Basic Training

Is it just me, or are there no trains in the city of Atlanta? I am not talking about Marta. I am speaking of the garden variety freight train. Where is the locomotive that beats out it's metal to metal rhythm of the ages? Even here in Peachtree City where you see a train about as often as you see a Jeep Cherokee, gone is the mysticism and sentiment surrounding the once significant train. Once a true American icon, now the train seems to have only become an excuse for being late to work.

Do trains run through the city of Atlanta anymore? I am sure they do, but I just never have seen one. They were probably relegated to invisible duty years ago, by some city planner and PR management firm over lunch. Trains hardly fit into any modern city's image of higher technology and culture. Like so many things in our contemporary society out of sight, gives peace of mind.

Sure they're dirty, sure they're loud, sure they're pretty much a nusance. Yet, lines like Atlantic or Norfolk Southern are so much more than just an engine, some box cars and a caboose. How many fathers and sons have patiently waited for the train to pass so they could search for the penny placed on the track; now nashed beyond recognition? How many stories do the cars screech in the night? How many dogs howl sadly in return? Have these simple values all but vanished from our civilized city?

Transportation and communication were once linked tightly in an agreement of mutual benefit. The trains carried the mail. The mail carried the message; sometimes of love, sometimes of hope and sometimes even regret. These could have been the coals of romanticism that once fueled the passion for "training."

If I one day saunter near the tracks with my son or daughter or both, I wonder if I will be able to make the experience seem important, vital. Will I feel ashamed, forcing my kids into some contrived experience? Will I have enough idealism left to appreciate the moment and not worry that someone will damage my car, left parked back on the road. Will I even recall what made trains seem so facsinating to me in the first place?

Are there no trains in the city of Atlanta? Sure there are. Just maybe hidden deeply under layers and facades of progress. Peel those things away and we might actually see, see ourselves.

Billy Murphy -- 6/19/98