by Forrest Whitman
Train Day is coming May 9, and at least 20 of us from Colorado Central territory will be on the Southwest Chief train that day. We’ll meet other Chief fans along the way and spend the night in Las Vegas, New Mexico. There will be partying on and off the train. We hope the “desperados” from Raton will try to board again in their costumes.
Train Day gets rail passengers noticed. The “holiday” was invented by AMTRAK in 2008 and has raised awareness ever since. There will be some media attention as the AMTRAK “exhibition train” leaves the East Coast and starts its journey cross-country. It will get to Denver on Oct. 3 and be in Union Station for an event.
Passenger train ridership has changed. Young “millennials” (age group 18 to 34) make up a growing part of AMTRAK bookings. A recent exchange reminded me of that. “What’s that you’re reading?” asked a young couple. As I recall, I was reading this very magazine in the bar/observation car on the Southwest Chief. We think of millennials as always living on their iPhones or tablets, but this couple and I had a nice chat about what we were reading.
They were very aware of ecology. In fact, we agreed that the best way to travel if you care about your carbon footprint is a train. There were close to 300 of us booked on the Chief that day. That saves a lot of auto or air miles. I even got in a little plug for COLORAIL (Colorado Association of Rail Riders) as we talked. They were very aware riders and knew that we payed for more of our rail travel mile than air or auto travel.
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These younger riders give their reasons for being on board mostly in terms of what they don’t like. They hate the confinement of long auto trips. These are active young people and they like being able to walk around on the train while seeing something of the country. They universally hate airline travel, and I don’t blame them. When I get off a flight I feel like I’ve just been prepped for life in our national prison gulag.
There is a dark cloud over the Southwest Chief these days. The BNSF railroad is not keen on improving track from Albuquerque to Las Animas and on into Kansas. The railroad will maintain it, but little more. AMTRAK is, of course, very big on keeping the Chief running from Los Angeles to Chicago. It’s a major train for them, and we’re a vital link.
There is a deal in the works to save the train. New Mexico and Kansas are on board. That leaves Colorado. It will cost us about $8 million for a ten year “fix up” even after AMTRAK and the railroad chip in. Hats are off to our Republican senator from Alamosa, Larry Crowder, a sponsor here. Unfortunately, he couldn’t get even one of his fellow Republicans to join his senate effort. We’ll try again next year, but it does leave a dark cloud over the Chief.
Train Day will still be fun. There will be “Mexican train” layouts all over the bar car and anyone can join. I’ll be the one in the Train Day hat if you want to hear some historic tales along the way. There’s still time to get a discount-priced, round-trip ticket for only $38 at AMTRAK’s trip from Trinidad to Las Vegas, New Mexico. All aboard!
