http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KXDKrEnmT3c
Mike
That was great Makes me wish that my own kids were that interested in my job and hobby Larry
Larry sometimes its hit and miss. I am lucky mine love my job. I have two girls whoknow quite a bit about railroading lol.
It was an awesome video you have there Mr fifer.
Thanks so much guys , I just love those little guys.
What ever they like , have fun dong it!
Mike
As a child - up to school leaving age - a line of the Great Western Railway ran on a low embankment at the bottom of our back yard. This was in open countryside near the perimeter of a large city in central England. Central England was the hub of the UK industry at that time.
I recall coal trains, oil tank trains, trains with tanks and vehicles during WW2 and so on. There were also lease/lend S.160 USATC locos some of which ran briefly in the UK before going to mainland Europe. The GWR had 174 for a while and they did look strange compared with the taper boilered GWR locos. There was always excitement when one of these locos appeared with a heavy freight. It was a important and busy line linking the north and midlands with the ports of the south and south west of the UK and coalfields and steel plants of South Wales . There was also a frequent passenger service (before the days when people became commuters) [swg].
If one train stands out it would be the Royal Train which passed by during the Festival of Britain in 1951. I had not seen this train before, as far as I knew, so it was a big highlight. I made two short flag staffs; one had our national Union Flag and the other the Festival of Britain emblem which I made using part of a cotton sheet and black ink. (Not sure whether the linen was missed [:O]).
I have always wondered if the Royal Family saw me and my flags. The late King George VI and Queen Elizabeth (his wife) plus the two princesses (Elizabeth - now Queen Elizabeth II, and Margaret) were also on the train.
Alan thanks so much for sharing that great story. Those are the type of ideas that I would like to instill in my grandkids as well.
I’m glad you have those kind of childhood memories!
Thanks, Mike
Many thanks Mike for your most kind comments. I am never sure how UK posts translate Stateside but, when all is said and done, we are railfans wherever we are in the world.
I have grandchildren, one of whom lives in the Far East. There are NO trains at all on his island. When he visited the UK last year, at the age of 8, he really loved and was quite excited when he visited the local Heritage Steam Railway on which I am a volunteer. He was also awestruck on being presented to Santa Claus - but that’s another story. [(-D]
One thing that I have realized in reading some of the wonderful Kalbach magazines and some recent tv programmes about WW2 is that contrary to what was generally believed in the UK about the USA was that you had just as much ‘hard times’ as over here - just no bombing!
I guess steam locos lasted that bit longer Stateside as they did over here due to other industrial needs during WW2.
I really never thought about that.
Mike
I really never thought about that.
Mike
Oh Man!, do I ever like that video. Growing up until age 11 in CPR stations, I got to watch switching moves from the platform that would be as close as that nearest track is to the two boys. I have no idea how many moves like that I have seen.
When my brother and me were that age (he was three years younger) we had to stay on the platform so all concerned knew where we were. But as we got older we would go south from the station at Irricana, AB to the foundations of the old water tank. It was situated on the main track just north of the switch leading into the siding and the back track for the two elevators. There I learned about sorting of cars and switching moves including kicking cars through the switches. They did that so that in the final push south down the backtrack the cars were in the right order for the two elevators.
One string of cars would be spotted with the cars stretching out to the south (uphill side) with the northernmost car spotted at the south elevator chute. They would cut the cars there and move forward about a car length and then spot the rest of the cars with the northernmost car again spotted at the north elevator. The two elevator operators would then cooperate and load cars at the same time so that the cars loaded at the south elevator would move north and fill the space vacated by the empty cars waiting to be filled at the north elevator. The south elevator was owned by the Alberta Wheat Pool and the north elevator was owned by the Alberta Pacific Grain Co.
Even though the operators and the their helpers worked for different companies they all helped out when it came time to coast the now loaded cars away from the chutes and use their weight and the grade to pull the next empty cars into position.
That is a nice, mundane but heartwarming video. Reminds me of Nora’s kids, and young Matt, not too many years ago. I think they all still like trains (Matt sure does), but they’re growing up fast!
Around here, there’s no place where switching moves like this could be counted on. But I’m hoping that this is the year that I can take my grandchildren (5, 3, and 1) to watch trains with me. They all seem to be somewhat interested in trains. The oldest (a girl) has asked some pointed questions about trains, the middle one says that trains are her “favorites”, and if you say the word “train” in front of the little guy, he starts looking around for one! Their mother watched trains from Daddy’s shoulders very often, but with school came a lack of time, as well as other interests and obligations.
Thanks you guys, we sure have a lot of fun when we go down to the depot in what trains. Robin generally takes him down there once a week and they have a blast. They go inside the depot and usually play with a wooden train set for about an hour then they come home and play with their own trains the rest of the day and watch training videos.
Mike