Climbing on Big Toys

 


Riding my bike through Audubon Park is among my fondest memories of growing up in New Orleans. A favorite stop was to climb on the old railroad engine shown above.


Engine 745 was built in 1921 at the Southern Pacific shop in Algiers, one of a small batch of locomotives built at that facility. The Mikado- type locomotive was 84-feet long and weighed 459,440 pounds. It served as a freight hauler on the New Orleans to Houston route until it was retired in 1956 and donated to the Audubon Park Commission by the Southern Pacific Railroad Line.


As it was a big part of our childhood, as thousands of kids climbed it for years, the Audubon Park Commission decided it was a bad idea. For insurance reasons, the engine was eventually fenced off to prevent kids from climbing. Nonetheless, it remained a popular attraction until 1984 when it was removed, later to be donated to the Louisiana State Railroad Museum who, along with the Old Kenner Railroad Association, tried to restore the engine to its former glory. Following a $1million restoration, the engine briefly made trips throughout Louisiana and Mississippi, but is once again retired.


When boys were just boys...

We liked to climb on big toys...

We liked to scream and holler...

And make lots of noise...

Before we learned of girls and their joys...


We liked to play on the Audubon train...

We often came home with a scrape or a sprain... 

Our shirts would get ripped...

Perhaps our pants would get a stain...

But we were boys and we would never complain...


One time, I was on top and I ripped my britches... 

I had a big gash, and I got some stitches...

My school friend Kelly came over...

And she gave me a few kisses...

My friends started laughing, dumb sons of bitches...


One night, they removed the train from the zoo... 

In the cloak of darkness, when no one knew... 

The Forman said it was for our own safety...

He was afraid someone might sue...

So they stole our toy, now what’s a kid to do...


© 2022 Jeffrey Pipes Guice

My Wonder Years: A Book

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