Artisode; Train to Lamy

Thanks, take me to places far away. I've been working for the Santa Fe Southern Railway since 1995. All right, standing by. Let's go and get ready. Here we go. I'll say Kim. I remember the first time I rode on a train. I was just a little kid in the Chicago areas on the New York Central. I was taking a trip from Chicago to New York City. I've been a train buff all my life of written trains all over the world.

And when I can choose to travel by train, instead of plane, I usually do. And when I retired here, I was looking for some part-time work. And the railroad had a job as a car attendant. And I did that for a number of years. And then I trained to become a breakman, and eventually I woke up out of engineering. Usually, the crew on a typical Santa Fe Southern train run will consist of the conductor slash breakman that's one person who's actually in charge of the train. The engineer, of course, is the person who actually runs the train, starts it, stops it. But he or she takes orders from the breakman who is actually in charge of the train. A lot of people think the engineer is in charge. It's really the conductor that's in charge. What's exciting about working on the Santa Fe Southern is this railroad.

It was once part of the Atchison-Topeca in Santa Fe, which was the main line that came from the east to this part of the country, and really developed this part of the country. Part of that time, the only way to get through here was on the Santa Fe Trail. And it really brought development. It brought a lot of artists into the community. It brought a lot of tourists into this part of the world who had never traveled here. Some people also feel that the railroad was a vehicle of conquest, because it brought in a lot of anglos into this part of the country for the very first time. These Atchison-Topeca and Santa Fe came through this part of the country in the early 1880s and interestingly enough, they never came with their main line to the city of Santa Fe. A lot of territorial commissioners own land around Lamy.

And the decision was made to have the main line go through Lamy and the stop for Santa Fe be in Lamy, which is about 18 miles southeast of Santa Fe. And the citizens of Santa Fe were very unhappy and rightfully so. And so the city of Santa Fe floated a bond issue and built this 18 mile branch line and it was used for both freight and passengers for many years. The train coming to Santa Fe has always been an important point from the historical perspective. It brought lots of people and brought freight. It was an integral part of the community. And there really haven't been any new tracks laid into Santa Fe since the early 1880s. So the railrunner Express coming up here is really historically significant because we're revitalizing railroads in the United States. We're reviving what has been an important part of the Santa Fe history.

I think why people get a lot of thrill, out of riding trains, especially kids, but adults as well, is that it's sort of nostalgia. It sort of puts you into another era where you can really see the landscape and see what's going on. I'll probably continue doing this job till they carry me out. Never at age 63 did I think I'd be driving a railroad locomotive. So it's sort of a little kid's fantasy in me.