My Favorite Things

Autumn & Trains

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I Heart Trains

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Train Love

Up really close and really personal with my neighbor, the Canadian National Railway.  Oftentimes—like Saturday afternoon when this photo was taken—the magnificent iron horses have to pull up and wait (for other train traffic???) so will sit patiently on either side of Norell Avenue, oftentimes, for hours.  Because of the trees, traffic approaching from the south will not notice the HUGE diesel engine until they actually cross the tracks,  I have a sneaking suspicion more than one driver has been a bit startled to suddenly see this behemoth just a few feet from their car door. "WHOOOOOOAAAAA!"

 

Train Spotting

I LOVE trains.  My neighbor to the north is the Canadian National Railway and still, after all these years, I get excited when I hear that far off whistle and feel the powerful rumbling.  

When my family first moved here in 1969, at the first sound of a diesel engine we would stop what we  were doing and run for the tracks.  At that time it was the Soo Line Railway and they had the friendliest engineers who would always reward our efforts with a toot on the horn.  The conductor on the caboose would follow with a wave and salute. 

 

Once each year we were treated to something extraordinary.  A group of retired railroad employees had purchased an old steam engine and restored it, along with several vintage passenger cars.  Their annual outing consisted of a run right past Bon Bon Pond.   The sights and sounds of a steamer are beyond words and something everyone should experience.

Today, the wonderful Soo has sold out, the cabooses-with their conductors-are gone, and the Canadians aren’t nearly as neighborly, but it’s still a thrill to watch these magnificent monoliths, mementos of the day when the American West was wild and rail was king.