MPR’s Chris Roberts profiles Red Wing poet and teacher Robert Hedin, whose assembled a literary history of the train titled "The Great Machines: Poems and Songs of the American Railroad."
The history of the American railroad is etched in our national consciousness. The steamtrain not only powered this country to new heights as an industrial power, it has also captivated some of our best writers. The anthology contains lyrics from songs and spirituals written over the last 150-years, as well as the work of poets ranging from Walt Whitman to Sylvia Plath.
Transcripts
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[LEADBELLY, "MIDNIGHT SPECIAL"] --turn-a loose my man
Let the Midnight Special shine her light on me
CHRIS ROBERTS: Poet and Red Wing native Robert Hedin was raised in a railroad town, and his childhood fascination with trains has never abated. In the 1950s, his mother often put him on a train bound for Chicago.
And he remembers with awe the rail yard as big as a field, the cathedral-like station, and the people who were too busy to sit down and eat their food. It's that sense of wonder and admiration for the railroad that Hedin tries to capture in his anthology, which he began about six years ago.
ROBERT HEDIN: In reading a lot of poetry, I became aware that there was really almost a subtext in American literature that dealt with trains. And little by little, I started gathering the material. And I think it probably did work into a kind of obsession, a very passionate obsession.
And at one point, I had amassed over somewhere around 600 or so pages of poetry and songs, which I eventually cut down to about 250. I didn't fully realize when I began the project what a tremendous tradition there was, particularly in poetry and certainly in song.
[WOODY GUTHRIE, "JOHN HENRY"] John Henry, when he was a baby
Settin' on his mammy's knee
Picked up a hammer in his little right hand
Said, "hammer be the death of me, me, me
Hammer be the death of me!"
Some say he's born down in Texas
Some say he's born up in Maine
I just say he was a Louisiana man
Leader of a steel-driving chain gang
Leader of a steel-driving gang
ROBERT HEDIN: I tend to think that we, in this day and age, have forgotten what a crucial role the railroad played in the development of the United States. I think we have forgotten that the histories of the United States and of the railroad are inextricably bound.
I think that it's possible to see, in looking at the railroad as a symbol for industrialism in this country, the rise certainly of America from an uncharted wilderness to a global power. And it's possible, too, to see a particular age-- an age that had devoted itself largely to industrialism and urbanization-- come to an end, beginning in 1950.
Looking at the poems that poets write now, there are a great many poets who are writing some beautiful benedictory notes about the dying of the Industrial Revolution in the country. Here's a poem by Stephen Dobyns entitled "Freight Cars."
Once, taking a train into Chicago from the west, I saw a message scrawled on a wall in the railway yard.
"Tommy, call home. We need you."
And for years, I have worried, imagining the worst scenarios.
Beneath the message was a number written in red chalk.
Although at 18, who was I to call?
And at 45, who is left to listen?
But Tommy, I think of him still traveling out in the country, riding freight car after freight car.
Just squeaking by in pursuit of some private quest.
That's the problem, isn't it?
Coming into this world and imagining some destination for oneself, some place to make all the rest all right.
As we cast aside those who love us.
As they cast aside others in their turn.
And all of us wandering, wandering in a direction, which only our vanity claims to be forward.
While the messages fall away like pathetic cries.
"Come home, call back, we need you."
CHRIS ROBERTS: When do you think trains are going to cease having the mythical power in our culture or the romance, so much so that we stop writing songs about them or writing poems about them?
ROBERT HEDIN: I don't know if it will come to an end. Generations will look upon it with increasing historic curiosity. And oftentimes, I think when that happens, the train may well assume even greater mythical proportions. And you have to remember, too, that the United States is the very first nation, at least in the industrial world, to dispense with the train. The train is still very much alive in all of the European countries and virtually the rest of the entire world. Robert Francis, "Night Train."
Across the dim frozen fields of night, where is it going? Where is it going?
No throb of wheels.
No rush of light.
Only a whistle blowing blowing.
Only a whistle blowing.
Something echoing through my brain.
Something timed between sleep and waking.
Murmurs, murmurs.
This may be the train.
I must be sometime, somewhere taking.
I must be sometime taking.
[LEAD BELLY, "ROCK ISLAND LINE"] She's a mighty good road
Rock Island line, it's the road to ride
Oh, the Rock Island line, it's a mighty good road
Well, if you ride it, you got to ride it like you find it
Get your ticket at the station for the Rock Island line
The Rock Island line, she's a mighty good road
The Rock Island line, it's the road to ride
The Rock Island line, she's a mighty good road
Well, if you ride it, you got to ride like you find it
Get your ticket at the station for the Rock Island Land
CHRIS ROBERTS: There's been volumes and volumes written about trains and railroad culture. And I was wondering, what contribution does this anthology make to our understanding of trains, given all that's been written already?
ROBERT HEDIN: There have been mountains of poems and songs written about the train over the last 130 years. Many of the songs have been cataloged, but no one has dealt with the relationship between poetry and the railroad. And so this book, I think, The Great Machines, fills a void. And hopefully, it has just uncovered a stone.
[BILL CARLISLE, "THE HEAVENLY TRAIN"] Are you riding that heaven-bound train, my friend?
Are you riding that heaven-bound train?
Won't you come and go with me to that land, where there'll be no more sorrow nor pain?
CHRIS ROBERTS: Robert Hedin's book, The Great Machines, Poems and Songs of the American Railroad, is published by the University of Iowa Press. For Minnesota Public radio, this is Chris Roberts.
[BILL CARLISLE, "THE HEAVENLY TRAIN"] Jesus has made a way for you
He bore all your sorrow and pain
He has already paid for your ticket
Are you riding that heaven-bound train?
Are you riding that heaven-bound train, my friend?
Are you riding that heaven-bound train?
Won't you come and go with me to that land, where there'll be no more sorrow nor pain?
He paid the price on Calvary
Our ticket to heaven is free
Jesus stands with outstretched hands
Lost sinner, he's calling to Thee
I'm riding that heaven-bound train, my friend
I'm riding that heaven-bound train
Leaving this life and never coming back again
I'm riding that heaven-bound train
[UPBEAT MUSIC PLAYING]