February 2024 - The MrT Podcast Studio

USRJ S3 Ep 23 El Paso and a very wet desert

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 18:33 — 17.0MB)

El Paso and a very wet desert – US Rail Journeys Series 3 Episode 23

‘El Paso and a very wet desert’ describes our time in El Paso and the first part of our journey to Alpine, Texas.

The photographs that accompany this podcast:

Please click on a thumbnail to open the gallery:

El Paso:

Apparently it is 95^oF (35^oC) as I step from the train onto the platform. It really is hot and I keep in the shade as I walk down the platform. It really is pleasant to re-board the train with its air-conditioning.

As we get ready to leave we hear that the next stop is Alpine, about four hours away – although it all depends on freight traffic! The Restaurant car team are taking reservations for dinner.

Into the desert:

The roads are quiet as we leave town, of course it is the July 4th holiday. We are soon into rural areas passing irrigated farmland and then into the desert passing fly-tipped rubbish along the way.

The desert is magnificently rugged and we pass fascinating rock formations. More rubbish, this time a large pile of tyres.

We start seeing some pools of water alongside the tracks. Has there been rain?

There is no sign of any humanity on this stretch although we do pass some cows, an abandoned rusty car and I get another Texas Alert call on my ‘phone.

We are close to the border with Mexico on this stretch and we pass a Homeland Security checkpoint on the road.

Rain:

As we travel the skies are getting darker although it is a July afternoon. Some of the cloud formations are amazing, they promise rain.

We start passing muddy areas, then areas with standing water. In a week or so the seeds of the desert flowers will germinate and go through their rapid lifecycle. Those travelling then will have very different scenery.

It gets darker, the wind is buffets the train and the rain is pours down. The desert is covered in water and a small tornado races by.

Listen to the podcast to hear the full story of the journey into the very wet desert.

Next up:

If you enjoy these podcasts please join me in a couple of weeks as we continue our journey on the Texas Eagle.

Links:

To visit the Amtrak website please follow this link.

This podcast is also available through Amazon Music, Apple Podcasts, Castbox , Deezer, Podchaser, Spotify, Stitcher and Vurbl and others.

Music:

AKM Music licenses Steam Railway and Feel Good for use in this podcast.

TH2023 Ep 09 Mao Zedong

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:12:54 — 66.7MB)

Season 2023 – Talk 09 – Mao Zedong

In Mao Zedong Alan Freeland tells us about the life of Mao and Chinese Communism until his death in 1976.

Click a thumbnail below to view the image gallery that accompanies the talk.

Childhood:

Mao was born on 26 December 1893 and spends his childhood at Shaoshan village in Hunan. His father, once an impoverished peasant, becomes one of the wealthier farmers in the area. He is a stern disciplinarian who beats Mao, who finds that if he meekly accepts the beating it is worse than when he stands up to his father.

He finishes his primary education at the age of 13 and then, aged 14, his father makes him go through an arranged marriage to 17-year-old Luo Yixiu. Mao refuses to recognise her as his wife and in later years bans arranged marriages.

Changsha:

In his quest to become a teacher, Mao enrolls at the Fourth Normal School of Changsha. This merges with the First Normal School of Hunan, widely seen as the best in Hunan.

Professor Yang Changji urges him to read the radical New Youth newspaper, written by his friend Chen Duxiu who is a dean at Peking University and also a supporter of Chinese nationalism.

In 1915 the popular Mao is elected secretary of the Students Society where he organises the Association for Student Self-Government and leads protests against school rules.

In April 1917 he publishes his first article in New Youth and instructs his readers to increase their physical strength to serve the revolution. At this time he is also elected to command the students’ volunteer army which defends the school from marauding soldiers.

Becoming more radical:

Mao moves to Beijing, where Yang Changji has taken a job at Peking University. Yang, who thinks that Mao is exceptionally ‘intelligent and handsome’, arranges a job for him as assistant to the university librarian, Li Dazhao. Li is a co-founder of the Chinese Communist party in 1921.

Listen to the podcast and hear the whole story from Andrew.

Unfortunately coughs and colds abounded at the time of this recording and I have not been able to remove all of them..

About this podcast:

This is an edited recording of a talk given to the Farnham u3a World History Group .

It is frequently not possible to use all of the images presented in the original talk because of copyright reasons.

This podcast is also available through Amazon Music, Apple Podcasts, Castbox, Deezer, Podchaser, Spotify, Stitcher and Vurbl and others.

AKM Music licenses Media Magazine for use the music in this talk.

USRJ S3 Ep22 To the border town of El Paso

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 19:46 — 18.1MB)

To the border town of El Paso – US Rail Journeys Series 3 Episode 22

‘To the border town of El Paso’ covers my journey from our stop at Lordsburg, via Deming, through the inhospitable countryside of New Mexico.

The photographs that accompany this podcast:

Please click on a thumbnail to open the gallery:

Lordsburg:

As we leave Lordsburg we pass alongside a road with dreary buildings. There are a number of motels and, whilst I see one that is open, a number appear long closed. However, on-line sources tell me that there are still 12 motels with 300 rooms available as the city is a day’s drive from Los Angeles for those travelling on Interstate 10.

The Continental Divide:

We cross the Continental Divide between Lordsburg and Deming at 4,587 feet above sea level. Rivers to the east flow into the Atlantic and those to the west into the Pacific.

Deming:

This town of around 14,800 people has another Amtrak shelter and sign. Another short stop on our journey.

There is a marker to show where a Silver Spike was driven to celebrate the meeting of the Southern Pacific and Atchison Topeka & Santa Fe railways. This was second transcontinental railway in the US.

We quickly return to the desert.

Union Pacific Santa Teresa facility:

Completed a year ahead of schedule the 2,200-acre site creates logistics efficiencies for Union Pacific customers in the Southwestern U.S. It is on Union Pacific’s critical Sunset Route, running for 760 miles from El Paso to Los Angeles.

Running into El Paso:

The Rio Grande is a natural boundary which forms the state line between New Mexico and Texas. It is also the border between the US and Texas from El Paso to the Gulf of Mexico.

We pass the peak of Sierra Christo Rey with its 33 feet high statue of the Crucifixion before crossing into Texas. We pull to a stop in El Paso station a little early!

Listen to the podcast to hear the full story of the journey from Lordsburg to El Paso.