14 January 2025
Today, I’m just lazy. It’s an overcast day with hints of rain.
I have plenty of energy, I just don’t want to do anything. There’s an unlimited amount of stuff I could do but will put off until another day. Slacker 101.
I slept until 8:30 am and went through my morning routine with the exception of the walk. I just wasn’t into it today.
Dylan Revette posted a photo of the Morton Depot on the Group “Old Family and Friends and Memories from Morton, Mississippi on Facebook.
My family has a long history with this depot. Mother told me that Papaw had some big position with the depot (I inherited his pocket watch/railroad watch which I gave to Louis). My brother Archie tells me we would sometimes catch a passenger train to somewhere from the depot.
My cousin Jimmie (or Jo) has a photo showing her Dad and her Dad’s best friend as little boys seeing troops off for WWI. Her Dad built a miniature railroad at Papaw’s place with tracks and everything.
Mom and Dad moved to a house just across the street from the depot (not good memories) and I loved watching the trains come and go through the depot. By then, passenger trains were no longer running through the town.
Archie and I and Mom were driven to Meridian by Grandfather Hollie to catch the train at the Meridian depot – much fancier – to go see Daddy at Havre de Grace, Md before we moved there.
I remember Archie and I putting coins on the rails in order for the train to flatten them (Mother was very tolerant of our idiocy back then). We would rush in front of the train to put the coins on. If you didn’t put them on just before the train came, the vibrations would knock them off the rails. Somehow, we survived childhood. I would not take bets on doing so again.
Back then, the trains were coal burning with thick black smoke coming out of their stack with a distinct aroma (I won’t say odor). My first time at Coal Fired Pizza, I was taken back in time to smell the coal from their oven. By the way, their pizza is pretty good.
As a very young kid, I learned to say “Choo Choo” every time I saw a train. Dad bought me and Archie a Lionel model train that you could put a pill-like structure in the smokestack and add a drop of water and you could get smoke to come out. The headlight of the engine worked. There were three rails to the track instead of two.
Later, as an adult, I got into the smaller gauge trains and kept that going for a while until it got too much for my frequent moves and I gave it to my nephew David.
To this day, I love train rides. I took the train from radio school in New York to Atlanta. I’ve ridden the City of New Orleans from Jackson to New Orleans at least twice. I remember getting on the train in Jackson, Mississippi as a kid and being amazed at the expansiveness of the waiting room, which in retrospect, wasn’t that large.
The renovated Hotel King Edward looks remarkably like the original hotel. Mother, at one time, worked as a waitress in their dining room. The hotel was perfectly sited directly across from the Jackson depot. All you had to do was walk across the street to the hotel.
Notice everyone called it the King Edward Hotel even though the name was Hotel King Edward. At one time, it was the most exclusive hotel in Jackson.
You might deduce from today’s blog I am somewhat of a railroad enthusiast. I still enjoy riding on trains. My one big goal is to eventually ride on the Rocky Mountaineer. …then there are other train trips I could take.
Stay tuned!
