i've played on trains over the years. Half the time on freights, but lately I've begun to use tickets. Usually starts with someone seeing my instruments and asking to hear a tune. In my younger days I was usually trying to impress a lady. But some times over the years I have been hired to do this! The best paying one was for Amtrak. They were inaugurating a new run from Chicago to Pittsburgh. The VP in charge asked Larry Penn to come aboard, but Larry had just had heart surgery, so I got the gig. A good wage, 1st class accommadations with a sleeper and meals to and from Montana, a hotel room in Chicago on the way there(the Three Rivers left at 6AM, the Empire Builder from Montana got in at 4 the afternoon before).

In 1973(or 4)I was asked to play on the press run of the Freedom Train which was gearing up for the Bicentennial. No money, but it was a chance to ride behind Nickel Plate engine #759, one of the great old steamers. I brought my lady friend, Nan O'Reilly, and Alan Kaufman the fiddler along with me. The mistake they made was putting us in the press car with the free booze. Along about 10 in the morning, I was sitting there with the anchor man from CBS local News when the train PA came on and they played the official Freedom Train song