Trains At RR Crossing

September 1, 2009

Keith sent in this story of climbing aboard a loco at age six:

I remember as a small child stopping at a RR crossing in the car and watching this monster go by shaking the ground. The loco was the hissing, there were huge clouds of black smoke, and the train wheels made a clacking sound on the tracks as the train went by. When the cars passed by, it seems as if they would never end. I would always watch for the caboose.

It was during WW2 and there were few places to eat. When we did eat, it was with friends and it always seemed to be near a RR track, and when the train passed by the place would shake and rumble.

The highlight of my young life was the day I got to stand next to the biggest (to me) train that I had seen in my life. I didn’t stand to close as the heat from the loco was to much (ouch!).

One time I was about to leave my Mother and she stopped me and said that the engineer was talking to me and was asking me if I would like to climb aboard and see what goes on inside the cab?

I think at that point I nearly wet myself with shock and excitment ,but I didn’t, or my Mother would have said something to me. Anyway, up I went in to the train cab. I just stood there in amazement ,not knowing what I was looking at. The one thing I did know was that I was hot(ouch ouch), but I stood there asking questions and not understanding a thing the engineer told me. I was only six at the time.