The Texas Eagle: A near miss with extinction
Recently, in partnership with Passion Passport and Amtrak, I flew from Washington, D.C. to Los Angeles, CA to photograph one of the 14 long distance routes offered by Amtrak: The Texas Eagle. This route covers 1,306 miles as it transports passengers from Los Angeles, CA to Chicago, IL. After talking with several passengers, I decided to document my experience aboard the train and share how personally I was touched by the souls I came into contact with.
Photographed and written by Phil Martin
Essay edited by Katherine C. Gilyard
The Texas Eagle snakes through the Arizona desert
On a late Wednesday night, not far from the Los Angeles Union Station, Amtrak employees make their final inspections of trains 2 and 422, The Sunset Limited and The Texas Eagle. In a small office back at the Los Angeles Union Station sits Zoila, who is the acting Train Manager for train number 2. Zoila spends her hours leading up the trains departure going over important information that the crew needs to know for their trip like, updated safety memos and other important details. About 4 hours before the train's scheduled departure time, Zoila hops into her car and makes the 5 mile drive to the Los Angeles Amtrak Railyard. As soon as she arrives she begins her walk along the train with clipboard in hand and large safety googles on her face. Her job - to make the train look presentable and to make sure the crew has all of the resources they need to provide top quality service to the waiting Amtrak passengers.
While waiting to brief the crew, Zoila fields phone calls from supervisors and employees from all over the west coast looking for guidance on how to handle various situations. Finally, trains 2 and 422's crew gather in the dome car of the train. Jokes and laughter fill the car as the employees board and receive their assignments. After a quick 20-minute talk, the crew is released and Zoila heads back to her Union Station office.
Zoila at Los Angeles Union Station standing with Train 2/422
Amtrak Conductor Paul poses out of train 2/422 before departing Los Angeles Union Station
Back at the Los Angeles Union Station, Train 2/422 slowly backs onto the platform. With all of the chairs upright and all of the linen fresh in its plastic, The Sunset Limited and The Texas Eagle are ready to take their passengers across the U.S. As 10 o'clock approaches, Amtrak conductors begin to line the platform along the train. Greeting late night boarders with a smiling face and a helpful hand as they lug their bags onto the monstrous railcars. Amtrak conductors like Paul have been doing this job majority of their lives. Paul is from Amarillo, TX and was recruited 28 years ago by his brother who was then, a train engineer. Like most people who work on the railroad, Paul says it's all about the people he meets. "Every trip is the same. Same views, same stations. The thing that makes each trip unique is the people. The people make each trip as different as the last for me.", says Paul as we prepare to roll away into the California night. As I take a final walk along the train before the wheels begin to roll, I run into Zoila for a final time as she assists a customer on the platform. As she wishes me well, a conductor shouts words I know all too well, a phrase programmed to move us all when rail traveling: "ALL-A-BOARD" (all aboard). After a succession of conductors all down the platform repeat the phrase in the same way as the last, two short blows of the horn from our General Electric Genesis P42DC locomotive, we're off. As the train starts to slowly accelerate into the darkness, strangers become friends. People who are traveling alone begin to migrate towards families looking for conversation in the dome car. The coach cars become a sea of reclined chairs and cartoon themed blankets as parents begin to put their little ones to sleep to the "Clickity-Clack " song of the railroad.
Once we begin our journey, I walk down to the dome car to quietly watch my temporary neighbors interact. It was almost like being in high school, just "chillin" after class on the bleachers.
After making my way through the train, I head into my sleeper. My sleeper attendant was Steve, a tall, skinny, and soft spoken man. He looked as if he's the best grandfather anyone could imagine. He turned down my bed and offered to wake me for sunrise. I remember laying down in my roomette and watching the lights of Los Angeles fade further and further away into the midnight sky. Before I know it, Steve is tapping on my window for the sunrise wake up call. I wake up and look across the hall to see Steve taking a moment for himself. He's reading a book... tapping his hand on his knee and humming. It's a moment that I find myself held in, I'm gazing across my railcar, I lean back and watch.
A young man facetimes a young lady to share his first time riding Amtrak.
Mike looking out into the Arizona desert.
The next morning, as we're making our way through the Arizona desert -not too far outside of Tucson- I sit alone and begin editing photographs that I'd taken the night before. A gentlemen sits across from me. He has a stern face and shakey hands. He looks as if he could be a southern judge. We make eye contact and nod at one another. "Not today", I say, as my nerves are starting to get to me. I ask him his name and where he's traveling to and I'm delighted to learn that he's a train buff a.k.a "foamer"(Foamers are people who are in love with the railroad). He tells me that his name is Mike and that he's from Houston, TX. and although he'd flown to San Diego, he chose to backtrack home via rail and that this would make his tenth time riding this route. For Mike, riding the railroad is like "time travel". It allows him to travel through cities that have been unscathed by the effects of interstates. He says, "riding through these untouched cities feels as if the clocks are being turned back, and he's riding through 1956 all over again."
An old mill in Rita Ranch, AZ
After a quick nap, I'm able to take in the scenes along the railroad. Mike's words really stick with me. The fact that we're traveling through towns that haven't been hit with "big business" and aren't easily accessible due to lack of an interstate is mind boggling. Although technically all of America is true America, this is what I think about when someone uses that phrase. The blistering heat, miles and miles and miles of farm land, roaming cows, and the toasty-cowboy-esque filter that seems to have taken everything.....America. This is where I imagine the backbone of our country is actually located. One of the things that rail travel always reminds me of is that there's so much of our country that we have yet to discover.
Roaming cows in Mc Gregor, TX
People talk about the places they want to go and explore, and most of the time it's a place outside of the United States. But I think there's so much beauty in our own backyards that we so often overlook. Up until two years ago, I primarily kept to the east coast and outside a handful of states, I hadn't really traveled. I took a trip across the country - (In partnership with Amtrak and Passion Passport) - in September of 2015 and I remember seeing a mountain for the first time in my life during that trip. We were near Browning, Montana and I was speechless. I was looking out over an actual mountain and I'd been connected with this view and to this experience by a train, a TRAIN. It was during that trip that my love for rail travel grew stronger.
Amtrak's The Empire Builder snakes around mountains near Browning, MT - September 2015
Lee looks out into the darkness and recalls the night he almost missed his train
Later that evening, dinner begins the same as breakfast. I'm sitting alone, editing photos and I'm joined by a gentleman who looked as if he could've been a high school math teacher. He has on a blue 'Yale' polo shirt and has a point-and-shoot Canon by his side. He sits down, but I'm so preoccupied with the photos that I ignore him for about 12 minutes. When I finally finish and look up I apologize for not speaking initially and strike up a five hour conversation with him. Lee is his name, and he's a Civilian Architect for the United States Army from Boston, MA. He's married with 2 children and is making his way from California to Boston by train. He's been riding long distance trains since 1979. He tells me that, "We're meeting in his favorite part of the train, the dining car." It's his favorite place because it allows him to sit with groups and families when he's traveling alone and he gets to have conversations with people that he would otherwise never meet.
#Storytime: Lee had purchased his ticket to travel to see an old friend in Tucson Arizona. He'd been assured by the Amtrak phone agent and the on-board service staff that he'd make all of the appropriate connections and be able to see his old buddy with no delays. Unfortunately, shortly before arriving at his transfer point in Los Angeles, there was an unforeseen event that delayed his train. Lee arrived at LA's Union Station only minutes after his connecting train had departed. Upset, as any of us would be, Lee didn't know what this meant seeing that there was no other trains heading that way. Crew members from Amtrak approached Lee and the three others that needed to connect with that train and told them that all hope wasn't lost and that they were going to get them onboard the train to Palm Springs. So the Amtrak crew put them in them in a taxi and expressed the importance to the driver of them getting to that train. While on the way, the cab driver made a few wrong turns which raised the level of stress. Lee remembers it being around 1am when he spotted the train - "It was almost like a ghost train" Lee recalls. "It was there in the middle of the dark, lights on, and sitting silently as if it was frozen in time". The cab driver navigated his way to the best entry point of the train, where the passengers were greeted by the conductors. Lee smiled as he said, "That's the type of customer service you get with rail."
Passengers stretch their legs in Austin, TX
Lee and I stayed up until at least three o'clock just talking...about his job...his family, and -ironically- train crashes. The next morning the trains 2, and, 422 split. Train 422 would join train 22 in San Antonio, TX and together make their way North through Fort Worth and Dallas. Because of my previous night's adventures with Lee, I don't wake up in time to say goodbye to the train 2 crew and hello to the oncoming, for train 22 but I'm up just in time to hop off and stretch my legs on the platform in Austin, TX and then hop back on.
In between Austin and Fort Worth, the scenes are starting to change from farms to broken down houses, cars, and seemingly forgotten things.
Crumbling roads and abandonned buildings near Taylor, TX
"Papermill" Joe looks for Hippos along the downtown area of Hutto, TX
Not too long after departing San Antonio, we make our way through Hutto, TX. There's a National Parks tour guide aboard the dome car giving passengers interesting facts about the area we're traveling through. I find a seat at the other end so I can look out and enjoy the views while recapping my previous day. I hear the tour guide tell my fellow riders to "count the hippos". A really cool guy with gold rings on his fingers relocates from one end of the railcar to right beside me. He explains to me what the hippos are all about, "So the town of Hutto is one of those towns where being a high school football star is like being the George Clooney of your town. The town is very proud of their local high school and they show it with statues of the mascot all around town." I formally introduced myself to the gentleman who reminds me of Shaft. His name is Joe. Joe is a retired paper maker from Texarkana, TX. who is traveling home after visiting his daughter in California. He decided to take the two-day train ride back home TX while his wife and other daughter flew. He enjoyed meeting new people during his train rides and being able to see the changes occur to the towns along this route over the years. Everytime that I hop off during a stop to stretch my legs, I notice Joe and I found myself getting a lesson from him on how things had changed over the years where we stood.
Eilene doing her magic with a young girls doll
While making our way through Texas, I meet an absolute angel. Her name is Eilene. She's a 17 year veteran of Amtrak and is currently based in San Antonio, TX. She first catches my eye while I'm listening to music in the dome car. As she comes through during her walk-through, she spots a little girl playing with a doll. Eilene stops and begins to talk with the little girl. She sweetly asks the young girl, "May I hold your doll?" and although the little one is hesitant at first she soon subsides and hands her the doll. Eilene asks her if she knows the story about The Polar Express and the little girl's face lights up. Turns out, being a conductor isn't Eilene's only job. She's also a ventriloquist! She makes the doll have a conversation with the little girl and from the giggles alone I could tell that this has been the highlight of the girl's journey.
Tears begin to fall from Eilene's eyes as she talks about her mother
As the train continued to snake it's way through the Texan towns, Eilene gives me a wave to follow her into the employee section of the dining car. She takes a seat and exhales as she removes her hat and wipes the sweat from her forehead. I start our conversation with a pretty simple question, something that I'd asked almost every person who's sat across from me. "Why do you love Amtrak?" She asks me for a few moments off the record as we talk about how she got to where she is. She later reveals something that hits me close to my heart. She shares the loss of her mother to cancer and how supportive Amtrak was during that time for her. I share with her that I too had lost my mother around the same time and from the same type of cancer. While we're speaking, there's another conductor sitting behind us named Avia. Avia turns and asks if she could also share something. Avia proceeds to share her story of overcoming. She tells us about the loss of her husband and the near loss of her mother due to cancer. This moment is special. Here we are, total strangers up until this day sharing this incredibly intimate moment with one another. Here's Eilene from Los Angeles wiping her tears away, Avia from Miami with tears rolling down her cheek, and myself all the way from the nation's capitol with tears heavy and so built up that I can't see clearly.
Avia and Eilene talk about their life's path that brought them to this train
When we arrive to Fort Worth, goodbyes are said as Eilene hops off for her next assignment back towards the west coast. At this point I'd completed over 50% of the The Texas Eagle route and so far, this had probably been one of the most eye opening journeys I'd ever been apart of. I was able to see parts of this country that big cities often forget about, not to mention the people, and memories in them. Something that stuck out to me wast... and although crumbling buildings and rusting cars filled the listless view of empty landscapes, my mind had never been more clear. Ever since I've boarded The Texas Eagle I've felt a peace.
After departing Fort Worth, we made our way towards Dallas. At this point in the journey, we were only three major cities away from our final destination. When we arrived at Dallas, I remember the heat hitting my face like the opening of an oven door while checking on baking cookies. We had arrived around the start of evening rush hour. Local commuter train passengers filled the platform as The Texas Eagle sat and awaited its all clear.
Two afternoon Trinity Railway Express trains board passengers on the platform in Dallas
As soon as you step off the train in Texarkana, you're greeted by this sign... The prison is just to the right out of the shot.
After departing Dallas, we worked our way up up through the south, making way up towards Little Rock and St. Louis. By around midnight, we're making our way into Texarkana, TX. As we approach the station, I'm sitting with the conductor, Cody. Cody is 23 and this is his second railroad job. Although he'd worked as a locomotive engineer for Union Pacific before coming to Amtrak this would be his last journey on the railroad as a conductor, before heading into Amtrak's engineer school in Delaware. The excitement on his face to not only get out of the conductor's uniform but back into the engineer seat was evident. When a strange odor begins to fill the diner car we're occupying, I ask Cody what it is. As soon as the words "Texarkana's paper mill" leave his his mouth I look up and yell "JOE!". A look on Cody's face leads me to explain that Joe (pictured earlier) shared that he'd worked in that paper mill for 30 years and that this was his stop. I make my way through the railcars so that I can hop off and shake Joe's hand one last time. Sidenote: Texarkana has a very unique situation occurring there. The station is partially in Texas and Arkansas, (that's where it gets it's name from), the platform is filled with the stern smell coming from the paper mill, and there's a jail... right there on the platform. There's a red line on the platform that you can't cross because technically you're on the jail's property and therefore liable to be stopped by the Texarkana Department of Corrections... See, I told you, unique.
Incase you forgot where you were, the Old Edison Warehouse sports a huge 3-d like mural with "Saint Louis" at the top.
John checks train maps to find a way to connect passengers with the trains they will miss in Chicago.
The next morning is a bitter-sweet one for me because it would be the last stretch of rail for The Texas Eagle and my amazing trip would soon be at an end. I awake just as we're approaching St. Louis, MO. We make a brief stop just outside the station to couple on two additional railcars because we were oversold and then make our way onto the platform where we once again switch out conductors. Unfortunately, because the two exiting conductors boarded overnight and I was unable to meet them. But we were able to pick up John. John would be the final conductor taking us into Chicago. If I could describe him in one word, it'd be "cool". John is a 13 year veteran of Amtrak who started off as a Line Service Attendant. He has a love for what he does and especially enjoys interacting with kids aboard his train and making them smile - "...whether that means me punching their ticket or taking a moment to take a picture with them..."
Even with the cluster of disgruntled customers, watching John do his job is like seeing air traffic controllers handle a mid air emergency. He has to identify all of the passengers who'll miss their connecting trains in Chicago, and find other options for them. Remember earlier in this trip, when we met Lee? It's because of conductors like John that Lee met his train in the middle of the night. John makes countless phone calls, checks, and checks and rechecks the maps, communicates with both Amtrak's reservation center and other vital points of contacts to make sure that there'll be a way for an Amtrak bus to get them to their train down the line and that the train knows these folks are coming. He does it all without breaking a sweat. He sits across from me, eats grapes and does whateveer it takes to make sure these folks get home. Although they never'll see all the work it took to make sure they made their train and it'll probably just be written off as #Amtrakmagic FYI there is always someone behind the story who makes sure that there's a positive outcome, for these folks... It was John.
Looking out of the diner care at downtown St. Louis, MO. "I can see the arch from here. No Wait. That's a half burnt down McDonalds" - Carol to Liz Lemon - 30 Rock.... I had to
A few hours later, we're making our final approach into Chicago...we -the train crew and I- pack up and make our way into the "Dorm" car (the car where the crew sleeps and keeps their personal belongings. As we sat in the dorm car, the crew takes time to relax and laugh about the journey. At this point the train is about 5 hours behind schedule and there are plenty of disgruntled riders who want to share their frustration so this is an opportunity for the everyone to laugh about it and release anything built up. We've made it. This beautiful beast has been rolling for 4 days across the open country and after every laugh, tear, hug, smell, and smile, we've finally arrived. Every passenger safe and sound. This was it. It was all over. We'd made the 1,306 mile journey into Chicago, IL. The doors open and it's a scene similar to horses charging from starting gates. I make my way down the entire platform hugging the crew-family I'd spent the last couple of days with. Saying goodbye was genuinely hard, because not only did they make me feel that following people around with a camera was completely normal, but they shared their lives, secrets and most treasured moments with me. It was amazing. Thank you to the staff, passengers, and even the views from the Texas Eagle. You opened my eyes to so much and showed me even more, about how important these rails are.
Conductor John looks down the platform as we depart Blumington-Normal, IL
After talking with several passengers aboard the train, I realized, that although we'd all come from different walks of life, there was something that each person I spoke with shared with me: The disappointment in and understanding of the gravity of the possibility of the 14 long-distance Amtrak routes being cut, due to Department of Transportation (DOT) budget cuts. I realized that not all eagles are protected by are government.
The Texas Eagle is almost like a monument to the people who love rail travel in the south. Recently, the current administration proposed a budget cut that would've changed rail travel as we've come to know and love it . These cuts would've:
- Completely erased Amtrak in 23 states and Canada
- Cut routes like The Texas Eagle and the 13 other long distance trains that Amtrak provides.
- Ultimately these cuts would've swept $630 million dollars from under the Department of Transportation's feet
- Detrimentally affected over 120 million Americans by eliminating the jobs and transportation that they rely on that are are provided by the function of Amtrak stations and operations sites.
Words will never be able to express the elation that ran through me when I learned that the budget cut proposal was rejected. From a young age, I've firmly believed that trains are what moves the blood of our country. Rail travel is one of the oldest modes of transportation and rail travel is what built our country. It moved our presidents, it was once upon a time the backbone of our job force...working on the railroad was even once the "American Dream" of jobs to have...but it seems that we've forgotten what's owed to our history.
Without exception, technology will continue to grow and change every facet of our lives. It is my hope that although these transitions are inevetiable, the simple and beautiful things like the moments and experiences shared with the souls onboard The Texas Eagle Route persists.
Protestors gather outside of Alpine, TX pleading with passengers to help save the train service in their little town.
A special thank you to all of the men and women who work on and rode this route during my presence. You are the stories, I'm just the storyteller.