operated by railway mail clerks responsible for collecting mail en route.