There's Something About the Train

There's something about the sound of a train's whistle that provokes me to reminisce about my childhood. It is a melancholy sound that momentarily transports me back to over 45 years ago, when Eagan, Minn., my hometown, was farmland and pastures. As a child, I would often sit on the back porch and listen to the sound of the train in the distant-just beyond the red barn on the eastern horizon. This is but one of many nostalgic memories I have of the sound of a train.

The train I hear today, as I stand outside my New Prague home, just blocks from the tracks, is more than a whistle or the rumbling and screeching noise as it comes to a stop along side the Minneapolis and St. Louis Railroad Depot at the west end of New Prague. The train is the live history of New Prague, as well as the here and now. Its low whistle announces that the birth of the town started here and it's still alive with commerce that affects countless people and businesses.

I hear the Union Pacific as it whistles and rolls to a stop over Hwys 19/13 around the 7:00 a.m. hour on a Monday morning. I'm sure this causes many commuters to grumble anxiously as they wait for the crossing bar, with its red blinking lights, to lift so they can get on with their morning commute to work.

The railroad has had a lasting influence on the growth of New Prague. It's a piece of the past that has shaped the future of this small town. According to the New Prague walking tour guide, "In the early 1930s, New Prague was served by ten regular freight trains and six passenger trains daily." Though passenger trains no longer stop in New Prague, freight trains, which stop at the local ConAgra Mill or Chart Industries, are still going strong with loads of freight to transport to towns around the country.

If the railroad was a catalyst for the growth of New Prague, then it's part of our heritage, so why not celebrate it at Dožínky Festival -perhaps a guided tour of the depot from a direct descendant of a railroad or mill worker who may still live in the New Prague area. Perhaps they have family stories to pass down to the next generation.

Times have changed since the railroad first came to town in 1877, but as long as the train continues to stop in New Prague, it will continue be a significant part of New Prague's live history.



Photo Photo of the New Prague Depot
photographer R.G. Smedley


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