I have a great fondness for trains. When my brother and I were little kids, we really enjoyed the grade crossing in Ottawa, Illinois where we would sometimes have to stop for a train. We would ask daddy all about it as it went by. The business where I pick up our appliance parts is the last one before the train tracks. There is still a grade crossing so when I am in the store, we get plenty of warning before the trains some by. In the late afternoon when I am there, we get not only freight trains, but the B&O commuter trains that run between Baltimore and Washington. Last week the manager's 8 year old son was there because of a teachers' workday or something and he and his dad were out watching the train go past. It is probably illegal in most places to watch a train from as close a distance as we can right there. One thing bothers me about the rails and ties. There is a place where the rail is not fastened down tightly to the tie. Everytime the front wheels on a car go over this, you can see the rail sink down to the tie and then spring back up until the rear wheels go over it. It makes a good bit of noise. I wonder if this is something that should be reported or if it is something that accommodates thermal expansion and contraction.
In western Maryland there are steam excursion trains. A Boston friend and I had reservations to go one year, but the drought was so bad that they were only taking the diesel-electric locomotives out and the main reason I wanted to go was the steam engine. I have some friends who are for trains like we are for appliances and they say that a steam locomotive comes as close to having life as any piece of machinery ever has or will.
In the late 40s, diesel-electric locomotives began replacing steam engines in most of the United States. Around 20 years ago, I was listening to a radio program on one of the local FM stations that actually had varied programs and they played an absolutely hauntingly beautiful recording. It was New Year's Eve, I believe they said, someplace in Alabama and a recording was being made of the organ in a church. The organist was playing Silent Night and off in the distance came the sound of an approaching steam locomotive. It got a little louder and then you heard the whistle at a crossing and the train continued its approach. It did not stop at the depot, but kept moving on its way and the sound gradually faded. It was recorded by pure chance and was the last steam locomotive to pass through the town.
