My last 2 years of high school, we lived immediately adjoining the railroad tracks, and the only time we even noticed the sounds of the trains was if we were watching the TV and train drowned out the sound.:laughing:
Then in August, 1994, I was doing gas leakage surveys and went on a job in Duncan, AZ. The only RV facilities were adjoining the railroad tracks. The very first night I went to bed early (2 hour time difference from the job I'd come from in Pampa, TX) and when the train went by, I thought I was back in Alaska during an earthquake. There was a long train, 5 engines, that went north, empty, mid-morning every day to the copper mines, then back south, loaded, about 9 to 9:30 p.m. and it literally shook our motorhome when it went south.
I was born and raised in a house 1/2 block from the tracks. You couldn't see them as they were in a valley parallel to a cross street at the end of
the block. In my early years they were steam engines. There was a big Y merge of double tracks up a little ways in the valley with big old hand thrown switches. The trains spent a lot of time there switching and reversing but ran on a pretty good schedule. Most were freight and coal but there was an interurban passenger train as well that people rode in from the country to work so timing was essential.
I loved going down to the edge of the valley and watching them work, puff, and screech. In those days they had an engineer, a fireman, and a caboose with a brakeman/switchman or two that walked the car tops to work brakes and get down to throw the switches.
Once in a while, certain crews would let a couple of the neighborhood kids in the engine cab while it was sitting still or being fired with coal.
What a thrill. They were not supposed to do it, but in those times a lot of things went on that can't today because of all the potential law suits folks dream up or copy in this modern world.
My mother had it all figured out, and knew just when it was safe to hang laundry on the line and when to run out and get it before the soot
fell all over the white sheets, my dad's white shirts and other laundry. Sometimes a wash had to be hung and taken in 3 times before it was dry.
My dad always told my mom not to feed the bums that rode the trains and would come up the street and nearby streets as they would spread the word and there would be guys knocking on the door for a sandwich all day long. Well, he was right, but my mother had a big heart.
The bums were always respectful though and most offered to do chores. My dad finally told them we just could not afford to be feeding them
so they quit coming.
When diesel electric locomotives replaced steam it was not near as thrilling for us kids but the moms sure liked it.
I still love trains and have quite a collection of HO models. No track set up right now, but it is on the "honey do list."
My wife likes making the scenery and is good at it. I like the wiring and having multiple engines and switches under control.
Oh, and we used to make snow ice cream but had to watch that it wasn't full of soot.
My mentioning that I haven't had to plow snow this year will come to an end after lunch. The engine pan skid guard on the Grand Cherokee
is just about touching the snow. So I turned the block heater on on the 4020 at 8 AM and will try to start it soon. I need to haul a couple hay rolls to the horse barn too so we will see how quick I can do that, plow 1600 feet of main driveway, and get back to the Lazy Boy for some football/naps.
