Similar Stories to Amtrak Salutes Latino Workers Who Kept The Trains Running On Time on Bing News

When train travel expanded into Illinois in the 1800s, it was the lowest ranking employees who laid the rails, which could weigh close to half a ton. To keep the trains running on time through the winter, they’d light fires to thaw the tracks. Called “traqueros,” a term derived from the Spanglish word traque, which means track, these Latino workers were honored by Amtrak on Wednesday in Union Station. The ceremony was the brainchild of Ismael Cuevas, a government affairs manager for Amtrak, who began researching the history of the workers after spotting a historical marker about a Mexican village upon arriving in Dodge City, Kansas, on the Amtrak Southwest Chief train from Chicago. The village was formed more than a century ago, said Cuevas, who has Mexican ancestry. “This village was actually a cramped, temporary boxcar camp community of traqueros working for the Santa Fe railroad near the (railway) roundhouse in Dodge City,” Cuevas said. Forgetting the precise definitions of “traquero” and “boxcar camp,” Cuevas googled the terms.