To and From School, Public Transportation and Walking the Rails

There were few times I ever got a ride to or from school other than band practices. Charlie C lived in the trailer park behind Rosedale pool and he had a car….or was allowed to drive his parents’ car. He would sometimes drive me. Mom would on rare occasions. 

For regular school days, Mom would give me bus money. There were no school buses available. The #6 Rosedale bus would stop at 45th and Glenn, just over the walking bridge next to Rosedale Baptist Church. That was about a 5-minute walk. I usually rode the bus to school in the morning, mostly because time was critical. 

Because she gave me bus money whether or not I rode, I would often walk home. What I did was possibly illegal, but I never got in trouble for it.

Holmes High School is between 25th & 26th streets, just across the street from a double pair of railroad tracks. Those same tracks passed about 8 houses up the street from my home. I didn’t get on the tracks at the school because they passed through a tunnel that I was told left no room on the sides, if there were trains on both tracks. 

So I would walk down to an overpass, behind a roller skating rink, and up a short, but steep dirt path to the track. There wasn’t a numbered street there, but I’m guessing I was on the tracks for about 20 city blocks. With a B&O (Baltimore and Ohio) yard just a mile or so south of my house and an L&N (Louisville and Nashville) office building and turn off just north, these were very active tracks. 

I was on railroad property but no one ever asked me to get off. I would often waive at the passing train engineer. When there were two trains, then I would walk on the heavy gravel areas alongside. Otherwise, I spent most of my time ON a rail. I would challenge myself to not lose balance from one street crossing to the next. I was very good at it, even when carrying a clarinet or saxophone case and some books. Backpacks were not a thing students used at that time.

Trains didn’t use their horns in the city (like they do now), but they had a dingy bell. The engines themselves were generally loud enough so I don’t think I was ever in danger of one sneaking up on me from behind. They didn’t move very quickly during this area either. The only surprise was an occasional train coming from a different direction and merging onto these tracks. There was one place where that could happen. 

I would get off the tracks at either the 42nd or 44th Street train crossings and walk the last block on sidewalks. 

This was the “DeCoursey Yard”, just out of sight from my house. It is where my Grandpa McCormack worked.

Between 8th and 12th grades at Homes, I probably walked those rails hundreds of times.