GHOST TRAINS
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GHOST TRAINS |
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| Back when I was still in High School, one of our senior class trips went to Hawaii and while there toured Pearl Harbor. One of our teachers who went as a chaperon drought back slides to show our class. Those pictures of the boats underwater that were turned into a memorial for the men who died during the air raid by Japanese die bombers, really gave me the creeps. I’m also one of those persons who thinks the Titanic should be left to rest so as to not disturb the ghosts that might still be living there. What has this got to do with trains you might ask? Well, I feel pretty much the same way about trains. One thing that I really hate to see is a whole rail yard full of old abandoned locomotives that did their jobs, helped build this great nation of ours, and are now instead of getting a decent burial are left to rot away, forgotten. I wouldn’t mind so much if they were melted down and used to build something like a new building or bridge. At least that way they would still be serving some purpose. But I feel it’s very disrespectful to just let them rust away out in some junkyard. Once my oldest niece Jessica asked me, "uncle bobby why do you love trains so much?" Hopefully reading this web page has given you some idea into my feelings. Trains invoke a sad yet happy feeling inside me that’s hard to explain. When I see a train, I think about the emotions that are generated within me. A train is a symbol of change, a symbol of exploration, a symbol of power. The wail of a lonely train whistle late in the night, off in the distance, is a mournful sound. (The movie HUD starring Paul Newman brings up this point.) A train takes people to new towns and new places, so a train can be a symbol of a bright future, a better tomorrow. But that same train also takes some travelers away from their loved ones, never to return. So while the future looks bright ahead (and how can it not with the locomotive’s headlamp shining so brightly showing the way), there is also a sadness for all those you left behind, or for the ones who won’t ever return. Trains are also symbols of a new beginnings, reminders of old painful endings, hope of a better tomorrow. Back during the wars when trains played such an important part in our history, trains coming home brought loved ones back together, families and friends were reunited once more. Joy and enlightenment was abounding. But not all the loved ones coming home jumped off the train and into the welcoming arms of those they missed so much, the one’s they were fighting for. Some came home in wooden boxes, again a happy/sadness kind of feeling. I feel trains are also a lot like dinosaurs. Dinosaurs were big and strong and fast and loud. Steam locomotives are the same. No two have the exact same personality. Many an engineer will tell you they can sense what mood their locomotive is in just by the sounds it makes. A steam locomotive is a living breathing machine, with a heartbeat, with a fire in it’s belly, water/steam(like blood) flowing through it’s veins. To have seen these locomotives so full of life and so proud and strong left to rust away abandoned, brings a sadness to my heart. My feelings for trains run deep. When I was younger my parents took me for lots of train rides. When I was older, we went back to see these trains again, now that I was older and could understand the history better. ( Ashland Coal Mine is a good example. I went there on numerous field trips and on summer vacations. But it wasn’t until I was out of High School that for the first time I "got it", what our tour guide was talking about.) I remembered this one little train that I loved so much. We went around the state visiting several. But each time I came away with a feeling that something was missing. None of these were like the one that haunted my brain. Then one sunny Sunday afternoon we went back to the EBT. I sat out in one of the open cars for the first half of our train ride. The smell of the smoke and the sounds of the whistle and wheels singing on rails put me in a deep state of melancholy. I sat with my parents in their coach coming back, and when I offered that I had a lump in my throat and a tear in my eye, dad made a wise comment: "you should have kept my mouth shut." That’s why he was inside the coach, coal smoke can do that to you. I got some coal cinders on my shirt and when I tried to brush them off only made the problem worse. My comment: "I’ll never wash this shirt again". |
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| NOTE: To this day I’ve yet to happened upon a passenger train while out traveling on numerous highways that parallel railroad tracks. Amtrak goes in and out of Harrisburg, our state capital, and several highways follow the rails they use. Every time we go to a computer show or a rodeo, I always hope to see a Amtrak train go by, but never do. |
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