Walking Austin's Neon Wilderness

Long before a starry-eyed but sparse stream of commuters rode its rails, the Houston and Texas Central railroad carried a freight of “hope, prosperity and progress” into Austin. Starting in 1871, its main tracks ran along Pine Street (now Fifth), helping make the city a trading hub. Near Plaza Saltillo, the Austin & Northwestern (A&NW) branched north. Beginning northward expansion in 1881, it never came close to reaching the intended destination of Abilene and a northwestern Texas rail line. But the A&NW hauled nearly sixteen thousand carloads of pink granite for the State Capitol.

In 1985, voters approved the founding of Capital Metro, which set a vision of an Austin rail line. A year later, the agency and the city bought the abandoned Southern Pacific freight tracks. A decade later, not very long in rail-planning time, the agency made concrete plans for the Red Line on the old right-of-way. Though compromised from its original vision and taking another 13 years to complete, a 32-mile commuter rail line began service in March 2010.

Our 7.5 mile walk, the first of a three-part series along the tracks of Austin's Red Line train, begins downtown before passing through the East Cesar Chavez, Rosewood, Cherrywood, North Loop, and Highland neighborhoods. We’ll get a bit of shade in the early part of our walk along the Boggy Creek Greenbelt. And of course we’ll stop at the end for an optional lunch.

LOGISTICS:

• 10:40 AM start, for the convenience of anyone taking the train to the starting point.
• See train schedule. The first inbound train departs from Lakeline and arrives downtown at 10:40 AM.
• There are paid parking garages by the pile of rubble formerly known as the Austin Convention Center
• You might be able to find street parking by Highland Station, but no guarantee
• We'll meet right by the downtown train station
• If you parked somewhere along the train line (there are proper parking lots up north at Leander, Lakeline, and Howard), we’ll be at the Highland stop by 1:30, in time for downtown trains (1:28, 2:05, 2:42, 3:19) or northbound trains (1:42, 2:19, 2:56, 3:33)
• Official walk route

This 4 to 5 mile walk will be led by group member Scott, who knows a thing or two about UT campus history. Beginning at the parking lot at 203 West MLK Boulevard (southwest corner of MLK and Colorado), we'll weave through campus north to 27th and east to Robert Dedman Drive, circle Clark Field, and ultimately wind up at Scholz's bier garten. Scott will provide historical background along the way.

LOGISTICS:

• 10 AM start, on our winter schedule.
• Parking at the 203 W Martin Luther King lot (southwest of Colorado and MLK) is free on weekends. We'll meet by this lot.
• Official walk route.
• For those who want food and/or beer at the end of the walk, Scholz offers a classic German menu.

This 5.4 mile walk hosted by Jim M. visits the locations of 39 historic Austin music clubs (see list, location map, and history).

As with all our walks, we’ll enjoy a bit of nature conveniently located along our path. This includes Waterloo Park, the Capitol Grounds, Shoal Creek, and possibly part of the Butler Hike and Bike Trail.

LOGISTICS:

• 10 AM start, on our winter schedule
• We’ll meet in the empty lot which offers free parking across the street from the Texas History Museum.
• Part of our group typically seeks out lunch at the end of the walk. There are plenty of good options in the area.
• Official walk map