Kiwanian Troy Rogers gave an interesting talk to the Kiwanis club on trains at the March 26 meeting. Troy said he has 2 passions -the fire department and trains. When he was a boy he used to ride his bicycle to the train depot as often as he could. He had pictures of trains and model trains on display for the members to see. 

In his introduction Dr. Gaddis had mentioned the Golden Spike which was where the west coast railroad met the east coast railroad in Utah when it was completed. Troy was working a couple of states over at the time that the 150th anniversary was celebrated and was able to go over there. He had a picture of the Big Boy Steam Engine at the celebration and some of us remembered that it had been in Natchitoches on tour not too long ago. 

Rogers began his working life in the state Fire Marshal’s Office. Then he taught at a fire course at LSU-Eunice for a year. Then he saw an ad for Sperry Rail Service in the Alexandria Town Talk and applied for the job and got it. This was in November 1996. He began as a driver. The trucks drive on the railroad tracks and use an ultrasound to look for flaws, defects and weak spots in the tracks. Before he retired a few months ago he had worked in all 48 lower states and 6 provinces in Canada. 

He was interrupted numerous time with questions about trains in Winnfield, length of trains, trains that are still operating and trains that are no longer operating. The average train that goes through Ruston and Monroe has about 100 cars. The Kansas City Southern which was a train we are all familiar with was sold to a Canadian company and is now known as CPKCS. 

Tracks for passenger trains are inspected every 30 days, HAZMAT train tracks are inspected every 6 months and train tracks in Winnfield only have to be inspected every 3 years. Some people in Winnfield remember a train called the Doodlebug which went to El Dorado but you could catch the train and go to Dodson or Jonesboro and then catch it back. The Doodlebug is now being restored at the Southern Forest Heritage Museum. 

Rogers is very knowledgeable about trains and model trains. He is very interested in starting a Model Train Club here in Winnfield along with some others who are interested in model trains. If you would be interested in this club you can let him know.