** There's nothing quite like the thunderous roar or the ground shaking power of a heavy freight train roaring past you, struggling to move thousands of tons of material to its destination.
Growing up my brother had some N Gauge freight cars from an old train set, which I co-opted and subsequently destroyed in my ravaging pre-three year old days. Then while waiting in the car at my Aunt's house there was a loud roar that seemed like the world was ending and it kept getting louder, filling my ears until I was scared to death, sure I would die from this thing falling on the car crushing me when from behind the neighboring building roared a Northbound Penn Central Railroad freight train. Behind the black locomotives were images I recognized from my brother's train set. Indelibly etched in my mind is the 50 foot long yellow boxcar from Union Pacific with the slogan "We Can Handle It" my brother had a miniature almost just like it! I was so relieved I wasn't dead AND I also had visual stimulation, like watching television, as the cars rolled by.
Over the years my family and I would be at the local Dairy Queen on hot Summer evenings waiting for trains to come. I remember seeing a Conrail train soon after that company began with an old Reading Railroad locomotive going by the DQ. There was the "hurry up or we're gonna miss it" trip to the Maple Ave. overpass to see a former Erie-Lackawanna GP-35 on one of those first neighborhood Conrail trains. There were also a couple nights at Mill Road School in 1977 to watch the stone train my father loaded where he worked (the same one now that I switch at work thirty years later). One particular night was a severe thunderstorm with lightning arcs and driving rain. Fleetwood Mac's "Dreams" played on the car radio until the stone train drowned the song out.
As a young boy of three I got my very first ride in the cab of a locomotive, they were huge steps (four giant leaps for child-kind) up to the walkway from the ground, and walking past where the prime mover housed inside it's sheet metal hood was absolutely deafening to my pre-school ears. It was a real treat sitting in the engineer's lap, pulling with all of my might on the horn cord resulting in a sound that sounded like a sick cow because I couldn't pull hard enough for the horn to get enough air to sound properly. The train swayed and bucked and dipped and jerked down the ten miles of track we got to ride.
I suppose you could blame Dad for giving me the train bug, this genetic affliction which causes me to travel seven hours (or more!) in a car for train pictures, staying up all night, or both! But it's a load of fun and I enjoy it. I'm blessed and grateful I had the upbringing I had for the opportunities I've been given. **
Indeed the images shown in the slide show app on this very page are all photographed by me and even include subjects other than the mighty Iron Horse. Clicking on any of the images will direct you to my Flickr.com photo stream for even more pixelated goodness.
Nice entry MO, and very nice pictures. You`ve got a nice eye with the camera!
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