Maybe its the fact that I am in my early50s and and I am remembering things the way they use to be. But the other day we were ordered to Omaha to pickup our MKCPR07 at 20th street, And as we were going thru what use to be the Omaha Union Station/ Burlington station complex I got to thinking. I remember there were 16 tracks between the two stations a covered walkway between them and the umbrella sheds covering the tracks… I remember when all freight trains had a waycar and 4 or 5 men on a crew. The railroads still ran mail and passenger trains. And there are times I wish I were born earlier to witness all of this I always figured I always thought I was born about 10 or 15 too late Just a thought Larry
A shot from four years ago- are there still six tracks left?
Yeah, me to (age and memories). I have lots of similar memories from the Kenosha and Milwaukee area. Like how there were passenger trains to and from cities like Fond du lac, Green Bay, Madison, thru Milwaukee to Chicago. And how Kenosha used to have 512-hour yard jobs plus 2 12-hour way freight jobs originating there, and how Racine once had a nice depot and yard jobs, as well as Cudahy, South Milwaukee, 5th ward, they all had their own depots and yard jobs.
And of course, there was the great North Shore.
The difference is that I feel as though I was born 50 years too soon, rather than 50 years too late.
I’d much rather contemplate a wondrous future where everything works (including the government), with no crime, no pollution, high-speed ‘green’ transportation, instead of a past where everything was dirty, noisy, inefficient, corrupt, and way too much work.
Of course, I’d like to see transporters and warp-speed (ala Star Trek) travel as well; however, I’m not anticipating either scenario with much conviction.
Hmmm…two diverging schools of thought.
I remember some of the good old days–steam engines coming into town, five-man crews, and most of the other stuff Larry and Jim mentioned. Good times back then!
But I, too, like to think that better times are coming. Will I see them? I can only hope so, but reality says I probably won’t. My kids might, and my grandchildren probably will–but they will probably take the new railway age for granted, and won’t have a clue about what went before.
So, perhaps, with distinct memories of what went before, and the promise of an improving future (more efficient, with more trains moving faster and more safely), I was born at just the right time!
Those six tracks are still there. From left to right in the photo, the tracks are the Amtrak station track, the single track BNSF mainline, the double track UP mainline, and two side tracks which UP sometimes uses to store MOW equipment. Those two tracks are also used to store special consists that are in town or are visiting the Durham Western Heritage Museum.
I guess I’m with you Larry on this one.
I was able to see the tail end of small town depots, 4 and 5 man crews, time table and train orders, cabooses, etc.
While I sometimes think maybe I was born too late, I’m thankful I wasn’t born any later.
Jeff
I agree. When I started to go to college at the U or Illinois, I crossed the tracks of a variety of railroads. CNW, MILW, IC, RI, GM&O, BN, SF, Wabash, NP, NYC, Pennsy, and the P&E. With NW, Ci&E, IT just to the south. Variety! All sorts of paint schemes, types of locos. No unit trains. Of course, a good scanner was a crystal set, with up to 6 channels. Most of the railroads were teetering on going bankrupt. Some did. And I didn’t have a car.
I wish I was living when the engines were all steam.
I’m 19. It takes a trek to find an engine that isn’t a widenose, AC GE. I remember seeing an ALCo, on the other side of the continent, years ago.
Wrong era? I think it’s obvious.
I’m thankful that I have an active mainline to watch, a camera for pictures, a scanner for a heads up, and good friends to share them with. Anything else is gravy. Things can always be worse…
[8D] I remembner years ago before i hired out i was volunteering at the Boone&Scenic Valley here in Boone and saying about the same thing to one of the volenteers. He made a comment that maybe we were born at the right time because we are now here to insure that the history is presevered Just a thought Larry
While I certainly would like to have experienced mainline steam first hand (and being born in 1950, I probably could have, given the awareness - I lived not far from GTW’s Pontiac operation), as ‘my other brother’ Larry says, one reaches a point at which the opportunity to volunteer and actually operate equipment doesn’t exist. Sure, you could work for the railroad, but to have another career and railroad as a hobby wasn’t really an option.
And to think, this summer I might get to operate the first RS-3 NYC acquired…
Apart from railfanning I wouldn’t want to live in an earlier era. I have fond memories of train watching as a kid in the 70s, but if I could I would travel 100 years into the future to see what railroading will look like then.
If I have any regrets; it was not being born in the wrong era. Instead it was not paying enough attention to what was going on around me.In the 60’s and 70’s I did not spend enough time watching railroads that would become fallen flags.Chicago Great Western and Rock Island come to mind. It was easier to pursue Burlington and Milwaukee. Enjoy what is out there, things change.I think part of being a railfan is dealing with this. I’m glad I saw Lehigh Valley in upstate New York in 1952; a once in a lifetime experience.I’ve been to Gillette Wyoming twice, in 1954 and again in 2008’ needless to say what a difference. I love watching trains
I sometimes do - I wish I could go back in time to see my favorites: EL, CGW, ROCK, MILW, and a bunch of others. I often think the 1950’s would’ve been better for me for train-watching anyway (but I’d over-shoot my favorite fallen flag, the Erie Lackawanna, by about 10 years). I figure maybe 1960 would be about right.
Then I hear the oldies music they like to play at the grocery store, and when I hear, “The Bird Is The Word”, I stop wishing I grew-up in that time period.
Another aspect of time in relation to trains are those of us who, at one time, had a wealth of sights and sounds to absorb from cabooses, to interurbans, to the slogans on the side of boxcars etc. I could see, on any given day, The Soo Laker roar past, hang out at the CNS&M Mundelein terminal, watch the Baldwin centercabs on the Ej&E, or the Milwaukee Road Hiawathas fly past Roundout Tower. Now its all so uniform, standardised and similar one road to another, I find myself largely bored with the current scene on a comparative basis. I do enjoy seeing trains but the thrill is largely diluted with the passage of time and I am drawn, not surprisingly, to museum operations. It is odd to ride equipment you once rode in common carrier service viewed as a historical artifact. What is stranger is to see them in operation out of the context you are familiar with, which leads to a mild state of disorientation. I suppose I share David Morgans sense of nostalgia…Hemmingway called nostalgia “man’s mistress” Indeed, in some sense it is.What surprises me is how uncommon the previously common was. it’s ironic we dont largely recognize the historic context of these trains until they are gone in retrospect. The North Shore was such a daily work a day operation that it was difficult to fathom that I was witnessing an aberration, a type of transport long since sent to the scrap heap.
Go back to the mid 19th century. Boldly build where no man has built before.
No I.C.C. No S. T. B. No F. R. A. No E. P. A. No S. E. C. No trial lawyers pandering to NIMBYS along your road to empire. If NIMBYS get too troublesome, telegraph for the U S cavalry.
Free passes to politicians you own, or rent, to further your goal. Land grants from Washington. Land agents scouring for immigrants from afar willing to work to better their situation. Not only will they fill your trains, but build a nation in the bargain.
Build an empire with your stamp all over it. Stomp any who dare attempt entry with pick, shovel, Sharps rifles and/or legal maneuvering.
Long after you are dust, people will still stare in wonder at the passing parade you made possible.
wallyworld~~~ I can relate to what you have spoken. Different stations different logos , same Engines ( steam) , I am happy to have lived in those times . I still smile and some times get goose bumps when I hear a steamer whistle echo off the rock wall and back across the canyon. ( heavy stuff , huh ) Thank you for posting this.
Respectfully , Cannonball
My theory (which many who have already responded to this thread sort of impugn) is that most railfans wish they were around to see the period that occured about ten to twenty years before they were really aware of things.
I think that a lot of this has to do with the fact that so much of that is just out of reach… so close… we meet railfans and rails who tell us about it… we see pictures of those engines and trains passing right through our own hometowns, by the very place we rode our own bikes to, but when there was a depot there, a depot that we never saw… and we are stirred with a nostalgia for a time that we never saw, but almost did… which we were almost able to touch.
I know the things that fascinated me the most were railroading in the 1960s (for which I was alive but too young to care) and the 1950s (for which I wasn’t yet born).
Charles
“My theory (which many who have already responded to this thread sort of impugn) is that most railfans wish they were around to see the period that occured about ten to twenty years before they were really aware of things.”
Perhaps so, but I don’t understand why. Clearly the most interesting periods of railroad history are much longer ago. I believe that the late 19th century was the most exciting and dynamic era in railroading, and I am plenty old enough to remember regular steam and the North Shore Line and the CA&E – fondly I might add.
I would have loved to witness this era, but do appreciate some of the modern advancements, especially in medicine.
See some of my memories at RailroadPhotoEssays.com
Glen Brewer