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ALBUQUERQUE — Hundreds took advantage of free rides on the New Mexico Rail Runner Express yesterday. The trains were standing-room only and filled with first-timers as well as Rail Runner vets. The same question echoed around the train cars: “Is this the first time you’ve ridden the Rail Runner?”

 

“How much is it?” an older man wondered aloud, and snagged a red-vested employee to question him.

 

“From 550 to Downtown,” the employee said, referring to the shorthand for two stations, “two dollars, one dollar for seniors.”

 

A minute earlier, the same employee had told another rider the number of people on the train: “Three hundred and ninety one,” he said. No wonder he looked frazzled.

 

The train stopped off and riders went their different directions. Some headed right for the buses, others chose to find something to eat along Central Avenue in downtown Albuquerque. All knew they had a wait ahead of them; no trains leave the downtown station between 11:35 a.m. and 4:00 p.m.

 

While waiting for the 4:10 p.m. northbound and the 4:25 p.m. southbound trains, the feeling at the downtown station was like that of a picnic. The hundreds waiting to hitch a ride on the Rail Runner waved cardboard fans (printed with the schedules), proudly wore “I Dumped the Pump” buttons and played with free frisbees. A dunk tank was set up to dunk a gas-station attendant. An easy consensus emerged that on this hot day it would be nice to be the one being dunked.

 

A rider who had been riding “for over a year,” remarked on the large amount of people. “It’s because it’s free,” she said. Another regular Rail Runner rider chimed in, “And it’s cool,” referring to both the air conditioning and the novelty factor of riding a train.

 

Others weren’t such veterans of train riding. “This is my first time I’ve ever been on a train!” one girl remarked while the train made it’s way north. “It’s like being on a magic carpet or something.”

 

Photos By Matthew Reichbach