The sound of a train at night has always been music to me.
Train Watching
- Thread starter Gardo
- Start date
haggardfan1
Poster Extraordinaire
Counting rail cars is something I apparently inherited from my paternal grandmother.
Granny loved doing that, and trying to determine what state the cars might been from. I miss her today, and I always will.
Come to think of it, I've lived near railroad tracks almost all my life; once within a couple of blocks. I don't mind it. Right now I'm about a half mile from the tracks, and I love the sounds.
Granny loved doing that, and trying to determine what state the cars might been from. I miss her today, and I always will.
Come to think of it, I've lived near railroad tracks almost all my life; once within a couple of blocks. I don't mind it. Right now I'm about a half mile from the tracks, and I love the sounds.
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This is a great run:
From Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, 114 miles northward above Lake Superior. Just beautiful.
https://www.algomacountry.com/touring/rail-excursions/
From Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, 114 miles northward above Lake Superior. Just beautiful.
https://www.algomacountry.com/touring/rail-excursions/
I feel a rail vacation coming on.
TheCheapGuitarist
Tele-Afflicted
I've had a train fetish since I was around 10 when we moved to a town in CA where the Southern Pacific gray and red locomotives pulled trains through all day long.
Twice in my life I've lived within rock throwing distance of a railroad track. After the first few weeks you don't even hear them anymore. I took an overnight sleeper train from Leningrad (as it was called then) to Moscow many years ago. It was a blast and very soothing to sleep. The clickety clack was like a lullaby.
Bob Womack
Friend of Leo's
I grew up about a half mile from the mainline of the Southern Railway, outside Knoxville, TN. Three miles up the road, a spur of the L&N crossed over Kingston Pike. Let's just say I had trains crawling by in the background the entire time I was growing up. The Southern was the first to convert to diesel-electric back in the 40s, and they brought in the leader of the Marine Band to help them choose a euphonic set of horns for the new technology trains. That, and the sound of the diesel growling as they pulled the long trains up the grade heading west out of Knoxville are what I heard all night long if I went out on the front porch.
When I was five years old, the L&N had just restored The General, a 4-4-0 steam locomotive from the great locomotive chase in the Civil War. As it was making its way from Louisville back to Knoxville, it stopped in every major station to allow L&N workers to take excursions. My father heard it was coming so we went down to the L&N station and watched it come and go all day. On the last run, the conductor, who had seen us watching all day, waved us onboard. The General only ran for a few years before being placed in a museum, so I may be the only person you know who rode behind it.
And then there is the local hero. I moved to Virginia, where a group of workers on the Norfolk & Western saved streamlined engine class j, number 611 from being scrapped. The class Js were the most efficient steam locomotives ever built. They hid 611 in the back of a shop in 1959 when the railway became the last in the country to convert to diesel-electric. Twenty years later, the Southern Railway's new CEO was taken for a tour of all the facilities of the line and discovered the hidden 611 lurking in the shop. Being a lover of steam, he decided to restore the engine and allow it to be an ambassador for the company. When they started running excursions, I took my boys out and chased it. What a blast!
There's a spur near my home where a small line grinds away, pulling small trains out to the outer banks of North Carolina on the eastern spur of the OLD, small Norfolk Southern Railway, which was acquired by the Southern just before it was acquired and merged with the N&W to become the NEW Norfolk Southern. Talk about irony! I hear their horns a couple of times a day as they approach an at-grade crossing south of me.
Bob
When I was five years old, the L&N had just restored The General, a 4-4-0 steam locomotive from the great locomotive chase in the Civil War. As it was making its way from Louisville back to Knoxville, it stopped in every major station to allow L&N workers to take excursions. My father heard it was coming so we went down to the L&N station and watched it come and go all day. On the last run, the conductor, who had seen us watching all day, waved us onboard. The General only ran for a few years before being placed in a museum, so I may be the only person you know who rode behind it.
And then there is the local hero. I moved to Virginia, where a group of workers on the Norfolk & Western saved streamlined engine class j, number 611 from being scrapped. The class Js were the most efficient steam locomotives ever built. They hid 611 in the back of a shop in 1959 when the railway became the last in the country to convert to diesel-electric. Twenty years later, the Southern Railway's new CEO was taken for a tour of all the facilities of the line and discovered the hidden 611 lurking in the shop. Being a lover of steam, he decided to restore the engine and allow it to be an ambassador for the company. When they started running excursions, I took my boys out and chased it. What a blast!
There's a spur near my home where a small line grinds away, pulling small trains out to the outer banks of North Carolina on the eastern spur of the OLD, small Norfolk Southern Railway, which was acquired by the Southern just before it was acquired and merged with the N&W to become the NEW Norfolk Southern. Talk about irony! I hear their horns a couple of times a day as they approach an at-grade crossing south of me.
Bob
In 2004 we took a sleeper train from Shanghai to Beijing. Unlike you I couldn’t sleep, I spent the night looking out the window while the family slept around me.
How could I sleep with so many exciting things to see. It was my first time in China and I wanted to drink In every moment
For all the train fans, if you make it to eastern PA sometime, both the Strasburg Railroad museum near Lancaster and Steamtown national historic site in Scranton are worth a visit. Strasburg has an amazing collection of trains with scenic rides all day thorough PA Deutsch countryside, and Steamtown has one of the last functioning turntables in the country. Both make for enjoyable day trips.
Those are some wonderful stories. Obviously I have never ridden behind the General but believe it or not there is an amazing private property near us called Stone Gable Estates that has its own short line railroad . They often host public events and we did ride behind this locomotiveI grew up about a half mile from the mainline of the Southern Railway, outside Knoxville, TN. Three miles up the road, a spur of the L&N crossed over Kingston Pike. Let's just say I had trains crawling by in the background the entire time I was growing up. The Southern was the first to convert to diesel-electric back in the 40s, and they brought in the leader of the Marine Band to help them choose a euphonic set of horns for the new technology trains. That, and the sound of the diesel growling as they pulled the long trains up the grade heading west out of Knoxville are what I heard all night long if I went out on the front porch.
When I was five years old, the L&N had just restored The General, a 4-4-0 steam locomotive from the great locomotive chase in the Civil War. As it was making its way from Louisville back to Knoxville, it stopped in every major station to allow L&N workers to take excursions. My father heard it was coming so we went down to the L&N station and watched it come and go all day. On the last run, the conductor, who had seen us watching all day, waved us onboard. The General only ran for a few years before being placed in a museum, so I may be the only person you know who rode behind it.
And then there is the local hero. I moved to Virginia, where a group of workers on the Norfolk & Western saved streamlined engine class j, number 611 from being scrapped. The class Js were the most efficient steam locomotives ever built. They hid 611 in the back of a shop in 1959 when the railway became the last in the country to convert to diesel-electric. Twenty years later, the Southern Railway's new CEO was taken for a tour of all the facilities of the line and discovered the hidden 611 lurking in the shop. Being a lover of steam, he decided to restore the engine and allow it to be an ambassador for the company. When they started running excursions, I took my boys out and chased it. What a blast!
There's a spur near my home where a small line grinds away, pulling small trains out to the outer banks of North Carolina on the eastern spur of the OLD, small Norfolk Southern Railway, which was acquired by the Southern just before it was acquired and merged with the N&W to become the NEW Norfolk Southern. Talk about irony! I hear their horns a couple of times a day as they approach an at-grade crossing south of me.
Bob
In the other direction we have the Strasburg Railroad that offers daily steam excursions. Directly across the street from them is the Pennsylvania State Railroad Museum which of course is a fantastic place.
You really should come visit
Gary
Wallo Tweed
Friend of Leo's
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Twofingerlou
Tele-Holic
There’s a guy on YouTube with the handle Hobo shoestring or something like that. He hood trains and rides them all over the country. Pretty wild how he knows where they’re going ect.
I once lived across the road from some tracks. I mentioned to my mom that I have tuned them out and can now sleep through when they pass. She freaked out and insisted I move "because tornados sound like trains and I will not wake up in time". I still sleep through storms.
Mom’s always worry but this is a whole new level of concern
buster poser
Poster Extraordinaire
Love steam engines and railway museums. Great ones in Sacramento and Baltimore. We're gonna get up to this in May, I'm doing the full Parlor car experience.
Rustbucket
Poster Extraordinaire
I’ve spent 18 years in the rail construction industry, mostly urban transit, but some freight rail work as well. The novelty of seeing trains is long gone, but I do enjoy taking scenic rides from time to time. My wife and I had a great time riding the Durango-Silverton Narrow Gauge route last August. There are a few routes on my bucket list: Alaska, Copper Canyon, Canadian Rockies.
MTPoteet
Tele-Holic
"You've taken the time, from your busy day, to sit by the tracks and watch the trains roll away" Tommy Bolin
Pr
Probably a funeral train
Quite possibly or maybe they were being repainted for the new Penn Central
