The subject speaks for itself! [swg]
mine is either seeing up844 or my first ride on the Heartland Flyer.
Mine would be all those trips riding behind 844 and 3985.
My favorite train memory is when. I got to move an amtrak train up to the loading track from the staging area at the milwaukee amtrak station. I got to ring the bell and blow the horn. My other memory is when I got to see the Milwaukee Road 261 up close.
That would be so cool to blow a few crossings on an Amtrak train.
Hearing the air horns from an ICG “Paducah rebuild” through the open window of my bedroom, late on a summer night while I was growing up.
I would literally stay up some nights, lying in bed, waiting for that train to go through. I lived about 3/4 of a mile or so north of the ICG main through Hillside. I could hear the horn faintly as the train approached York Rd in Elmhurst, and then, the rumble of the diesels. Depending on wind direction, they could be very loud. The train would sound it’s horn for Darmstadt/S. Railroad Ave, and then Wolf Rd, growing quieter as the train progressed east. When I sat awake, listening for the train, (It appeared, between 10:00 and 11:30pm most week nights) I would imagine the train roaring past the clubhouse my friend and I built along the tracks in the Abbey Paving scrap yard, it’s bright headlight casting shadows along the broken ground, I imagined the blinking crossing lights, and the signal at Wolf Rd dropping from green to red as the train tore eastward in a cloud of diesel smoke, sun dried grass, dust, and the occasional paper scrap trailing in the train’s wake, the blinking red light of the caboose gradually fading from view…
In addition, I could hear the sounds from CNW’s Proviso Yard about a mile to the north. Between the hum of the highways that were nearby (I-290 and I-294) I could hear the faint squeal of brakes, and the occasional dull thud of cars coupling together, and the rumble of a yard switcher moving cars, and behind that, the higher pitch of a locomotive winding up to take a train out.
Those were great years, back then… the ICG, and CNW, the sounds, and the memories.
Nowadays, I occasionally get woke up between 1 and 2 am, by a westbound BNSF freight pounding past the house.
When I was a student engineer 3 years ago I had a former NP GP9 in my consist. BNSF 1600 and it was the last active BN GP9. My engineer and I switched halfway every trip. After we switched I had to go back and listen to her bark as we tackled the 2% grade out of South Junction. A naturally aspirated 567 at run 8 is the best sounding diesel out there in my opinion. That same trip we rescued a couple of lost mountain bikers too. We gave them a ride to the next town with civilization. That was a pretty memorable experience.
So many to choose from.Just being with Matt and watching trains makes a great new memory everytime.
stay safe
joe
Watching trains in Folkston in the middle of the night.
As a kid in the 1940’s riding in the family Buick Century parallel to the GS&F (Southern) Valdosta - Palatka branch. Dad was driving about 60mph and I was keeping a lookout ahead hoping to see a train when I heard a chime whistle blow behind us. It was a mixed train, maybe 20 freight cars trailing a jim crow combine. It was headed by a spotless green and gold 4-6-0 with both GS&F under the cab window and Southern on the tender in sparkling gold letters. It must have been hitting 80 as it overtook and passed us with its black fireman grinning and waving from the cab as it whistled again for another grade crossing. It wasn’t long before the train was out of sight leaving only a trail of black smoke across the north Florida countryside. That was about 65 years ago and to this day I can close my eyes and picture it in my mind’s eye.
Mark
In the early '50s, the school district would give the first and second graders a field day. First, we toured the Merita Bakery. This was exciting because Merita sponsored the Lone Ranger on TV and we kept an eye open in case he or Tonto showed up. After that, we got to tour the ACL engine shops for a couple of hours and then took a ride south for about 20 miles or so in a nice coach car. I can still remember listening to the jointed rail clicking beneath the floor. I still remember that ride and the interior of the F7s we walked through like it was yesterday.
My favorite memory is getting to actually drive a train (under supervision of the engineer) without any experience. It was just a scenic railroad, but still, it was pulling three car loads of passengers with one grade crossing. It was sooo cool!!![:D][:D][:D][:D]
at age 15. conrail engineers blowing shave and a haircut and then 2 long 1 short 1 long and again shave and a haircut.
That would take me back to New Zealand in the early 1950’s when we returning back to Wellington by train from the Carterton A & P show over the Rimutaka incline. 5 Fell steam engines spread out through the train and ascending the 3 mile 7% grade at little more than walking pace. Not to mention the horrors of the Summit tunnel.
My mother, brother and I rode Amtrak between our hometown Charleston, SC and my mom’s hometown New York City at least two times a year throughout the 1970s. The trains left Charleston around 3am and I can remember being wide awake all night waiting to go to the station. After a long trip (probably longer for my mother [:)]), the train came into the NY area pre-dawn the following day. I remember so clearly to this day how my brother and I would be pressed to the window all through new Jersey waiting to see who would be the first to spot the lights of the twin towers at the World Trade Center. After 9/11 happened, we both recalled the same memories.
I have far too many to single one out among the rest.
I was like 10 maybe, I cant remember where it was but I was spending the summer at my grandparrents farm outside Evansville Indiana and they took me to some tourist RR that ran steam and I got to ride in the cab, was great they let me shovel some coal and blow the whistle [dinner]
Also various cab rides at IRM as a kid [:)]
One of the first things that comes to mind is in the mid-80’s when our neighbor’s son took my brother and I one summer evening over to Crestline, Ohio where we watched trains and then watched the eastbound Broadway Limited roll in for the station stop. If it was late, it was only by a few minutes. The train cruised in to a stop. A fuel truck pulled up along the locomotives to add diesel to the fuel tanks. The platform was actually fairly busy with a lot of people getting on and getting off. After a few minutes, the engineer gave a couple toots on the horn and accelerated out of town.
Kevin
…Perhaps it would be a trip on the Pennsy behind, first K-4s and then GG-1’s…and on to NYC and into Penn Station {1942}, and then on L I out to Patchouge, L I…and later return. The sights in Penn Station are very clear yet…War time traffic…Very busy…! Cathedral like setting…!
Like Joe and Jim, I have lots of good train memories. Every good day at work (and they outnumber the bad ones, thankfully) is a good memory. But I also have childhood memories, train-riding memories, railfanning memories, great visits to hot spots, the rare locomotive or freight car sighting, and the memories that now leave a bad taste in my mouth and nose.
To pick one of these literally thousands and call it a favorite would be like asking which of my kids is my favorite. Would you prefer the first cab ride, or a longer one, or one on a bigger locomotive, or one where you handled the controls? Would you prefer a mundane day at work where everything went smoothly, or one in which you came out smelling like a rose after having had to change your shorts?
I’ve had a good life, and it isn’t over yet!