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IIP
A northbound Amtrak train pulls into Union Station
in Meridian, Miss. (pop. 39,968), and immediately a conductor begins
unloading—and loading—passengers and baggage. After a brief stop, the
engineer blows the whistle, alerting everyone to clear the tracks before the
train departs on its journey from New Orleans to New York City.
“That’s a signal for the smokers to get
on board,” says Mick Nussbaum, director of
the Meridian Railroad Museum, standing
on Union Stations second floor overlooking
the downtown rail yard. “He’ll give two
more blasts and he’s leaving.”
Meridian has been a railroad stop
since the first track was laid in Lauder
dale County in 1855. Through the years,
the railroad has provided jobs for towns
people, inspired the songs of country
music’s first superstar, Jimmie Rodgers,
and fascinated rail fans like Nussbaum,
whose hobby is photographing the trains
that rumble through town.
“We’re the best-kept secret for rail fens;
not many places have what we have,” says
Nussbaum, 40, motioning to the 1906
depot, which was rebuilt in 1997 and today
serves as a transportation center, accom
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Page 5
•American Profile
Train WhisJJes and . l i.S u .*.S'“ Gt *" T
Country Crooners
Jimmie Rodgers,
the Singing
Brakeman
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modating hundreds of train and bus pas
sengers each day.
The railroad boomed and the pop
ulation swelled in the early 1900 s,
making Meridian the largest city in
Mississippi. Today, the city is the state’s
sixth largest and the railroad continues
to be an economic force, employing
1,900 people.
“Meridian has always been a railroad
town,” says Fonda Rush, a Meridian
native whose 23-year-old son, Elliott,
helps maintain the rails. “If you’ve
lived in Meridian very long, you’ve
probably had someone in your family
work for the railroad. That’s been a
family tradition.”
Another Meridian tradition is fostering
and discovering musical talent.
Jimmie Rodgers, Meridian's most
famous railroad man, went on to become
the Father of Country Music. Born in
nearby Pine Springs in 1897, Rodg
ers grew up in Meridian, working on
the railroad, and plucking and strum
ming his guitar. The Singing Brake
man, as Rodgers was called, combined
the rhythms of black railroad workers
with the yodels of Western cowboys
and became a national sensation, selling
more than 10 million records between
1927 and 1933. Among his biggest
songs were T for Texas, Waiting for a
Train, In the Jail House Now and Aly
Carolina Sunshine Girl.
"His music related to a lot of the work
ing class during the Depression," Rush
says. “His music was a release for them and
their problems. He felt their pain."
A Kansas City Southern luxury train pauses at Union Station in Meridian, Miss.
Rodgers, who died of tuberculosis
in 1933 and is buried in Oak Grove
Cemetery in Meridian, influenced a
long list of country, bluegrass and
rock artists, including Ernest Tubb,
Merle Haggard, Bill Monroe and
Jerry Lee Lewis.
He ToucHeD Me “
Elvis Presley
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“All the artists respect Jimmie Rodg
ers and what he did,” says Betty Lou Jones,
president of the Jimmie Rodgers Founda
tion, whose mission is to perpetuate the
memory and history of Rodgers, and pay
tribute to his contributions to American
music. (Continued on page 15)
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Photo: M»cfe Nussbaun