Seven years ago former 5th District U.S. Rep Earnest Istook tried to cripple federal funding of Amtrak enough to put it out of business. This was even when most Oklahoma business and government leaders were scrambling to maintain funding for the Amtrak Heartland Flyer that connects Oklahoma City with the rest of the national passenger train system at Fort Worth.
Well, today Amtrak is still running in Oklahoma. Who knows what became of Istook.
Contrary to his then dire predictions that no Okie would foresake their car for a train, the Heartland Flyer has very good ridership.
On Saturday it was almost full when I took it to Texas with students from two photography classes that my buddy Ken Rager teaches in Drumright and Sapulpa. The group took the train and visited the famous Fort Worth Stockyards for the afternoon, then returned to Oklahoma City that night.
Here are some pics from our trip (mouseover for info and select to enlarge):
