…As an 11 year old youngster, I was always into building some kind of vehicle…and one of my renditions was my very own railroad engine…on wagon wheels. In 1942 I remember one situation down in Maryland near Ft. Meade I stepped outside from a rural railroad station and a wildly fast steamer came blasting by and my mother came running out afraid I would be getting too close to it…etc…Anyone else have some memories to share.
I was 13 and would hang out at the local station, where there was a full time stationmaster who also doubled as a tower operator. The tower (which is no longer there) had about 30 Armstrong switches. To throw them you had to step on a pedal and PULL. I recall one switch where all 130 pounds of me couldn’t get that thing to move…
I also remember fondly the daily way freight coming into town. They usually did some switching over the course of an hour, and they knew who I was. They made darn sure that I didn’t do anything to get myself killed or hurt, but they also were kind enough to answer questions from a young kid.
All that stopped when the NH was kidnapped by the Penn Central.
when i was in grade school in the early and mid sixties there was a freight yard right next to our school.either nickle plate or wabash but it had become ns. and they always had 4 axle “gps” switching. the noise of 2 geeps was great. and the odd alco once in a while. that started it for me. i ended up working for a terminal road then csx for a few years. so that is it for me.
I have a few fond memories of the latter days of the branch line where I lived. The local ran daily in in the final years, I believe that there must have been a 10 or 20 MPH speed restriction. My friend and I lived 1/2 mile from the tracks. We would hear the horn blow for the nearest crossing (2 miles south) and if we took off on a dead run across the 1/2 mile of farm fields, we could get back to the tracks just in time to see the local trundle by. It was mostly empty pulpwood gons headed north, with a bright yellow CNW caboose on the back.
In high school, I got a short ride on the caboose of the local while they were switching the fertilizer plant at a local coop.
In the winter, it would be dark by the time they headed back southbound and you’d see the headlight cutting a path through the tree lined right of way. The rotating amber beacon could be seen all the way from my house, 80 acres away.
In the summer, the train on another fork of the branch could be heard about bedtime. I’d lie in bed and listen to it heading westward. The power was clearly audible as the prevailing west wind would carry the sound my way. Every few minutes, they’d blow for another crossing. I might be able to listen for 10-15 minutes as they worked westward and out of earshot. I’d strain to hear them at the window until they were finally gone. Great bedtime music for a young railfan. Both lines are bike trails these days. Sad to see them gone.
I have almost the same exact memories, only mine were of the MILW branchline running through my hometown of Prior Lake, MN. Residents nicknamed it the “Galloping Goose”. Sometimes we’d get treated to the sight of one or more old F units pulling it through town.
My grandparents had a dairy farm up near Rice Lake, WI, and I remember lying in bed on their second floor and listening to the busy C&NW running north-south through there. Long-gone now…
When I was about two (1967), Southern Railway derailed a work train in our back yard. Don’t remember it but my parents have pictures. Most of them were of the big hook picking up the small mess.
When I was 12, we moved up to Flagstaff and I would start hanging out by the now-BNSF mainline watching trains go by every 20-30 minutes. Even back then (1981) it was a very busy road. Watching a consist of SD40-2/SD45s idling in the east siding and listening to the sound of the turbines on those 645 prime movers is what began my long railfanning interest.
From age 2 to 4,I lived within sight of the SP main line in Alhambra,CA. I stood in my front yard to watch the trains go by. From age 4 and up I lived on the UP main line near Whittier,CA. I could see trains from my front yard there,too[:D].
When I was like 7 or 8 my Dad’s friend (an engineer) took me in for a train ride. I got to blow the horn, apply the brakes and use the throttle. It was great!
I have mentioned this before, but for those that missed it, here it is. When I was just a little guy,not even a year old my mom would push my stroller over to the Erie Northern Branch Englewood depot or the West shore (NYC) depot at Dumont NJ. I was the kid that cried and fussed when mom decided to go back to the laundromat, or go home rather than get upset by a NYC K14 pacific or a new Lima 1200hp road switcher or an RS1 on an off peak run.( usually these went up to Kingston or even Albany.) Erie kept K1 pacifics on the Northern, in 1951-2, that is. Later in the 50’s my grandmother brought some of my cousins up from Poughkeepsie on NYC 51. Well,mom, dad and my sister went toward where they were getting off, while you can easily guess who, went up to look at the Es, S1s,an NYC PA(?)[;)]. Well there was the usual panic while the conventional thinkers were looking around for me. An NYC conductor “found” me up among the E7s and E8s drinking in the whole thing! I was summarily taken back to my less distressed ,now more angry, parents and grandmother. So I was “grounded” Thanksgiving morning my grandmother,dad,my sister and cousins went to Niagara Falls, while I was left at home watching the Lions vs. whoever. My mom didn’t mind missing the “waste of time because the Ice bridge won’t be there until at least January” trip one bit-( She had to cook the turkey anyhow)poor dad was stuck-he had to take his mom,daughter, nieces and nephews to the Falls.[(-D] He looked at the birds flying around while everyone else froze![|(] Guess who had the last laugh. Well, years later while at a train show an old ex-NYC conductor told about how he’d found an 8 year old fan among the power of 51 and 351 drinking in the spectacle, oblivious to the panic his presence there was triggering a few cars back! Well, I told him who I was and my legendary wander I’d taken off on at Central Terminal all those years before and we wound up laughing over cold beer and Beef on wecks, watching football on the TV at a nearby bar.[;)]
My parents brought me home from my birth to a house next to the C&IM tracks in Manito, IL. (Population then, about 900) They made the “mistake” of putting my baby crib next to a window facing the tracks.
My mother (now gone) always told me that I would pull myself up in the crib to watch a train go by. They were powed by steam back then, in the early 50’s, but I’ve been fascinated ever since.
Because of my young interest, I was treated to a ride on the last C&IM passenger train from Manito to Havana when I was two. How many of the rest of you can claim your first train ride behind a 4-4-0 steamer in regular service?
When I was seven we took The Chief out of Chillicothe to visit family in California. I about jumped out of my skin when I saw those Warbonnet diesels come around that curve into the station. I crossed the Mississippi for the first time upstairs in the “Big Dome” full length dome car.
On the return trip I saw a C&IM box car in the San Bernadino yard!
Quite the adventure for a seven year old small town boy. And the adventure continues.
Years latter, I was introduced to racing Greyhounds. But aside from them, there’s stilll nothing more exciting (at least in public) than a train.
I lived a couple blocks from the Mundelein station of the Chicago North Shore and Milwaukee. During the day, a string of steeplecabs would perform a interchange ballet
of flying switches, trolley tenders working the poles with guys perched on the footplates and at night flares dropped at the crossing to warn off motorists. Afternoons of long commuter consists sparking & yawing over the crossover at Brice Avenue. The Laker blowing past in the dead of winter, mars light pitching a crazy quilt of light, horns blaring. EJ&E Baldwins with long freight drags at Rounout waiting for the Milwaukee Road intercity train blurring past like a bullet at the diamond. I was awestruck for life.
When I was a kid I would go to my uncle’s house to be babysat during summer vacation. I always like running outside to see the trains. As luck would have it my uncle’s house was right beside the conrail tracks. So me and my bro would sit on the back porch to watch trains going past or go up the street a little bit to get a better look. As a kid I also sometimes threw rocks at the trains especially hoping to get a rock in the coal hopper. Never did.[V]
I always pictured the train crew catching hell from someone somewhere hollaring “There’s a rock in coal” and cussing them out.[(-D] Before anyone starts Yes I have long since grown out of my destructive little phase that pretty much every little boy goes through.
When I was little one of my favorite places was Traveltown. Traveltown is a place in Griffith Park where there is a collection of railroad equiptment that had been donated to the city (LA). There were (and still are) dozens of steam locomotives, passenger cars, cabooses, freight cars and even a couple electrics. Almost all of this equiptment was completely accessabe. The only rule I remember back then was don’t climb on the roof tops. It seemed like the greatest place on earth, and every time I visited my grandparents they would take me there.
Anyway, One year, I don’t remember for sure but I think it was my 5th or 6th birthday my mom asked me where I wanted my party. My mom was (and still is) big on things like birthday partys. She would always bake / decorate elaborite cakes and provide all kinds of games and activities. Well I told her I wanted my birthday party at traveltown. It was a big party with many of my friends and lots of the family. Of course the cake was a locomotive as was the pinyata (sp). I couldn’t have asked for a better party.
As if that wasn’t enough, it got even better. My uncle Niel, who was a lifelong SP employee and at the time was close to (if not at) the number one seniority position for all the LA division, was there too. Dureing our fun and games he wandered over to the LA live steamers club and was talking to some guys he knew from work that were at the club that day working on track maintainance. The club was not open to the public that day. When these guys found out about my birthday party they invited us to take a few laps aroung there “layout”. So all those interested got to ride around for what seemed like hours behind some sort of track / balast cleaning machine. After that we were given a tour of the shop & stageing area where we got an up close look at several live steam engines includeing a beautifull SP Daylight painted GS4.
That was by far my most memorable birthday. I still stop by traveltown from time to time but it’s not quite th
…Another experience of mine at the age of 11, was boarding the train with other family members, at Johnstown, Pa. {Pennsylvania RR}, and heading for points east. At Harrisburg the K4 was removed and GG1’s installed and I can still remember the differences that made…First off, when the train started the power thrust us back into our seats and forged forward like they really meant business…! Later that day we detrained in the bowels of The Late And Great Pennsylvania Station…In NYC. The station was a sea of people and the largest American Flag was hanging from the massively high ceiling in the station…What a sight. Still later we boarded a Long Island RR train and headed for about half way out on the Island…Patchough, arriving about 10 PM…What a day for me…through the eyes of an 11 year old.
When I was little I remember SP use to run on the BN KC-Chicago and they would park there trains at Belemont because of lack of yard space those were fun to see with all the rainbow of colors they would have, BN use to run some very interasting Power concests I rememeber one that stands out 1 SD40-2, 1 GP9B and 1 SW1 and riding my 1st Amtrak trip at Age 4 between Chcicago-Milwaukee I have a lot more but can’t think of them right now.