`  == Blacks on Tracks ==  Media:Example.ogg  Thanks for your comments.  I am a 63 year old African American and Amtrak Conductor who has travelled extensively across the USA by train since the 1940's.  From 1954 to 1957 I experienced discrimination first hand when I was thrown out of lounge cars on the ``Royal Palm`` and ``West Coast Champion`` because of my color while traveling alone. I also have vivid and painful memories of eating behind a curtain at one of two tables next to the blazing hot kitchen of the Champion's dining car. When the curtain was removed by law I stood in line waiting for a ``colored`` table to open up on the ``Palm`` while white passengers were constantly being greeted and seated. Both trains carried filthy unmaintained ``colored`` baggage/coaches (CW40 and RP1)where black passengers were forced to sit - a startling contrast to the stylish coaches reserved for white passengers! - while the trains rolled through the ``Heart of the South``.   Station facilities in Orlando, Jacksonville, Atlanta and other southern towns and cities were always noticeably ``Separate and Unequal``. I have always loved trains but segregation and surly white conductors sabaotaged good feelings I could have cherished forever had I been white. Only when trains crossed the Mason Dixon line at Cincinnati (or Washington, DC) were black passsenger treated with respect by the New York Central, Pennsylvania RR,  B & O, and other northern roads not bound by southern tradition.    Conductors and engineers were white male jobs while black males for the most part were only hired as porters, red caps, and menial laborers. That I am a Conductor on the very trains that made me feel so small and afraid - today's version of the Crescent, Silver Star, and Silver Meteor - is indeed ironic, so I go out of my way to make all passengers - especially children - have an unforgettable travel experience with no regrets. In the 90's I initated ``InnerCity Xpress - Adventures in Learning`` at Amtrak to give Baltimore school children the opportuity to ride the train.  It was very successful and a lot of fun!   I have written extensively about my experiences and love of trains and have been published in a number of publications, including The Washington Post, The Jacksonville Times-Union, Amtrak News, the National Railway Historical Society Bulletin, Orlando Sentinel, Baltimore Chronicle, Baltimore Urbanite, Baltimore City Paper, LIFE magazine, and even Classic Trains recently.  Passenger Train Journal published ``The Champion`` in November 1987 and ``Reflections in Black and White`` in March 1988, ``Night Train`` (poem) and other articles and letters.   ``Blacks on Tracks`` is an epic poem about the total black experience on the railroad.    `