Eastern Railroad Discussion > Dixie and the Abrams Man

While walking Dixie the rescue beagle around the mean streets of Topton, PA this evening, we heard a westbound blowing for the crossing in Hancock about a mile east of town.

We walked over to the tracks and caught the H44 'Abrams Man' splitting Topton in two.

Enjoy!
Dan

PS: I may have missed them but the usual two westbound stacks (23G and 269) that roll through in the early evening haven't rolled through yet. Not sure if they're early or delayed in NJ.

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Nice to see Dixie and the train.

I still contend it is funny I live hard on the ex-Reading Main between Reading and Abrams and I don't believe I have ever caught the "Abrams Man" since it was an early afternoon turn.
Dixie is a cute pup but I vowed years ago I wouldn't have a pet in the house that may want to "Go Out" when I was sleeping. My long lost Father in Law dealt with the family's dog covering the late night, early morning dog needs while all the other family members who apparently wanted the dog slept soundly. It was a miserable, absolutelty nasty, pit bull that wouldn't even deal with us direct family members that didn't live in the house, including my children at the time. I just don't understand the need to keep an ugly, nasty pet but they did. Now as a senior citizen the last thing I need outside of an annoying prostate is a dog to further interrupt my already 2 hour snatches of sleep I manage.
 Thirty years ago I inherited a cat with a house I bought. Short story, the owners, 4 children and their pet cat moved to a new house across town (about a mile of busy streets and mainline and 2 branch line railroads). We moved into the house in July and just before Halloween this huge black cat showed up. It persisted to hang around our back porch. One night around December, it got extremely cold. My wife at the time thought we should let the cat into the house to stay warm. We did. 
From that day forward that cat allowed us to occupy it's house. We named it "Fatso' as it's belly hung down a bit. Figured it was a fat mom cat.
 If there was ever a perfect cat, "Fatso" was it! No litter box, when it needed to "go" it rattled the kitchen doorknob. At 10:00 PM I shoved it outside. At 11:00 PM I whistled and Fatso would usually came running. Sometimes she was more interested in another creature outside and didn't come inside. Her choice.
 "She" tangled with a squirrel a couple times getting nasty infections. The Vet informed us that Fatso was in fact a male cat. The droopy stomach was from being "fixed'.
This co-habitation existed for 10 years until I divorced the first wife and sold Fatso's house. He was in good hands as I learned over the years he returned to the neighborhood as the several old Widows there were feeding him Tuna fish. We made him suffer though ten years of cat food, canned and dry. His original family decided he was best left in his' old neighborhood..
I'd love to have another "Fatso". However it will likely never happen again in my lifetime, cat or dog. Sigh!
We had pet Hermit Crabs that lived over ten years! Easy to care for, give them some food and they just make "Wibbles". No Poop, no litter box, Fatso never understood why Hermit Crabs would just keep coming toward him. He was Black, I'd guess they thought the dark was a safe place. When they would corner him he would jump back over them. Interesting as he was a black cat but his fur was white with black tips. I was told this was an Augophyle cat but Google doesn't reconize that definition. Recently a new breed has emerged with black fur and white tips! Go figure!
Enjoy Dixie, after 0ver 30 years I still miss Fatso!
Keep posting the Abrams Man, sooner or later I'll catch him!
Gonut

Vey nice, thanks for showing Dixie !

Gonut1 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I still contend it is funny I live hard on the
> ex-Reading Main between Reading and Abrams and I
> don't believe I have ever caught the "Abrams Man"
> since it was an early afternoon turn.
> Dixie is a cute pup but I vowed years ago I
> wouldn't have a pet in the house that may want to
> "Go Out" when I was sleeping. My long lost Father
> in Law dealt with the family's dog covering the
> late night, early morning dog needs while all the
> other family members who apparently wanted the dog
> slept soundly. It was a miserable, absolutelty
> nasty, pit bull that wouldn't even deal with us
> direct family members that didn't live in the
> house, including my children at the time. I just
> don't understand the need to keep an ugly, nasty
> pet but they did. Now as a senior citizen the last
> thing I need outside of an annoying prostate is a
> dog to further interrupt my already 2 hour
> snatches of sleep I manage.
>  Thirty years ago I inherited a cat with a house
> I bought. Short story, the owners, 4 children and
> their pet cat moved to a new house across town
> (about a mile of busy streets and mainline and 2
> branch line railroads). We moved into the house in
> July and just before Halloween this huge black cat
> showed up. It persisted to hang around our back
> porch. One night around December, it got extremely
> cold. My wife at the time thought we should let
> the cat into the house to stay warm. We did. 
> From that day forward that cat allowed us to
> occupy it's house. We named it "Fatso' as it's
> belly hung down a bit. Figured it was a fat mom
> cat.
>  If there was ever a perfect cat, "Fatso" was it!
> No litter box, when it needed to "go" it rattled
> the kitchen doorknob. At 10:00 PM I shoved it
> outside. At 11:00 PM I whistled and Fatso would
> usually came running. Sometimes she was more
> interested in another creature outside and didn't
> come inside. Her choice.
>  "She" tangled with a squirrel a couple times
> getting nasty infections. The Vet informed us that
> Fatso was in fact a male cat. The droopy stomach
> was from being "fixed'.
> This co-habitation existed for 10 years until I
> divorced the first wife and sold Fatso's house. He
> was in good hands as I learned over the years he
> returned to the neighborhood as the several old
> Widows there were feeding him Tuna fish. We made
> him suffer though ten years of cat food, canned
> and dry. His original family decided he was best
> left in his' old neighborhood..
> I'd love to have another "Fatso". However it will
> likely never happen again in my lifetime, cat or
> dog. Sigh!
> We had pet Hermit Crabs that lived over ten years!
> Easy to care for, give them some food and they
> just make "Wibbles". No Poop, no litter box, Fatso
> never understood why Hermit Crabs would just keep
> coming toward him. He was Black, I'd guess they
> thought the dark was a safe place. When they would
> corner him he would jump back over them.
> Interesting as he was a black cat but his fur was
> white with black tips. I was told this was an
> Augophyle cat but Google doesn't reconize that
> definition. Recently a new breed has emerged with
> black fur and white tips! Go figure!
> Enjoy Dixie, after 0ver 30 years I still miss
> Fatso!
> Keep posting the Abrams Man, sooner or later I'll
> catch him!
> Gonut

I havent seen H44 since he became a night run to abrams, when i did see him it was his old daytime schedule getting him to abrams around 10-11am. Thanks for the story about fatso

nick

Love the excellent clarity and resolution of this video . . . bet you have a good camera . . . thanks for sharing!



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/26/24 15:47 by eljay.

Go-Fatso sounds like a great pet!! How it showed up to your home reminds me of a cat that manifested out of nowhere at my grandmother’s house a year after my grandfather passed away. Pitch black, super sweet and very calm, you might say lazy. She named her “Kitty” and that cat outlived her!

Thanks for the compliments everyone!
Dan

Posted from iPhone