Then she handed the strip of zigzag rows to Mama, who clutched it to her chest.

Clutch:  To seize, grip, or hold tightly with one hand.

I clutched on to the frayed rope hoping it would not break.

How they were busy with people; women standing at long tables, packing the fruit; trucks coming and going with their loads fresh from the fields; and workers stocking the train cars that would later be hooked to a locomotive to take the fruit all over the United States.

Locomotive:  A self propelled vehicle that runs along rails.

The gargantuan locomotive bellowed smoke as it moved down the railroad track.