MORE TRAINS

The Kansas City Southern RR ran through a cut just west of our house when I was a kid. We played on that timber trestle while chuffing steam engines pulled their freight trains underneath. I wanted to ride a train and I finally did but by that time they had replaced the steamers with diesel engines. The diesel horns were louder but it was just a single note blast. The old steamers could waggle the whistle rope and get a tone that was musical, with a Whooo, Woo-uuu-oooo sound that no kid could resist. Now, when you get the time and the money together you can buy a ticket on one of many Steam Excursions. Last Sunday we pulled out of the station in Chattanooga, Tennessee at 9:00 in the morning, gone all day and back by 6:00 p.m. The Tennessee Valley Railroad Museum has two operating, coal burning 4-8-4 engines and they double them up in tandem four times a year. Yesterday was one of those days. From our perch in a pullman window, we saw railroad buffs lined up at nearly every crossing guard, filming the tandem performance.  Of course both engineers were hanging on their whistle ropes. 

Meals in the dining car were served with traditional formality, all crystal and china. Coffee cups were tiny but white coated waiters were always there with a refill. In Summerville, Georgia they had to turn the engines around (one at a time) on a big turn-table and hook up to the opposite end of the train for the return trip. Midway back, we stopped at a convenient crossing and off-loaded everyone who wanted an action photo of the tandem hookup. The train backed up a quarter of a mile into the woods and then gave us a full steam drive-by. Thousands of shutter clicks and go-pro videos rolled. They stopped, we boarded again and it was up the road, headed back to the barn. Between cars you could hang out the half-door and take photos as opportunities allowed. You learn fast the difference between steam swirling back and down, and coal smoke, full of ash and cinders. I’m still working ashes out of my eyes. 

There are plenty of train songs; yesterday it was Steve Goodman’s ‘City Of New Orleans’ - Willie recorded it. I kept mouthing the words as we rumbled along, one particular line; “Rocking to the gentle beat, and the rhythm of the rail is all they feel.” The rails south of Chattanooga make for a bouncy ride and our top end was maybe, 30 mph. The narrow gage train from Durango, Colorado to Silverton is another steam excursion on my Bucket list. It runs up the Animas River canyon where the views are spectacular, any time of year. So I work at staying healthy, save some dollars and it’s not if, but when. OMG - this is so much better than anything I would have been doing at home.