Last night I returned home to Memphis from a long (but enjoyable) week in York. What's the first thing I did today? Chase down UP 844, of course! It was starting its long journey home to Cheyenne after coming to Memphis for the ribbon-cutting ceremony celebrating the new Big River Crossing, an appendage on UP's Harahan bridge over the Mississippi River at Memphis that will eventually connect a huge network of bike and walking trails on both sides of the river. I missed 844's visit to Memphis over the weekend, so this morning I jumped in the car in hopes of catching up with it in either Wynne and Bald Knob, AR. I was lucky enough to catch it in both places, and what I saw gave me hope for our hobby.
Today convinced me more than anything else in recent memory that trains still capture the hearts and minds of people - all people. There were people awaiting 844's arrival at every grade crossing I passed along the 80-some miles between UP's yard in Marion, AR and Bald Knob. These weren't just city or town crossings, either. Many were out in the middle of empty fields. Entire families showed up either to greet 844 at stops or just to catch a glimpse of it rushing by their local crossing. In Wynne a grandmother talked of riding behind these beasts in her youth while moms and dads (some of whom actually left work for a time) listened to her story with intent and little kids stared in amazement and covered their ears when the whistle blew. It was the same situation in Bald Knob, 844's next stop, but with even more people in attendance. I bet I saw more than a thousand people across all generations along this very short stretch of railroad.
Yep, folks still love trains - even non-train folks.
