I've always been a sort-of "romantic." I love stories. Stories about other people and their lives, their adventures, their hopes, heartbreaks and the dreams. I've had the great fortune to personally encounter many, many people from all walks of life.
This particular section of my website is small, but for me, very profound. I live near a train freight yard. I grew up hearing the sound of train whistles and the distant screech and squeal of iron wheels on steel rails far into the night. These sounds became the "background music" on the street where I grew up. I'm fortunate to live in that same house today, and am comforted by those sounds still.
As kids, we'd occasionally cross over the road and spend some lazy summer Saturdays, climbing around on the boxcars sitting on the siding. Sometimes the hot summer sun would make the iron ladders used to climb to the top of the boxcars almost too hot to hold on to. We'd scrounge around inside the empty cabooses (when was the last time you saw one of those?) Occasionally there might be a couple of old empty passenger cars parked there. Inside were old clothes, jackets, shoes, empty whisky bottles, newspapers and beer cans. Evidence of some recently departed midnight travelers.
The pictures that you see here is a rather small collection of some of the people that I've met in the past few years that were on there way to . . . well, somewhere. Because encountering these people is infrequent and primarily by chance, I don't have too many photos of them. I suppose it's the scarcity of those encounters that make these photographs as well as these people special to me. All of the folks that I've met have been very kind, friendly and conversant. One couple, Don and "Scary Laura" accompanied by their two dogs complete with home-made saddle bags, had a specific destination. They had traveled from California, and were heading to Florida to surprise her mother for her birthday. The other couple, Danielle and Joe were on their way up north somewhere. Joe was a veteran from the Iraqi conflict. They were traveling with their dog "Loco." (check out Loco's red sneakers). The other group was comprised of five people, Wes, Cody, Jess, Dillinger, Sonny and two dogs. I met them out in front of a convenience store on a hot summer Sunday night, around midnight. I got to sit a talk to them for about 30 minutes before they had to leave and catch their train. Though I enjoyed meeting and photographing all of them, my favorite photo of this particular group was of Jess & Dillinger. Jess was playing his banjo while Dillinger looked on. It had the feel of another time and place. I asked Dillinger how long he'd been hopping trains. He said about 12 years and over 80,000 miles by his best estimate. He said, "It's been a long road."
The song that accompanies the following photo page is a recording of Elizabeth "Libba" Cotten (1895-1987) playing and singing a song she wrote many, many years ago entitled "Freight Train." She recorded this about two years before her death in 1987. She received a Grammy Award in 1985 when she was ninety, almost eighty years after she first began composing her own works. "Freight Train" has become a folk-song classic.
Take a moment and allow me to introduce you to these people I've met and join me for a short virtual journey with them (and their dogs). By the way, there are two photos in this collection that I didn't take, but wanted to include. The two photos are near the end of the slide show. They are pictures taken by R. Henley of some of these folks riding the trains. They were too good to leave out. Soak up the sounds and the pictures presented. I hope they touch your heart. I know they've touched mine. As always, please pray for their safe travels. Thanks for looking - Mark.
This particular section of my website is small, but for me, very profound. I live near a train freight yard. I grew up hearing the sound of train whistles and the distant screech and squeal of iron wheels on steel rails far into the night. These sounds became the "background music" on the street where I grew up. I'm fortunate to live in that same house today, and am comforted by those sounds still.
As kids, we'd occasionally cross over the road and spend some lazy summer Saturdays, climbing around on the boxcars sitting on the siding. Sometimes the hot summer sun would make the iron ladders used to climb to the top of the boxcars almost too hot to hold on to. We'd scrounge around inside the empty cabooses (when was the last time you saw one of those?) Occasionally there might be a couple of old empty passenger cars parked there. Inside were old clothes, jackets, shoes, empty whisky bottles, newspapers and beer cans. Evidence of some recently departed midnight travelers.
The pictures that you see here is a rather small collection of some of the people that I've met in the past few years that were on there way to . . . well, somewhere. Because encountering these people is infrequent and primarily by chance, I don't have too many photos of them. I suppose it's the scarcity of those encounters that make these photographs as well as these people special to me. All of the folks that I've met have been very kind, friendly and conversant. One couple, Don and "Scary Laura" accompanied by their two dogs complete with home-made saddle bags, had a specific destination. They had traveled from California, and were heading to Florida to surprise her mother for her birthday. The other couple, Danielle and Joe were on their way up north somewhere. Joe was a veteran from the Iraqi conflict. They were traveling with their dog "Loco." (check out Loco's red sneakers). The other group was comprised of five people, Wes, Cody, Jess, Dillinger, Sonny and two dogs. I met them out in front of a convenience store on a hot summer Sunday night, around midnight. I got to sit a talk to them for about 30 minutes before they had to leave and catch their train. Though I enjoyed meeting and photographing all of them, my favorite photo of this particular group was of Jess & Dillinger. Jess was playing his banjo while Dillinger looked on. It had the feel of another time and place. I asked Dillinger how long he'd been hopping trains. He said about 12 years and over 80,000 miles by his best estimate. He said, "It's been a long road."
The song that accompanies the following photo page is a recording of Elizabeth "Libba" Cotten (1895-1987) playing and singing a song she wrote many, many years ago entitled "Freight Train." She recorded this about two years before her death in 1987. She received a Grammy Award in 1985 when she was ninety, almost eighty years after she first began composing her own works. "Freight Train" has become a folk-song classic.
Take a moment and allow me to introduce you to these people I've met and join me for a short virtual journey with them (and their dogs). By the way, there are two photos in this collection that I didn't take, but wanted to include. The two photos are near the end of the slide show. They are pictures taken by R. Henley of some of these folks riding the trains. They were too good to leave out. Soak up the sounds and the pictures presented. I hope they touch your heart. I know they've touched mine. As always, please pray for their safe travels. Thanks for looking - Mark.