The City of New Orleans

The song was made popular by Arlo Guthrie, but other people have done it over the years.  I believe it was written by Steve Goodman.  The first time I heard that song, it was like deja vu all over again because I had actually ridden the train about which the song was written.  I must have been about 15 because it was before I got my driver's license.  Ironically, my destination was Kankakee, the place that had filled my heart with panic at least a decade previous.  I knew this farmer there for whom I did some work in the summer in exchange for hunting privileges in the fall.  I had met him a couple years previous through my father's hunting club and, after the farmer and the club had a falling out, I kept going out there myself until I graduated from high school and left the state.  Eventually, I recruited a few other guys, one of whom had a car of his own, but this time there was no one available to give me a ride to Kankakee, so I decided to take the train.  It took an hour and a half to drive to Kankakee from my house in a car, and I think the bus ride to Union Station took almost that long, but it was worth it for the experience.  On the way out, I noticed that the train also stopped closer to home, I believe it was around 67th and Western, so I got off there on the return trip.  I found out that a number of trains made that run to Kankakee, so it was just luck that put me aboard the City of New Orleans that day.

Union Station was mostly underground, but there was a big skylight above where the trains were all lined up.  The ticket agent told me what track my train was loading on but, when I found it, the train on that track had a sign on it that said "City of New Orleans".  I must have looked confused because this nice Black gentleman wearing some kind of uniform asked if he could help me.  I told him that I wanted to go to Kankakee, not New Orleans, and he explained that was name of this particular train and, although it's ultimate destination was New Orleans, it would stop at Kankakee along the way.  I didn't know that trains have names like ships, and I don't think that all of them do, but this one did.

All the trains pulled into Union Station head first, and the tracks all ended right in front of them, so we had to back up to get out of there.  That seemed to take a long time, but I suppose it would, seeing as we were backing up underground.  I read decades later in Ayn Rand's "Atlas Shrugged" that Chicago has one of the most extensive underground track systems in the world, and I believe it because there were at least another dozen trains lined up alongside the one I was on.  Once we got turned around and out into the daylight, it was a quick trip to Kankakee, too quick for my taste, because I really enjoyed the ride.

I also rode the Chicago and Northwestern a few times to visit my friend in West Chicago, and that was a nice ride too.  Once I got my driver's license, however, my days of riding the rails were over.  Like I said, I have always liked trains, but driving a car is more efficient because you don't have to first go to the station and have somebody pick you up at the other end.  I suppose it's different if you live on the North Side where the streets are too narrow and there's no place to park, but I never have.

I also once rode an excursion line, the Algoma run, north from Sault Ste. Marie, Canada.  That's an interesting scenic trip, and I would recommend it to anybody who likes trains.