In an article first published by ASSIST News Service, BRIAN NIXON looks at how trains can serve as a metaphor for the Christian life…
Chama, New Mexico, US
Via ASSIST News Service
“We moved to Chama, New Mexico largely because of the train,” our hosts told my wife and I as we stood in the living room of their quaint bed and breakfast inn. I quickly looked around the room, stacks of train books abounded. After more conversation, I learned that one of our hosts, Bonsall, was also a veterinarian, working on animals when not volunteering on the Cumbres and Toltec train, one of America’s finest narrow-gauge railroads.
Running for 100 kilometres along the New Mexico-Colorado border, the Cumbres and Toltec Railroad was originally part of the Denver and Rio Grande Railroad service, built for mining purposes in 1881. With the decline of mining in the region the railroad closed in 1968, upon which the states of New Mexico and Colorado bought the property and began daytrip services between Chama and Antonito, Colorado. In 1988, a nonprofit group called the Friends of the Cumbres and Toltec formed, helping preserve the history and upkeep of the trains and tracks. It is this group that our host is a member.
On a journey: Brian Nixon says train travel makes a fine metaphor for the Christian walk. PICTURE: Jayakumar Ananthan/Unsplash.
“[T]here’s one often-overlooked aspect of the train that is just as important: as a metaphor for the Christian life. As dozens of songs will attest – from This Train, written as a Gospel song in the early 1920’s, to Bob Dylan’s album Slow Train Coming, to Tom Wait’s Down There By The Train, trains have provided a practical picture of the Christian journey.”
Not only was I impressed that our hosts – Bonsall and Wendy – left Colorado and a thriving veterinarian business to come to a sleepy town in New Mexico for a train, but I was equally impressed that Bonsall, at almost aged 80, was still active with both his veterinary practice and his weekly excursion as a docent on the train. The question arose: what is it about trains that fascinate people?
I think part of the allure resides in a train’s nostalgia, a yearning for the “good ol’ days”. Other people marvel at their construction – a spectacle of ingenuity and engineering. And still others view trains as practical transportation. Besides the bicycle – which is the world’s most common form of transportation, trains are still one of the favored modes of transportation around the world, coming in just behind cars and buses.
Since the invention of the first passenger train in 1804, trains have captivated people. I don’t know if Matthew Murray – who invented the first steam-powered locomotive, or Richard Trevithick – who brought passenger trains to London, or George Stephenson – who helped develop cargo trains for railway use, would have imagined that the machine they helped cultivate would have such nostalgic power upon the world, but, indeed they do.
Trains have been memorialised in books, movies, songs, poetry, art, and other forms of popular culture. It’s interesting that the word ‘train’ derives from a French word trahiner, a derivate of the Latin word trahere meaning to ‘pull’ or ‘to draw’. Practically, trains do pull and draw along cargo – be it people or goods, but they also have the tendency to draw us in to their majesty, memoir, and mystery.
But there’s one often-overlooked aspect of the train that is just as important: as a metaphor for the Christian life. As dozens of songs will attest – from This Train, written as a Gospel song in the early 1920’s, to Bob Dylan’s album Slow Train Coming, to Tom Wait’s Down There By The Train, trains have provided a practical picture of the Christian journey. And when you add People Get Ready, the 1965 song by Curtis Mayfield that Rolling Stone magazine listed as one of the greatest songs of all time, trains and the Christian life go hand in hand.
With a cursory look at the use of train metaphors, one can see how they provide a symbolic description for life. Railway technologies, Argenia, lists the following broad metaphors:
On the right track
Fallen by the wayside
Full steam ahead
Full head of steam
Letting off steam
Don’t blow your stack
End of the line
Backtrack
On the fast track
Wrong side of the tracks
Light at the end of the tunnel
Train wreck
Plans got derailed
Off the rails
On rails
Making headway
Chugging along
Watch your caboose
These – and many more – give a practical metaphors and meaning to the spiritual life. For the sake of this short article, I’ll concentrate on five songs, listed chronologically, using lyrics as the springboard to discuss how trains act as a metaphor for the Christian life.
The Gospel Train (1872): As one of the first gospel train-themed songs, the lyrics read: “The Gospel train is coming/I hear it just at hand/I hear the car wheels moving/And rumbling thro’ the land/Get on board, children/For there’s room for many a more”. The main metaphoric device used in this song is as an evangelical tool: an invitation to get on board the train – where there’s plenty of room – to find salvation in Christ and a future home in Heaven.
This Train (1920’s): First recorded in 1922, the song was made popular in differing generations by Louis Armstrong and Johnny Cash. The lyrics read, in part, “This train is bound for glory…Don’t ride nothing but the righteous an’ the holy”. Here, the train is a metaphor for the spiritual journey, where people are encouraged to ride the train towards Heaven. But there’s a catch to the journey: one must “ride nothin’ but the righteous and the holy”. Practically, the “righteous and holy” is a picture of Christ, the righteousness of God (II Corinthians 5:21). It’s upon Jesus’ train people ride. But the metaphor can also apply to personal holiness, a train full of people made holy by Christ’s life, death, and resurrection. The rest of the lyrics give sway to the second interpretation, with words such as “no hypocrites, no midnight ramblers, no Jim Crow and no discrimination”. Holy living is paramount. Basically, the train serves as a dual picture for Christ and righteous living, one full of justice. It’s also important to note that the train described has no transportation fee, it’s free, a metaphor for the Gospel.
People Get Ready (1965): Written by Curtis Mayfield and later made popular by Bob Marley and Rod Stewart, the lyrics read: “People get ready/There’s a train a comin’/You don’t need no baggage/You just get on board/All you need is faith/To hear the diesels hummin’/You don’t need no ticket/You just thank the Lord”. As one of the more fully formed train metaphors, the words bring together various previous uses of the train as a symbol of salvation, linking faith, heaven, and the redemption of sinners into a graceful declaration of thanksgiving.
Slow Train (1979): Bob Dylan wrote Slow Train for his Grammy-award winning album, Slow Train Coming. Dylan doesn’t focus on the personal, holy living aspect of the train metaphor per-se, but gives witness to the larger cultural aspects of the train, as something bringing an ominous warning. As his first major album after his conversation to Christ, Dylan wrote, “All that foreign oil controlling American soil, look around you, it’s just bound to make you embarrassed/Sheiks walkin’ around like kings, wearing fancy jewels and nose rings/Deciding America’s future from Amsterdam and to Paris/And there’s a slow, slow train comin’ up around the bend”. In the song, Dylan sees the train as a metaphor for the end times; the consummation when Christ will set all things right, with the train “just around the bend”, coming soon.
“The train provides a fine analogy for what Christians – and all people – face in times of trial, temptation, tears, and triumphs, offering a expressive glimpse into what it mean to be human.”
Down There By The Train (1990’s): As the most poetic of all train songs, Tom Waits’ Down There By the Train was released on his album Orphans (2006). Johnny Cash recorded the song for his American Recordings in 1994. The lyrics read, in part, “There’s a place I know/Where the train goes slow/Where the sinners can be washed/In the blood of the Lamb/There’s a river by the trestle/ Down by Sinner’s Grove/Down where the Willow and the Dogwood grows”. In the song, Waits writes about the full spectrum of human struggle with faith, history, and doubt. Throughout the song, the train is a metaphor for possible redemption or plausible rejection (“I’ve left the ones who loved me and I’m still raising Cain”), a battle with sin. To date, Down There By The Train, is one of the most complex and beautiful train songs written.
As these songs attest, the train is a powerful metaphor for the Christian life. Themes such as Jesus, redemption, perseverance, strength, holy living, sin-derailment, heaven, and end times are all manifest within the metaphor. The train provides a fine analogy for what Christians – and all people – face in times of trial, temptation, tears, and triumphs, offering a expressive glimpse into what it mean to be human. So the next time you ride a train, think beyond the majesty (engineering), memoir (history), and mystery (nostalgia and romance) of the train, and realise that you are riding a metaphor for life. Consequently, ride it well, pondering the train’s significance as an image for life’s journey. And the truth is: you are bound for somewhere.
