We posted a story from the Austin American-Statesman earlier about James Ferguson, who was selected for the newspaper’s annual Season for Caring and who is a train buff. 

Amplify Credit Union employees had already done some awesome things for Mr. Ferguson, including redecorating and cleaning his apartment and stocking it with new furniture. We were all really touched by the generosity and thoughtfulness of the credit union employees.

 

But there was one small thing that Capital Metro could offer Mr. Ferguson that no one else could: a behind-the-scenes train experience on MetroRail.

 

On Friday, President Linda Watson, Vice Chair John Langmore and Data Analyst Brad Weaver met Mr. Ferguson and his Integral Care caseworker Roy Salazar at Plaza Saltillo for a train ride.

After the ride, railroad folks from Capital Metro and our partners at Herzog and Watco presented Mr. Ferguson with some giftcards, bus passes and some railroad gifts, including the official MetroRail train engineer jacket. (I’m envious of the jacket!)

 

Paul, the DMU engineer, showed Mr. Ferguson the cab of the train, including the various train controls. Mr. Ferguson really enjoyed activating the train horn and bells.

 

It was Mr. Ferguson’s first time on MetroRail. What did he think?  “It’s great, but the train ride wasn’t long enough!”

 

Click the link for more information about the participants in the Season for Caring.  There’s more pictures of Mr. Ferguson’s MetroRail ride on Capital Metro’s facebook page.