On Saturday, I had the tremendous pleasure of taking AMTRAK’s train number 20, The Crescent from New Orleans Union Passenger Terminal to Birmingham. It was a beautiful morning, cool and crisp with just a few high clouds at sunrise. The attractive terminal dates to 1954, when it consolidated the five various depots across the city. Officials boasted that it was the first air conditioned terminal in the country at the time. At the time, forty four trains from eight railroads called the new station home. Today, three AMTRAK trains use NOUPT as their hub. The City of New Orleans operates daily to Chicago, the Sunset Limited thrice weekly to San Antonio and The Crescent daily to New York.
One of the highlights of the terminal is the series of frescoes painted by Conrad Albrizio, from the art department at L.S.U. The four murals depict the history of Louisiana, including exploration, colonization, conflict and the modern age. They are mainly a lot of images of people dying, but they are masterpieces that add to the New Orleans experience.
At 6:45 a.m., the train was announced, and we were allowed to board. The walk down the long train platform was extremely long because of five extra Connecticut State rail cars attached to the end of the Crescent. The mystery cars made for an extremely long consist. I parked my luggage and stepped back outside to take some photographs of the train and surroundings. The beautiful full moon setting in the west seemed to beckon the train.
I had gotten a day sleeper, because it was so inexpensive. It turned out to be a waste since I spent the entire ride in either the café car or dining car. Since meals are included with the sleeper ticket, it was about a breakeven. And the meals were good. Check out the photo of eggs and grits overlooking Lake Ponchartrain. The train trundled out past the New Orleans Arena right on time and curved toward the lake, heading toward Slidell. Most of the fishing shacks along the lake are long gone, victims of Katrina. The Crescent rolled quickly across the pine forests of southern Mississippi, stopping in Laurel, Hattiesburg and Meridian. Most of the time, the train was traveling at its speed limit of 79 mph.
Soon, we were crossing the border into Alabama. Flooding was evident, especially in the lowlands around the Black Warrior River. Numerous catfish farms dot the landscape of Sumter County. I headed to the Dining Car for lunch. I always meet wonderful folks at meals on the train, and today was no exception. Barbara is a playwright who lives in Santa Barbara, California. She has written many plays, some of which have been performed at the Alabama Shakespeare Festival. She travels by train whenever she can, and was making the three day cross country voyage to visit her kids in Atlanta.
We solved the mystery of what the extra cars were. Turns out they are five of the approximately thirty cars used to run hurricane evacuation trains out of New Orleans. They travel to the Crescent City before hurricane season and go back at the end of the season. They were put to excellent use this year during Gustav. The program can ferry 25,000 people out of the city in the face of an approaching storm.
