Hey Folks:
It’s early evening in a small town in Virginia, the Norfolk and Western has stopped to pick up passengers but they get an extra train just passing through, it’s the circus train heading North, probably Fredericksburg or even Washington, D.C.
Thanks,
Robert Sylvester, WTRR
Robert, very Cool! [Y][8D][*]
Also quite inspiring for me as this is the type of scene I want to replicate on my railroad.
For my scene it would be an early Florida summer evening, late 1960s, some auto traffic, people enjoying a stroll in the summer breeze, loiter near the station to see SCL’s Champion arrive with a mixed consist of smooth sided “foreign” sleepers and gleaming stainless steel coaches, diner, and lounge cars. They ignore a weather worn, noisy GP9, blaring it’s horn, trundling through on the passing track returning to the shop facility down the line for fuel and servicing after a busy afternoon delivering goods to local industries.
Oops, back to reality!
Thank you for posting this. Goes to show that a simple thread can spark appreciation and interest. =)
High Greens
AntonioFP45:
I lived in Washington D.C. during my early years, dad was at the Pentagon. My family would, on occaision, go to Florida in the fifties and I think we took that train south into the Carolina’s, Georgia and Florida.
We would also take the Southern out of D.C. to travel to Tennessee. Our destination was Jackson which is in West Tennessee. It didn’t stop there, so you looped down into Mississippi then back up to Grand Junction, Tennessee, just out side of Memphis. The L&N, and the GMNO went to Jackson, but not to D.C.
What a great trip. I used to love coming out of Union Station, you went under the city until you got to the Potomac River then you crossed the river near the 14th Street Bridge. You would arrive in Grand Junction late at night, get off the train, just a small station and wait for family to pick you up while you stood near the track near the ballast.
On the return trip you would go back to Grand Junction, again late at night and wait for the train. Finally you could hear either the F units or E units, horn blowing, way off in the distance and you would look for the headlight. All of a sudden it would appear and you would watch it until the train arrived. The engines would cause the ground to vibrate and the sound and smell was unforgetable. As the train passed it would slow down and your car was right in front of you. You know what the greatest smell for me is, when you would get on the car and step from the vestibule into the coach; the air conditioning, what a feeling.
Great days, and young people don’t really have that pleasure today.
Robert Sylvester, WTRR
My brass E units on the WTRR.
See above.
Robert Sylvester, WTRR
Thanks for sharing those memories,Robert. You saw and experienced some very cool scenes! Definitely memories to be cherished. Makes this hobby the more fun since we can, at least, recreate scenes that take us back to those wonderful moments in time.