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  Remember When The Train Built A Nation?  

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Uploaded: 03/27/05 3:28 PM GMT
Remember When The Train Built A Nation?
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The other day my wife and I were driving in rural Louisiana on old highway 190 which was the interstate highway of my youth. I began to recall the old 190 - asphalt and weeds, Esso stations with cheerful attendants who filled up my mom's 8-cylinder Oldsmobile with 25ข a gallon *leaded* gas. Even then the farms that we passed were already turning a sepia grey. Jim Crow and civil rights hadn't entered the national consciousness yet.

As we drove I noticed a mound that ran alongside the new concrete highway 190, and wondered what it was. Suddenly as the highway rose to a bridge over a stream, I noticed that a trestle connected the two mounds on either side of the water. The mound was the remnant of the old train tracks that ran next to highway 190 and created and connected such towns as Houston, Beaumont, Lake Charles, Hammond, Covington, Slidell, Bay St. Louis, Pascagoula, Mobile, Pensacola, and ultimately Miami and Los Angeles.

Lives and dreams were built on those rails. Whole cultures were transported from one dot in the forest to another, and the United States grew and homogenized into the vast embodiment of its immigrant forebears that it is today. The train ran across this bridge once. And we were young.

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::beansbond
03/27/05 4:15 PM GMT
Here in Oregon trains brought out the lumber that built the nation's homes, in the southwest, ore from the mines - gold, silver, copper. We've all been on one side or the other of these tracks at some point in time. Thanks for the walk back along them.
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Morwyn
03/27/05 4:51 PM GMT
Such a sad photo. They have torn out the tracks here. Nothing left, just the mound the tracks were on. I would rather have this. I remember wiating sometimes for half an hour for the train to pass so we could get to Grandma's house.
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sublime311
03/27/05 5:07 PM GMT
I think I like your "remember when?" photo the best. Maybe it's not the photo so much as the images and memories it conjures for you and the many other of us who will see it. Excellent capture and storytelling. A picture is worth a thousand words...
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::Accipiter
03/27/05 7:23 PM GMT
Great shot...you've used the graphical qualities of this scene to communicate a far broader message.
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::RobNevin
03/27/05 7:56 PM GMT
So well said Reg.

The photo is characteristically yours, soft, well captured and presented. I like that you found an irregular pattern of the ties to show. There's something poetic about the pines growing from the rotting ties too. They are such opportunistic trees. I think they have a limited future though!

Your submission in the assigment was well worth waiting for.
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You're invited to tour my gallery ••• บนบนบบนนบนนบนบบบบนนบนบบบบนนบนบบบ
::CanoeGuru
03/27/05 8:43 PM GMT
This immediately reminded me of Ayn Rand's book, Atlas Shrugged. The railroad business is a central part of this book. This is a really evocative image. Very well captured!
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"What is History but a fable agreed upon?" Napoleon Bonaparte
mimi5947
03/28/05 6:38 AM GMT
Ah regmar..the memories that you have teased forward into my mind.....and we were young! Great line. Your image is very poignant and well presented with color, composition and clarity. The story behind the image scores higher than any number here. It is so rich with the small part of history that you shared with...railroads were our history. Thank you for this moment of "remember when"........
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~ Mimi~
::dreamer100
03/29/05 12:13 AM GMT
I've always lived within earshot of a train. Love that sound far away on a summer night, there are just less of them now. Poetic image of nature's reclamation
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bjb
04/15/05 8:21 PM GMT
Wonderful image Regmar. Well done. Enjoyed your story thoroughly.
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"The best color in the whole world, is the one that looks good, on you!" Coco Chanel
cinny7
06/09/05 12:06 AM GMT
Beautiful picture...and the description has helped, if that is possible, to bring the shot to life.
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Many waters cannot quench love, neither can floods drown it.---Song of Solomon 8:7
Vanguard
05/29/06 6:03 AM GMT
Very nice photo. The story behind it gives it more charecter. Cheers!
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robtrapp47
01/03/07 7:50 PM GMT
I've heard the song of the passing trains and felt the rumble on the rails myself.
There will come a day when the Robber Barons realize that all the freight required by the growing populations can not be carried on the 4 lane concrete and pothole filled highways. The rails will make a resurgence; the question is not if, but when.
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®mar
05/01/07 3:07 PM GMT
Well, this image had much longer legs than I ever expected. The destruction of our heritage is a cause that touches me personally and quite deeply. When I sat down to write the text for this image the words just poured out of me. Looking back at them I wonder who wrote them. Me? I don't think so. I can't even remember the feelings that crafted the words, and I'm pretty sure I couldn't do it again. Thanks my friends. I know that my genuine feelings will always be accepted here.
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ж Regmar ж
simonwakefield
11/22/08 4:35 PM GMT
Thats a nice pic. Could use a touch more sharpness but its nice and the trees growing uniquely from the RR ties is worthy subject.
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.pitcherthis
12/25/10 5:10 PM GMT
I really like this, maybe since I am a former employee of Amtrak!!
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“Peace and happiness to all, but love life” Quote by my son.

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