Mini Vacation

I have always enjoyed trains from the Lionel 0.27 gage to the powerful locomotives that plied the rails near my home. Many summer nights, the wail of a distant passing train would slip through our upstairs bedroom window carried by a breeze. It seemed to be a combination of sad feelings and a yet it was a yearning call. I would lie awake wondering where its destination would be and what it was carrying. My first encounter with the true to life train was in first grade on a field trip. We boarded a school bus riding it until we boarded the train at the B & O station in Connellsville, Pennsylvania. I thought that I was on the top of the world as we chugged through the hills and valleys until we reached Ohiopyle, Pennsylvania where we clambered back onto the school bus and were driven back to the classroom. I can remember it felt so exciting.

The next encounter that I had with the trains was at the old swimming hole in Indian Creek. It was a loose rock dammed secluded section of the stream, just to one side of a make-shift softball field. After a game, we’d be hot and sweaty. The water would call and we’d head for the shadow covered creek to skinny dip. There were times we would have to head for the deep water, up tour chins and wave as a train would rumble by on the high bank.

While I was stationed in the Great Lakes Naval Training Center for Corps School, I’d catch the train to visit my Aunt Cora and her family in Sheridan, Illinois. I would have to rush from one train station in Chicago several blocks to another station to catch the correct train in about 15 minutes. I always made it, but there was sometimes a feeling of almost panic until boarded the second train.

My last encounter with trains was on my mini-vacation to Romney, West Virginia. A friend and I made reservations to ride in the club car to Petersburg. While waiting to board the train, I met one engineer, Jess. He was stoic until we chatted and I got him to smile.

I’d read about people riding in club cars and always wondered what it would be like. In the books, it was always the rich and famous who traveled that way, but there was quite a mixture of folk in the two club cars. I had a great meal, met a lot of great people, and it eliminated one item off my bucket list.