Dec. 3, 2024

One of the most recognizable parts of CCS is the train art piece next to the flagpole. And yet no one seems to know where it came from or why it is there in the first place. So we made it our goal to answer all these questions.

         We started by looking at the train itself.  Upon further investigation, we found that the train had a weathered plaque on it revealing the name of the art piece as well as the artist (as shown above). Once we had these small nuggets of information on the train we did some online research. The research led us to a couple of articles on “Locomotives On Parade”, a traveling art show which was a fundraiser for the George W. Bush Presidential Museum. Thirty-four fiberglass trains were produced and sponsored by different organizations (ours was the City of College Station), and then the sponsors hired local artists to paint the trains with the theme of America in mind. These trains were then “paraded” to several locations and put on show from 2005-2006, until they were sold at auction in early 2006. 

This is when our trail ran dry, we had amassed enough information to know why and how the train was made, but we still could not answer the question of how it got to CCS in the first place. So we did what any student at CCS should do if they cannot find any information on a subject, we asked Mrs. Pratt. Here is a summary of what she said: A student who used to go to CCS from elementary school to middle school named Mason Duncan had grandparents involved in the College Station area, so they bought the train and decided to donate to CCS. Originally, we were going to find a great place for the train to stay and we placed it by the flagpole temporarily, but over time there were less and less places for the train to go so it ended up staying where it sits today. 

The truth might be a little disappointing or different than you first imagined but it is great to know the history of how the famous train came to live at CCS, and why it was even made in the first place.