Eastern Railroad Discussion > Your Favorite memory??

We all have great memories of trains, and it always seems interesting to take a trip down memory lane. How many of us have a special memory that shaped what kind of fan we became? How often do we do it though? Probably a lot more than we realize. Railfans, by their nature are reminiscent animals. So whats your favorite short railroad memory? I’ll share mine if you share yours…

Being only 24, I can remember much of my childhood, and, most of what I saw then is still here today, or recently vanished. But one of the most vivid memories I have, which has made me the type of railfan I am today, was an introduction to mountain railroading. We used to go camping in a hilly campground 24 miles south of Buffalo, NY. The narrow valley we would drive down to reach it paralleled the Buffalo Rochester & Pittsburgh (then Chessie System and the new Regional Buffalo & Pittsburgh). The valley was usually at most a mile wide and at least a half mile deep, making it a long echo chamber.

I remember sitting at the campfires around midnight on the hilltop above the railroad, listening to the southbound freights just struggling to climb out of Buffalo. Most of the units were the throaty thundering GP40s and GP40-2s, and the occasional GP38s and GP9s. The staccato roar would reverberate, filling the valley, along with the Leslie 3 and 5-chimes, sometimes failing slightly as the chimes gasped for air. The echoes would last seconds, and the acoustics of the entire event was enough to stand your hair on end.

The high perch on the hilltop, and the relatively low speed limits (30mph) allowed for a show at least 20 minutes long. Since the railroad had a bunch of undulations along the valley and a number of speed restrictions and curves, the engineer was always busy on the throttle, never staying in any one notch for more than a few minutes. The constantly changing pitch of the working diesels was enough to REALLY hook me to that line, as it has remained my favorite ever since, and has given me a passion for true mountain railroading…

My favorite memory would have to be seeing:
I remember seeing 2 freshly painted Chessie GP40's working the Muncie Local on the Old C&O of Indiana, watching them clear the mainline.
Also, watching heavy Chessie coal drags pound their way through the river grade around Jonesboro, Indiana (just south of Marion,Indiana).

Those were the days.

---

1. The sound of a helper set of 4 SD-35s starting a
northbound coal train at Smithfield, PA. (Made the
ground shake under your feet).
2. Looking down the mountainside from a locomotive cab
on 17-Mile grade between Cumberland and Grafton at
a herd of deer that looked only a few inches tall
at that distance.
3. Four movements passing the window at QN Tower in DC
at the same time.

Back in the late 60's, my family (my father was in the military) would take an annual Summer vacation to Indiana to visit the relatives. My grandmother lived in Wolcottville. Wolcottvile had a working interlocking with semaphores on all quadrants, working derails and large "armstrong levers" in the tower. It was a former brick Wabash tower much like the one at Milan, Michigan. Years before, when the local "union depot" was torn down, the operators put the familiar PRR signboard from the depot on the tower. (Seeing photos of this, fans will, to this day, argue with me that it was a Pennsy tower!)

Penn Central's "GR&I" and N&W's Gary District crossed here. Penn Central ran about six freights a day between Grand Rapids, Michigan and Fort Wayne, Indiana. And the N&W's former Wabash 4th District ran between Chicago and Montpelier, Ohio with an equal amount of freights and an occasional extra to the local gravel pit. N&W still hustled auto parts and automobiles between Detroit and Chicago. I remember seeing auto hi-cubes and racks rock and roll on the weary GR&I too.
Of course, both roads still ran cabooses as God had intended. The PC's were the old Pennsy cabins or NYC baywindows and the N&W ran the old Wabash cabooses. (I particulary liked the former Wabash steamlined cars.)

I was mesmorized with the Grand Rapids line because it was heavily populated with "covered wagons", as the railroaders called them. Most were former Pennsylvania FP-7's, some still wearing the PRR logo. Even then you could still see pure three unit lash-ups with two FP-7A's and an F-7B. GR-1 and GR-2 would usually rate a GP-9 or two.

My father introduced me to one of the operators, and I would occasionaly visit and sit and chat with them. I was about all of 12 years old then. They were friendly and honored the age old tradition of teaching a "potential railroader". I was even allowed to throw the levers on occasion. I would also observe the copying of train orders and hear the chatter on the radio. It was fun to watch the operator "line up the plant", see the semaphore blade move to the green aspect and then hear the buzzer and see the lights on the panel announce an approaching train. Another ritual was following the operator outside to watch him hand up "flimsies" and do the "roll-by inspection". (To this day when I hear a trains thud accross the frogs of a diamond, it brings back memories.) Occasionaly, I would be given an out-of-date timetable or train order to take home with me.

One night stands out in my memory the most. I had learned earler that
evening that there would be a meet with a northbound and southbound. The meet didn't occur until about 10:00 that night, but I received the OK from my dad to go down to the tower and watch. The northbound freight took the siding south of the tower. He was blocking a road crossing to the south, so received permission from the operator to pull his train around the southeast wye to clear the crossing. It wasn't long and I heard the southbound train horn off in the distance. Soon he roared through the interlocking doing about 45 mph. I saw the whole show from within the tower! I remember seeing the southbound's headlight shining on the curve north of tower. Both trains were powered by my beloved cover wagons.

About 1971 or 1972 we moved to an old farm house several miles out of town, my father doing his second tour in Vietnam. I would occcasionly peddle my bike into town to visit. But things changed quickly and within a few years, trains were run on an as needed basis and then later the line was abandoned. The Gary district faded too and the rail was pulled up in the mid 80's.

The Penn Central era was a sad time for many, but it was fascinating for me. Out on the mainline you never knew what could be powering the next train. Penn Central had quite a mix of first generation and second generation power of various builders. Poor finances and the inability to abandon branch lines provided some interesting perspectives to watch trains. Even though the paint scheme had changed, many locations had not changed for tweny years or more. As Jim Boyd (I beleive) once coined it, "the 70's time period was the twilight zone".

Fortunately, I photographed what I could with my meager funds and mode of transportation (including super 8 movies.) Unfortunately, my best negatives got away. I had sent them to PC Railroader magazine (later Rails Northeast). Bob Reid had stored them in his basement and reportedly when his basement was flooded, they were destroyed.

Oh those Summers in Indiana.

the most enjoyable events all involved making love in the sleeping car on the CB&Q's California Zephyr or during a four day round trip in a CN Sleeping car from Winnipeg to Churchill and return.

In the late 40's and early 50's I would go to bed to the sound of steam engines switching the freight house across the street in Peru, from that point on I was hooked. It was like a sweet song, oh to just hear that one more time, the picture of the triple header that ags posted really reminded me of that, that was also awesome, the three of those together and their distinctive whistles blowing and thundering by all of us standing there, "it just don't hardly get no better" than a bellowing steam engine. I shall jog those memories again in June when I stand in Cheyenne and 3985 powers up the hill heading east, thanks UP. Hope I can see her through the viewfinder, sometimes tears get in the way and it is hard to swallow because of the lump in my throat, ah life is good. Have a good and safe day.

Tough choice between my first train ride (in an Amtrak) or my first cab ride in an SCL GP9... think ill say the cab ride!!!

Boy, you and I must have been falling all over each other. I grew up in Marion, In in the late 60's and early-mid 70's. Left Indiana in '84 after graduating BSU. I used to set on my bike up by the Dana plant at Miller Ave. in Marion and watch the same C&O coal drags come up out of downtown Marion and throttle up heading west. I would ride my bike between the rights of way of the PC and C&O out the yard west of town. My Dad used to work in Gas City and I used to get over there alot and watch the C&O along with the PC and later Conrail.

Pretty sad, it's pretty much all gone. Track all gone west of Marion on the old Conrail and the C&O is only down to Santa Fe for RailAmerica grain runs that cut over to Kokomo thru Swayzee and Greentown.

I miss those day's more and more every day.

JHerman
Grapevine, Tx.

I'd have to say mine would be my first cab ride. Got to ride in CSX GP40-2 6496 while the local switched around in Albertville back in the summer or 1991.

Britt Johnson
NS AGS Page
www.geocities.com/starfighter104bj/

Watching the Daylight engine (SP #4449) run through a town that I lived near in Texas. The year was 1984 and the engine and train were coming back from the New Orleans Worlds Fair. I was 4 years old.
Also, chasing UP #844(4) and train 30 miles from Marlin (where I lived) to Waco, Texas. I think it was the same year.

One that will always stick out in my mind...

It was early June, of 1996. I had just graduated from High School a week earlier, and my family and I were on a vacation. This memory pretty much starts with me standing in Union Station, Chicago, on the passenger platform. Everyone else waiting to depart was in the passenger lounge, or the waiting area. I remember that PF40 roaring out from the darkness of the tunnel as if it was yesterday, almost, and rumbling past me before slowing and stopping. That was "my" train.

We took that train (The Empire Builder) first class from Chicago all the way to Glacier Nat. Park, Montana. I remember pulling out of Chicago. I remember the train's two locos breaking down in the middle of nowhere, North Dakota, and a BN SD40-2 being pulled off a nearby freight to take the train the rest of the way.

I remember that week, walking out to the Amtrak depot in the evenings and watching gigantic 7 or 8 loco (plus 2 or 3 helpers on the end) stack trains of solid BN SD40-2 power... come barelling out of the Rocky mountains, the wave of air in front of them almost knocking me off my feet, or the same trains headed into the mountains with turbochargers humming at full power... trying to build up good momentum to get them up the steep grade going into the pass and over the continental divide.

Five years later, it still sends chills down my body to recall those experiences.

-Eric Shock

P.S. And I can't help but wonder how well Microsoft is going to reproduce that same experience for their train simulator that's coming out next month.

Two years ago while in Boca Raton FL, pacing 2 FEC GP9s pulling away from a stop after a meet with a south bound. It was a local pulling a gravel train. If only I had the DAT recorder that night!

I was fortunate enough to be in the Horseshoe Curve area just after the formation of Conrail. In addition to the already heavy traffic on that line, they dumped all of the Erie Lackawanna traffic onto the same line, and all the merger power got mixed in. My favorite spot was just below Benny (Bennington) interlocking, where I could see both uphill postion light signals. There was almost no time when either a train was not passing, or coming up (or down) the hill, with the uphills in run 8 with helpers, and downhills in full dynamics. There was still a four track main at that point, and it was not unusual to see two or even three trains going by at once. I heard later than the traffic count was 100-120 a day, not including light helper movements.
I guess the Nebraska UP line has the same density now, but a flat railroad is no comparison to the show on a mountain line.

Favorite memory Eh?

There's so many good ones but here's a couple that really stand out in my head.

Early May 1992. I'm a senior in college at the University of Missouri - Rolla in, of course, Rolla. I'm living in an off campus house with a couple other guys. It's the first day of Finals and I have a History Final that afternoon. It's about 9am and I'm half awake in bed wondering if I should get up. Then I hear a deep low whistle off in the distance. I thought I was dreaming. I heard it again, closer this time. I sprang out of bed and ran out into the street with my bathrobe on. About a block west was the BN (former Frisco) grade crossing of 12th st. I arrived in the middle of the street just in time to see SLSF 1522 thunder by on an unannounced break in trip west. I quickly got dressed and jumped in the car to head to Newburg where they would service the engine. I spent the rest of the morning chasing the train and made it back in plenty of time for the Final Exam. (Aced it too.)

I must have been about 3 or 4 but can vaguely remember pacing EJ&E centercabs at dusk out north of Joliet, Il.

Was a bit older (5?) but vividly remember watching the National Limited blast through Collinsville, Il behind big black E-units. Must have been about 1974.

Cab rides in an F-3 (GM&O 880B) on "the Plug" commuter train out of Chicago and in a GM&O GP-30 in Venice (IL) Yard also rank up there. I was really pretty little for both of those.

Finally, although it seems so pedrestrian, my first ride on the NEC in the summer of 1995 was a meorable expreience. To do 120 mph across central New Jersey was soemthing else.

Mine is of a "fan trip" in the fall of 1964 behind CB&Q 5632 from Chicago to West Burlington Iowa. On the way west we timed ourselves at 48 seconds per mile (75 mph). Coming back we knew we were going faster, but it was dark and we couldn't see the mileposts. We did wait in Galesburg IL until the California Zepher passed, then we followed it to Aurora and pulled into the depot next to it, so we knew we had been really moving!

My favorite memory has to be a short trip with my dad on the North Shore Line Interurban, from Waukegan to Milwaukee and back, in late 1962, just prior to abandonment. I was very young but remember every detail, from the "Silverliner" sitting on the siding at Edison Court, the quiet, smooth Electroliner we took up to Milwaukee, which included a breakfast in the cafe-lounge, to the trip home on a rattling, loud, high speed and quite impressive 700-series car on the way back. While I've traveled many trains since then, that brief trip left the greatest impression. A few months later we rode up to the Highwood shops and saw almost every piece of equipment stored, waiting (for the most part) for to be burned and torched. It is good to know that several of these cars still operate every weekend at the Illinois Railroad Museum. I wish I knew which of the two Electroliners I rode, but I have to guess it was the one sitting at Union.

Living in a small town on the Western maryland's Hanover subdivision in the early fifties...what may have been the last steam helper on an eastbound train one cold clear Sunday morning...the last day of school in June 1953 was also the last day of steam on the subdivision; an "800" H9 Consolidation on a work train eastbound...the traveling switcher of an afternoon with a Baldwin AS16 switching the feed mills in town then turning the train at the short passing track and heading back west. The Conductor giving the highball from the caboose with a rolled up newspaper.

Taking the last train from Akron Ohio to Pittsburg Pa in I believe 1971 before Amtrak. The train was called the "Akronite". I know it was the last run because our return trip to Akron had to be via"greyhound" bus.

Almost two years ago, I embarked on a journey that would take me from Lancaster, South Carolina to Colorado Springs to meet some friends. I made it to Memphis as fast as I could because I wanted to do some railfanning there. I ened up getting lost as soon as I could and staying that way. It was midnight, I was tired as heck. I had lost my map and I was not in the best section of town, certainly not where I felt compfortable showing out of state tags asking for directions.

Somehow I found myself in Arkansas and got a room at a crappy Super 8. The next morning I told myself to get up and keep on the Interstate. Instead, I decided to give Memphis another shot. Since I'm a guy and I never learn, I decided I didn't need to buy a new map and went back across the bridge in search of tracks.

Somehow, I missed them as I went across 40 and not 55. I'm still not sure how this happened truth be known. The BNSF goes under 40 in plain sight and across the river are the IC tracks.

Long story short.... got lost again in morning traffic. By 10, I had had it! I got on 40 and decided to head for my next stop, Kansas City, ASAP.

And then it happened.... looked to my right and saw a train with a lot of Santa Fe box cars. I took the nearest exit and backtracked. The train was stopped on the BNSF main near Harvard Yard, having suffered a broken coupler at some point in the consist.

Found the front end and what I found is below.

Interesting that my first BNSF train didn't have any Heritage on it and no red and silver either. That would come soon enough, as trains were lining up on near sidings and double track in Marion and Turell. Now that I had "found" the track, it kept me busy for a few days until I had to drag myself away. Friends were waiting on me in Colorado.

A few months later, I moved out to Memphis. I did come back to Carolina when my dad's condition worsened. Not a day goes by, though, that I don't think about Memphis.


Joe H.

---