Express. The blog facebook and twitter up to date and in touch follow us. Ally trip prove take us from the deep south of the United States to the east coast. Majestic locomotives will power through diverse mans gates will meet local county has go from sunni towns to the bustling metropolis. Well visit places of great importance in American History and discover a small events that shaped every day. The main character of our american adventure is the train that makes its daily journey from the gulf of mexico to the atlantic get ready to climb aboard that fast and. The are the. New orleans the birthplace of jazz its a vibrant city on the mississippi delta with something for everyone yet the president meets the past. With its population of around four hundred thousand new orleans is not a notch city by american standards but its vibrant and loud. I am. Freight trains with a hundred or more cars line right along the riverbank they take several minutes to pass through. But the wait is worth it. Get back to you know was the hes. Going yeah. I wont know what you do. Yes were just. Going. In now that its a new orleans welcome. Street cars have shaped the cityscape of new orleans for the past hundred and eighty years at first street cars were powered by horses and steam their electric now the network once covered three hundred kilometers today just thirty six kilometers remain there a tree. The st charles line is the oldest continuously operating line in the u. S. The river front line runs along the edge of the French Quarter and the canal Straight Line covers the main street of new orleans. On overcast days when a cool breeze blows new orleans shows its melancholy side tourists and locals on the streets and squares around st louis cathedral seem unaffected by the by our in the French Quarter the citys oldest neighborhood most of the single and multistory buildings are made of stone and feature neuron balcony as the spanish and french influence is unmistakable. Thanks. To a new orleans jazz and blues are inseparable Louis Armstrong and fats domino are among the songs that the city to name but two of its greats. Days the mood may be moving last but theres virtually no record that will silence the instruments hank. The sound. Thanks to a the frank. Its early in the morning on loyola havent you its not far from the main station the new Orleans UnionPassenger Terminal it is to be busy. Most passengers now prefer to travel by bus there are just three passenger trains departing new orleans each day. The building dates back to nine hundred fifty four its was the chin urals of the citys History Month depicts the early history of the railroad when steam trains competed with who says. The first train started running in america in the early eighteenth that is the baltimore and Ohio Railroad hosted a special race. In the very beginning Steam Technology was just coming to fruition in england but the be you know chose to haul its first passenger cars by horse later several engines were tested and a gentleman named peter cooper invented the First American built Steam Locomotive which was nicknamed tom thought because it was a very small little boxy engine in august of eight hundred thirty the story goes that there was a race between this mechanical engine and a horse drawn car and during the race one of the belts on the wind blower broke on peter coopers engine tom thumb and the horse ultimately ran the race but as we know Steam Technology and motive power would beat the force in the air. We still use the term whose power trains today have more than four thousand three hundred horsepower. Each carriage has one steward its very comfortable fast and just can check in from six in the morning. And for boarding at half past the crescent consists of two engines and nine carriages. Thank you thank the light is eerily beautiful as the train sets off at seven in the morning. Thanks we passed slowly through new orleans named the Crescent City because of its location on a bend in the Mississippi River. The air. Passengers we face a thirty one hour ride will cross twelve states and cover more than two thousand two hundred kilometers on our journey from the big easy to the. The end new orleanss bordered by the Mississippi River to the south and by lake pontchartrain to the north a shallow body of water three times the size of Lake Constance three roads and one train line run across the lake on stilts the neighbor has a friendly face and the only night that wasnt the case in two thousand and five am. Since two thousand and six the Louisiana State museum has hosted an exhibition about the harken history of new orleans. With a special focus on harken Katrina Katrina changed the city. One of the great things about the story is that the human story behind each of the exhibitions that youll see of this particular exhibition really express how these people of the American South came together to rebuild a community. It wasnt just the hurrican that caused terrible destruction. Holding back naik pontchartrain crumbled. Into the city from the north on he ended katrina changed the life of new orleans the people physically the way we live and the way we work. We are trying to build back the city right sitting and having Great Success there a chance to psychologically to think the people of new orleans are more virulent now and i think were more proud that we were before the storm because of what we survived. Poor doubt his emotions each day recording the horrific events on the wallpaper of his house. The wreck of the grand piano that belonged to musician fats domino hanging above the installation by mitchell goaded. It symbolizes his grief for the sixteen hundred victims last hand symbolized the willingness of those who were not affected to help to lend a hand. My left with our thoughts we had north on our venture beyond new orleans we find rural landscapes with forrest spiels and founds. Were approaching meridian a small town in a state of mississippi. One of the greatest Country Music singers in the United States was granted here in eighty ninety seven the jimmy Rogers Museum resembles an old train station rogers was the third and youngest son of a Railroad Family the museum is filled with many of his personal items. And opened the safe for the jimmy Rogers Museum and then the jimmy rogers guitar. That we keep in this if jimmy had many guitars this was his final guitar he ordered it shortly after he was discovered one of our guests when he was based in here hey pointed to this how and he said sing this how you say this house right here and he kept saying that about four or five times and then what thats where Country Music was oh right there right there and what do you like to. America and another guest said folk music and when i asked. Americans because jimi had such a profound influence. As a young man jimi was just whacked for the new orleans and northeast and raul waited as a break man among other things. Soon he was beloved over the country many of his experiences during his time on the road found their way into his songs today hes known only to fans of Country Music. His music a from his work on the rare and from his former life and from living in rural mississippi and traveling around the trying as he travels from place to place. He loved the railroad he just didnt want to work on the he wanted to sing about the railroad and hes left us many many wonderful songs and we appreciate the great of his music. With. Jimmy rogers and he lived to be thirty five his short career and lasted just sixteen the singing brakeman died on a the twenty six nineteen thirty three of tuberculosis and. Zis he picked up during his time on the railroad the. The the if. We leave the roots of Country Music and behind. Not much has been served in the dining car. Were just waiting for desired. There are three times logs available for lunch we chose the middle one half past twelve. The o. L. Our train has left the state of mississippi and is traveling through alabama i am. In the early Nineteenth Century i know was mined in the area surrounding birmingham to bring its Industrial History to life for future generations the state of alabama set up an open and museum a few years ago the tan hill and lux historical state park not much remained at the historical buildings thats why much was rebuilt using the original plan. Was a boom town in the late eight hundred after their free destruction period after the civil war thats when the pressure really started to get going in towns like birmingham and from places over here where theyre brown or fields to the places where adjacent to the red or fields that were located closer to the brink of city limits so the protections that are there twenty two tons of vinyl were mind here every day in the early one nine hundred sixty is by the end of the civil war parts of the complex were in. Ns but the boom of the island town of birmingham was unstoppable so then about the time of the founding of the city in eight hundred seventy s. And it picked up through world war one and it kind of peaked in World War Two producing stuff for the war effort for World War Two and then after the one nine hundred sixty s. Things Like International competition and resource depletion tonnage of the other industries out i mean have still has a pretty big cast iron pipe industry but that any more they arent isnt made here anymore. The furnace is a no longer burning but there are impressive reminders of the time when birmingham was also known as the pittsburgh of the south pittsburgh was americas number one steel city at the time. Was the hour i am. The. With a population of two hundred Twelve Thousand birmingham is still alabamas biggest city even though its lost half of its population as a result of the economic decline of the past fifty years thats evidenced by the many decaying buildings many of them are being pulled down three quarters of all the inhabitants are africanamericans just half a century ago these people had to fight for their civil rights the events from back then a student at the forefront of them minds. But during that time birmingham was rigidly segregated segregation ordinances specifically said that black people white people did not play checkers yes engage in any game its hard to imagine what that was like now so it was very oppressive. The separation of the races there was real. No justice in the legal system for africanamericans. The city of racial segregation. In the sixtys africanamerican homes and businesses were bombed in the city at this hour break a bombing hand. Tool black girls died in one thousand nine hundred sixty three when a Baptist Church was bombed. Many of the attacks were committed by the racist hate group the ku klux klan. The conflicts finally came to a head and it took decades for the Civil Rights Movement to fool. So you had two hundred years of this so pression based on color and based on race. People had accepted that as a way of life and so to make that kind of dramatic shift after generations of racial oppression is very difficult the hope that this ugly chapter in history will finally close is expressed an opinion on the will of the Baptist Church in trades one man none to replace bitterness and violence with novel and understanding of the earth you work the early train heads fathomless were running slightly behind changi Freight Trains have priority since Rail Companies earn more transporting freight than they do transporting passengers but in the small town of york alabama the crescent has priority and the Freight Train waits for us to pass. Transport is the Main Business of the Rail Industry and the United States seven Rail Companies share the market Union Pacific is one of the oldest and most successful in the country it has forty six thousand employees and turns over twenty billion dollars per year. Goods out transported by truck day and night seven days a week. The thin crescent of the moon which also adorns the advertising posters of our train shines brightly in the night sky as our Journey Continues the crescent has completed just over a third of its route it travels at an average speed of around seventy Kilometers Per Hour. Were traveling in late autumn so not fools at six oclock thousands of lights illuminated the darkness atlanta is the capital city of the state of georgia the metropolitan area is home to more than five and a half Million People and yet the citys train station has just three tracks since nine hundred seventy one Long Distance rail travel in the United States has been in the hands of amtrak the crescent is the only passenger train coming. Through atlanta thats one train stopping in each direction and each day. Over the past few years the situation has steadily improved. Its one of the Fastest Growing cities in the United States just two decades ago it hosted the twenty sixth summer Olympic Games its still home to a large number of well known companies. During the night we traveled through South Carolina and now we greet the dawn in North Carolina those are among the Southern States that seceded from the United States in eight hundred sixty one and joined the confederation its a dark chapter in u. S. History. The Railroad Town of spencer also lies on our journey but the crescent rushes through without stopping train enthusiasts would find a lot to enjoy there because spencer is home to the North Carolina transport Taishan Museum which opened in one thousand nine hundred eighty five. Its a very lively museum but only days were filming engine number five is taking a break. To central its a bit hair is the round house with thirty seven snots one of the largest in the United States there are many engines here them Museum Pieces now nevertheless visitors can get a close up experience of Railway History they learned that the post used to be delivered by train and was sorted during the journey they also learned that the crescent used to be pulled by a very special machine all the cross and. So railways premier passenger train. Headed even the solar ran it even after amtrak. We have one of their engines here number sixty nine hundred its a passenger locomotive its on display around the house as famous as any of the b. S. That ran on the crest larry brown is a retired University Professor he volunteers at the museum hes the man in charge of the train today. We have about eighty volunteers. There or maybe five or so you actually did or do work for the real world everyone elses. Some other occupation but you like railroads yes you would have to take. The train is full of activity children in particular like it the museum off as many events such as a day with thomas the tank engine that attracts thousands of children and their parents turn museum that was still a small rural depo in the late Nineteenth Century it flourished and with it so too did the small town of spencer after the first World War Two thousand people worked in spencers factories in one thousand nine hundred forty the first diesel trains arrived fifteen years later steam trains were completely out of service in one nine hundred sixty the depo ceased operation and the town of spencer became less important grass grew over the complex the museum helps it record its former pub has. Steam engine six eleven is being prepped in the round house its the famous dreamliner of norfolk and weston it was housed in the museum in roanoke in virginia but was moved to spencer refurbishment since this footage was taken this its eleven was back on the rails again by mid twenty fifteen it was full. Steam ahead once more. The Museum Cinema features black and white films of the history of the railroad the railway had a significant role in opening up the continent the story of the palace train ninety seven isms and mentioned it traveled back and forth between washington and spencer every day but it was never to arrive on september the twenty seventh one thousand and three that journey came to a tragic end on the bridge to new with dan. Bream. From wh