Railroaders' Nostalgia > Do you believe in the train fairy?

This isn't particularly nostalgia, happening just a few weeks ago. But, there's no photos here, just a short story, so here goes.

My son, daughter-in-law and 3-1/2 year-old granddaughter live in Eugene, OR not far from the north end of the yards there. On their daily travels they frequently drive along Northwest Expressway, on the east side of the Eugene Yards.

Recently on a Saturday, I got a call from my son who put my granddaughter on the phone. They had been out and had seen a train, and she noticed that the engines were dirty (what a surprise). She knows I work for the big yellow railroad although she doesn't really have any understanding what I do there. Certainly nothing to do with the maintenance of the locomotives. Nevertheless, she insisted on calling grandpa, and started telling me, "The engines were dirty. They need to be washed". She wanted me to do something about it. So I simply said I'd tell them to wash the engines, and thanked her for calling me.

The very next day, I was surprised to received another call from my son. Seems they were out that day, and had seen another train, this time one with either brand-new or very clean engines. My granddaughter got real excited, and insisted on calling me again. She told my son, "Grandpa remembered! He remembered to tell them to wash the engine!" So she conveyed that message to me, and I again thanked her for watching the trains and telling me about the clean engine.

Of course, I had absolutely nothing to do with any of the situation that transpired. But for a 3-1/2 year-old, there must be a train fairy.

MAB

Great story, Mark! Appreciate you taking care of keepin' those locos clean. The Train Fairy Network thanks and honors you.

And now that spring has sprung and that horrible winter has ended (we all hope!), we need to think about getting together again. Stories like these and more to tell, and other things to see and do...

MC
Columbia, Missouri

Cleanliness; even young children notice.
Howzabout the execs?
...Lorenzo

Another 3 1/2 year old story:

daughter: "How did we get or house?"

dad: "Mom and I bought it."

daughter: "Was it heavy?"

parents: ROTFL

567Chant Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Cleanliness; even young children notice.
> Howzabout the execs?
> ...Lorenzo

They'd only look at the cost of the soap and water
on an invoice and decide it was not cost effective!!

Except of course for the locomotives powering the Executive
Train they will be riding on!!

Mike



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/13/14 17:47 by 2720.

That is a real cute story. I'm glad my kids have never said something like that to me. Where I work, train and enginemen, while working as hostlers, wash all of our locomotives by hand. If my kid asked me to do something about a dirty engine, I'd literally have to take the matter into my own hands, or ask one of my brothers to get out the hose and scrub brush!

Reminds me of the time (and this is definitely in the Nostalgia category, being in the mid-1960s) that I was driving through Arcadia CA (east of Pasadena) with my daughters. The 2nd District Local was working the team track and the Arcadia building materials spur, and my younger daughter (who was around 6 or 7 years old at the time), said, "Look Daddy! There's a train! And it's switching!"