All Aboard!: My Adventures Riding the Rails

By John E. Huegel

This book is a random collection of the author’s experiences on some of his many trips on trains. The experiences range from the embarrassing to the deeply spiritual with everything in between. He describes some of the trips in detail, provides historical background for some of the rail lines, and adds information on related railroad themes such as the accommodations on Pullman cars. He also shares his interest in toy trains and model railroad layouts, and how his hobby of taking pictures of trains culminated in exhibits of his photographs in a museum in Mexico and various museums in Texas.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Jun 29, 2024
• ISBN: 9798369424407

John E. Huegel

John E. Huegel was born in the city of Aguascalientes, Mexico, the son of missionary parents. He also served as a missionary of The Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) in Mexico for forty-two years. During that time, he served as pastor of various churches, as professor in Union Evangelical Seminary in Mexico City, and director of the Center for Theological Studies in San Luis Potosí. After he retired, he moved to Texas, where he served briefly as professor in the Edinburg Theological Seminary and as interim pastor of various congregations. He is married to Yvonne and they live in EdenHill communities in New Braunfels, Texas.

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Copyright © 2024 by John E. Huegel.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.

Rev. date: 06/28/2024

Xlibris

844-714-8691

www.Xlibris.com

858792

I dedicate this book to the memory of

Courtney Swander,

friend, colleague, and consummate train fan.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Prologue

1-     Better Late Than Never

2-     To Grandmother’s House We Go

3-     My Fascination with Toy Trains

4-     To the Desert of the Lions

5-     My Favorite Passenger Car

6-     Unfair Competition

7-     Photographic Safaris

8-     An Embarrassing Incident

9-     Rushing to Preserve my Citizenship

10-   Disoriented and Confused

11-   A Significant Decision

12-   Accompanying Others

13-   Trains Make Friends

14-   The Trip That Didn’t Happen

15-   God’s Presence in a Pullman Car

16-   A Hundred Yard Dash

17-   A Date on the Train

18-   Two Surprises on a Family Vacation

19-   The Missing Suitcase

20-   The Ultimate Layout

21-   Trains in Books

Epilogue

Appendix

PROLOGUE

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Roger Reynolds writes in his book, Famous American Trains (Crosset and Dunlap, 1939):

All Aboard – magic words to every traveler! For soon he is being whisked off to some distant place, crossing great rivers, climbing towering mountains, skimming across boundless plains. City after city approaches and fades behind him. All this time he is sitting in a comfortable chair—or dining as well as he would in the finest restaurants. When night comes, he sleeps as soundly as he would in the best hotels. And all this happens when a man in a conductor’s uniform calls out: All Aboard! (pg. 9)

All Aboard, or in Mexico, Vamonós and I’m off on a train for another adventure.

I must have trains and railroading in my DNA, because ever since early childhood I have been fascinated by everything that rides on rails, from real trains to streetcars and even toy trains. Perhaps this is the result of my early exposure to a train, since at the age of five or six months my mother took me on the train from Aguascalientes, Mexico, where I was born, to Hannibal, Missouri, her hometown, a total of 1813 miles.

After reading my daughter Elena’s book, The Sunshine Special, a historical novel about my mother, my cousin, Ruth Martin, suggested to Elena she write up my experiences with trains, and Elena passed the suggestion on to me. This book is my response to that suggestion.

As I was pondering on how to put it together, I decided to start by downloading the files in my memory to recall the numerous train trips I have taken during my life and then, consulting timetables and other sources, calculate the total number of miles I have traveled by train. The result of my inquiry revealed that I have taken at least 121 trips for a total of about 100,000 miles. Some of my trips have been long, for example from Mexico City to Princeton, New Jersey, 2902 miles, others have been short, Princeton to New York City, 44 miles, and many have been around 300 to 500 miles.

During these numerous trips I have had many experiences, some relaxing watching the scenery pass by and others challenging causing me to reflect on life. I have chosen to describe some of the trips with some additional background information and tie the trips to experiences in my life.

I have also built ten model railroads in different homes I have lived in and have had some of the happiest experiences of my life building and operating them with my children and sharing them with friends. I will describe some of these layouts and add appropriate reflections.

All Aboard! Join me as I tell you about my adventures on trains.

1

BETTER LATE THAN NEVER

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During the years when I was growing up (1935-1950) my family and I made numerous trips from Mexico City to the city of San Luis Potosí where my sister Mildred and her family lived. The National Railways of Mexico (NdeM) operated two trains each day from Mexico City to Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas, on the U.S./Mexican border, and both trains made an intermediate stop in San Luis Potosí. Train No. 1 left in the evening and made connections in Laredo, Texas, with the Missouri Pacific’s, The Sunshine Special. It carried through Pullman sleepers to San Antonio, Texas and St. Louis, Missouri. Train No. 3, the local, left in the morning and made many intermediate stops.

The normal schedule for train No. 1 called for a 3 ½ hour layover in Laredo to take care of immigration and customs, but during the last years of the war (1944 — 1945), due to the breakdown of equipment and frequent lengthy delays in Mexico, the diner and Pullman sleepers of train No. 1 were moved to train no. 3, which, since it left in the morning, provided a twelve hour layover at the border, with ample time to make the connection with The Sunshine Special in Laredo, Texas.

Most of the passenger trains in Mexico carried 1st and 2nd class coaches. The 2nd class coaches were sparse, had wooden seats, rudimentary restrooms and the fare was the least expensive. They were usually crowded with people who carried not only suitcases but also boxes, crates and at times even produce and chickens. The 1st class coaches were more expensive because they had better seats and better restrooms. Some trains also carried Primera Especial (Special First Class) air-conditioned coaches which were comparable to coaches in the U.S. Some trains to important cities also carried Pullman sleeping cars.

I recall one occasion in the early 1940s when my mother decided to visit Mildred in San Luis Potosí and took my sister Esther and me along. Our train, No. 3, which left at 8:10 in the morning, consisted of a baggage car, a mail car, two 2nd class coaches, one 1st class coach and a single Pullman. Since it carried no dining car my mother fixed us a lunch. My photograph of train No. 3 leaving Mexico City on March 3, 1945, is at the end of the chapter.

While we were standing on the platform waiting to board, I noticed four soldiers from the Mexican Army pass by and watched them board one of the 2nd class coaches. As a carryover from the turbulent days of the Mexican Revolution of 1910, all passenger trains carried a detachment of soldiers to ward off any attacks by rebels or bandits.

We boarded the train, found our seats in the Pullman car, the conductor called out, Vamonós, and we were off. I had a timetable and kept track of the progress of the trip. Railroad timetables were fascinating things. Aside from general travel information and equipment on the various trains, they listed the times of arrival and departure of each passenger train at each station. The AM times were listed in normal print and the PM times in bold print. On the page after the picture is a copy of Table 1, for the NdeM (National Railways of Mexico, Spring-Summer timetable for 1943) which shows the trains operating between Mexico City and Nuevo Laredo, and the time of arrival at each station on the route. For the stations in the larger cities the time of departure is also listed. I have cropped the timetable to show only the information as far as San Luis Potosí.

You read the columns on the left from top down, (northbound trains). The first column lists the information for train No.5, to Guadalajara which followed the same route as the other trains as far as Mariscala. You will notice that two thirds of the way down in this column is the station of Rio Laja which is the place of origin of a branch line to two towns served by trains No. 133 and 134, which are listed as Mixd. Dly. This refers to a mixed train daily that carries both freight and passengers.

The next column lists the information for train No. 3, the daily local from Mexico City to Nuevo Laredo. The next column gives information for train No. 1, the daily from Mexico City to Nuevo Laredo. The final column lists the kilometers each station is distant from Mexico City.

In the middle are the names of the stations served by trains on this route. You read the columns on the right from bottom up. The first column lists the miles of each station from Nuevo Laredo, and then the information for the corresponding southbound trains, Nos. 6, 2 and 4. Trains Nos. 1, 2, 3 and 4 all made an intermediate stop in San Luis Potosí.

Over the years I have acquired timetables for various railroads Including the Missouri Pacific Lines, the Pennsylvania Railroad and the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad.

This trip was delightful thanks, in part, to the friendly porter who made it most pleasant with his attention to our needs and his friendly conversation. He told us that he was a school teacher, but had discovered he could make more money as a Pullman porter and he liked his work.

When we decided to have the lunch my mother had prepared, we pushed the button between the two windows of the car, and when the porter showed up, we asked him to bring us a table, which he locked under the windows. The lunch included pieces of fried