The river flows...
 

...It flows to the sea
Wherever that river goes
That's where I want to be...

I know; it's not a river. It's a rail line. It's next to the parking lot for my closest hardware store. I cross it when I need hardware. :rolleyes:

But I always look down the tracks. I wonder what's around the corner, what the trainsmen see. I think that some day I'll go down that line and take a look... :D

All the times I have been on the train I have seen the best and worst of the areas. It was always an adventure.

I was born in '49, grew up with three rail lines running through my backyard. In the '50's in Summer we kids would climb the cherry tree along the back fence and eat cherries. The closest trains were only six feet away; the trainsmen would see us from a ways off and laugh and wave. The people in the passenger car could only see us for a second. We'd smile & wave, knowing they couldn't react quick enough to reply. Fun times. :thumbup: :roflmao:

I also grew up by a train line.
Not Cherries but stone fruit: peaches, plums, nectarines grew along the rail line - because
In those days the passenger car windows opened and the passengers threw the fruit stones out the window in sufficient quantities that some grew

Lots of free fruit for kids

Train tracks were part pf my early years also. I grew up in a small coal mining town in Pennsylvania and the coal trains ran on the longest narrow-gage railway in the world at that time (longer than the ones in China). My friends and I used to hop on the loaded coal cars as they were starting up to leave town and rode them down to the next small crossroads where the train slowed down for a curve. We would jump off and go fishing in a nearby stream. Once in a while we could hop on an empty returning train, but most of the time we had to hitch-hike back to town. After a time the railroad cops caught on to us and brought that pastime to an end.
Ron

I love to go by train - totally different perspective.

Sheepherder, that is a cool picture, nice with the clouds :)

I enlisted in '69, tracks were still there but the writing was on the wall...When I got home in '71, there was an elevated freeway where the tracks were...And an exit ramp behind our lot... :(

Lying in bed as a kid, couldn't get to sleep...Then there would be a noticeable vibration, then the far away sound of the diesel engine...Then light on the far wall of my attic bedroom...The light would creep along and now I could hear the wheels hitting the gaps in the rails...Then the engine 'chugga chugga chugga'...Then a 'Woo Woooo' as the train came up to the crossing...Then the whole house vibrated as the engine came abreast...By then, I was sound asleep... :D

When I visit Oberndorf, I like to fly into Belgium and take the train. That way, I can also visit friends and relatives while there. Here are some station pictures, and one from the Belgium/French Thalys high speed express train (which is an amazing experience including dinner service at your seat).

Go one half mile north, turn right!
 

We had a set of tracks that were one half mile north and were a very big part of the city of Aberdeen SD history, We were just outside the city limits, right across from the end of the main runway of the municipal air port. It was still a rural area, and to a 12 year old whos dad owned the Harley dealership, it was a non-stop adventure, at least as long as it was daylight! I would take a step thru Harley M50, they got about 100 miles to a gallon, and sling my trusty Ruger 10/22 Sporter around my neck resting across my arms, and head out. I always had about a half dozen mags, and pocketful's of loose rounds, as you never know when the gophers might launch a counter attack! :eek:... As I was yet lacking any type of License to drive, it was in the road ditch all the way, but I had it fairly compacted with my travels and it was only a minute or two and I was at the tracks. Now the stretch I traveled was only a mile, it seemed like a whole nother country, and as far as I can remember, no one ever stopped me or asked what I was doing on the railroad rightaway ?? So, I'd go right down the middle of the tracks and shoot gophers as they appeared! I swear to God I thought he earth was hollow and filled with gophers! I must admit, most of my success, when there was some was probably due to ricochets, as I was nearsighted and the trigger pull on the Ruger was about three time the weight of the gun?... But, being easy to load, and fast to fire, I don't recall ever bringing home any ammo? :jumper:.... Sometimes the carburetor would foam out, and I had to re-start, and by the time I was ready to go home, i couldn't feel my hands or feet... The next day I'd do it again... I don't think in the time that i did this, my dad ever asked what i was doing.. I believe he thought if I was kept busy, and not breaking his stuff, all was good?... I guess in the long run, he was right.... Best to all, til.....lat'r....GT...:cheers:

GT,
Love that picture- but I don't see "no corner"!
You might have to walk a long way to find out what is "around" the next one. :)

Europe has a civilized society. All our public transportation involves naugahide seats to accomodate filthy bums and puking drunks, lowlifes of all types. A taxi in Belgium is a fine Mercedes, like a real car. It's assumed you won't crap in the back seat. America could be like that but seems we have too much diversity.

So I'm in the main station in Berlin, waiting for a train to Regensburg for a holiday with my former housemate. An Asian man asks me (in German) if I know where the train to Prague departs from. When I told him Track 1, he said it wasn't there or on the departure sign at the track. I walked him over and pointed to the sign. He says he's looking for "Prag" (Prague in German) and not Praha. (At this point he's virtually standing under the sign.)

I explained it was a Czech Rail train, not DeutschBahn, so the destination sign was in Czech, not German

Praha hl.n was the Prague main station. (Praha hlavní nádraží)

I love rail travel in Europe, but many of the Intercity Express trains cross borders, so you need to be alert to the fact that signage is often in the language of the train's country, not the country you happen to be in at the moment.

Exploring "where the river flows" wound up in a hassle with the railroad police for me. my brother, and our friend Mike.

A spur line extended from a feed mill it serviced about once a week to the main stuff in Watertown NY. It passed within a hundred yards of the Jr/Sr High, and in 8th grade, I kept a list in the back of my notebook of the different rolling stock that went past--NYC, B&O, "Chessie," Erie, etc., etc. It was also two blocks from my house.

One day, the three of us decided to follow the tacks towards town to see where they wound up. The Little League field was right about at the city limits, and around that area we encountered a bunch of melted candy bars strewn along the ties. We snagged a few and found you could still eat them by squeezing the contents out of the wrapper on one end.

Just after we'd crossed NY Rte 12, a black car pulled up and called us over. Railroad cops, they said, and went on to accuse of having broken into the concession stand at the ball field at some point in the recent past. The candy bars were apparently loot that the burglars had dropped during their daring escape, and it now made sense to us as to why/how they'd come to be there. Kids on tracks = culprits (in their minds), but we convinced them we weren't the perps. Had to walk the long way back home, having been cautioned to stay off the tracks.

You need something like this to explore with:

Attachment 82144

Many, many years ago my parents were traveling on a scenic mountain train ride in Switzerland. The train traversed steep gorges with precipitous drops and a woman who shared the compartment with them seemed transfixed by the view. After a while she turned very pale and announced that she was going to be sick. My father hastily opened the window (this was back when train windows opened) and the woman stuck her head out and vomited. A short while later the conductor showed up to punch tickets and noticing that the window was open announced that there would be a 5 frank fee for cleaning the outside of the carriage. My father protested that the woman had thrown up out of the window out of consideration, had she vomited inside there would have been a bigger mess. Thats right, agreed the conductor, that would have been 10 franks!
Norm

I took that train to Prague in June 2016. It was full of happy Soccer fans singing all the way the Regensburg. The trip east out of Regensburg, however, got more dreadful with each town we passed.

The graffiti got more obvious and more buildings looked like they had never been repaired since WW-2. At one point, in Pilsen, the blue uniformed boarder police passed through and checked a few passports, but then then a second group of inspectors came through dressed in khaki uniforms and they dragged off a teenager seated in front of me. I will never forget what they said to him, "We are controlling your papers. Come with us... " Nightmare.

The soot coated train station in Prague was equally frightening - I was sure we were in the wrong place. It was beyond dirty - signs were not working, it was full of vagrants and trash was piled up everywhere. The taxi was a Mercedes - a 1960's diesel sedan spewing black smoke everywhere.

Fortunately, they have a modern subway system - you only have to watch out for pick-pockets.

I noted that Colt has been sold to the Czech's - not sure if that's the government or a private entity..should be interesting.

My Grandfather (a WW1 Navy Vet) was an engineer on the Union Pacific and drove the Big Boy locomotives from Ogden, Utah to Carlin Nevada up the Uinta Grade, one of the steepest grades in the UISA. Sometimes they used two of these monsters if the train was long. He took me on one of his trips when I was about 9 years old and I'll never forget the impressions left by being aboard that monster locomotive, the largest in the world.

Wow, WOW! We must live in parallel universes.

Where did you start your trip? That day I was in Berlin going to Regensburg. The train to Prague I pointed out doesn't go anywhere near Regensburg, it goes south through Dresden.
My train to Regensburg went SW to Nuremberg where I had to change trains to get to Regensburg.

These days you can't get to Pilsen from Regensburg without changing trains at least twice. I can't say what that trip would look like. I've been to both by train, but never from one to the other. I will say, however, that in my experience the closer you are to an urban area on a train, in Europe or the US, the shabbier the scenery and the more plentiful the graffiti. Taking AMTRAK from Washington to NYC is uglier than any train trip I've had in Europe, but not by much.

I never experienced any border guards or passport checks between Germany and Czechia, nor would I expect to. The Czech Republic joined the Schengen Area at the end of 2007 which abolished all passport and border controls within the 26 member countries. I've been to Pilsen and Prague several times with my Czech housemate who is from Pilsen. It's a clean lovely little city. The industrial area is obviously more "industrial" than scenic, but it's the home of the very modern Skoda works. Czechia has seen a lot of economic improvement and modernization since the fall of communism and joining the EU.

As for Prague, what can I say. It's one of the most beautiful and popular tourist cities in Europe. I can't imagine where you were that made you describe the train station as you did. The new station was built in 1977 and refurbished in 2012. Personally, I find electric trains remarkably "soot" free and this station, like so many in Europe, clean, modern, well maintained and very attractive.

Here's the Prague station: https://youtu.be/s7Akj18Hlqg

And here's a video of Pilsen and Prague. We drove this trip. Andrea borrowed her step-father's SUV to haul her belongings from Berlin to Pilsen as she prepared to move to Regensburg.

https://youtu.be/RJm7WbL_SSM

Thanks sheepherder :thumbup: for the Parallax View

Trains were a part of my young life too
As kids we used to cross the mighty Sakatchewan river on the trestle bridge that spanned it ... certain death if you fell and almost certain if a train was coming. We used to put our ear on the track and carefully listen for an approaching train.
https://i.imgur.com/t7pNV8H.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/Eq3vgkD.jpg

I loved taking the train to the west coast, to Vancouver through the Rocky Mountain range ... what an awesome trip.

Got my nostalgia going :cheers:

In Regensburg, the train pulled in, then they un-coupled the last 3 cars and we departed in the opposite direction. I wasn't expecting border checks, either, but it happened. We started out from Zurich, originally. Boarder police climbed aboard before we crossed into Germany, but they just walked through the cars.

The leading cars went on to Nurenberg. I lived there a couple of years in 1963 - I was 10. But, I really like Bavaria the best - mountains, lakes and Austria. No border checks there - just open roads and lovely people. Next trip, I'm renting a bike and sticking to southern Bavaria, in the Spring - it's already too hot by June. Germany and France have wonderful bike routes in the country and you don't have to worry about trying to park a rented car when you get to a little town.

The train never made it all the way into Munich, because someone jumped into an earlier train (they told us suicide by train was fairly common in Germany) and the tracks were shut down. We got into the train station on a bus. That was pretty exciting, because everyone left the train and nobody bother to mention what was going on in English. My poor German was just enough to get us on to the last bus.

Munich is a lovely city rich in culture and easy to navigate. It's very walkable, except when you need a bathroom. I learned to use the subway bathrooms. They are weird that way - afraid of vagabonds and roma's. They aren't very generous with ice, either. You learn to drink without it.

I go to Europe every two years, until recently, for a conference that is in early June. Every 4 years, it corresponds with soccer championships (World Cup ??)

In Houston and Atlanta, I had to wait in line for over 2 hours more than once. Chicago was a better experience. The new kiosks are a big improvement, but for some reasons, big planes tend to land at almost the same time and that backs up the whole process. Returning home, US Custom's has almost never been a smooth experience, so I got a World Traveler pass. I usually miss my connection flight, so I have learned to book the next flight out and just chill for a while in the airport.

Traveling to Europe and experiencing 25% VAT tax makes me happy to live in the USA. I'm always grateful to come home again. ALWAYS !!

Back in the '80's and '90's, I used to travel to the Carlisle (Pennsylvania) Antique shows in the Spring, and the Import/Kit Car shows. We'd go down on Thurs night, get there at 8 or 9am and take in the show through Sat evening. Sunday we'd drive down to Gettysburg and tour the National Battlefield Park. Always something new to see. One time, my girlfriend and I decided to take the Gettysberg Railroad ride. It's a privately owned 14 mile long straight track, through peoples backyards. :rolleyes:

It was a riot! We got to the 'station' early, and examined the locomotive, the cars, and the station (a re-creation) itself. All very mid-1800's period. As we were getting our tickets, a strapping six-foot-five young lad, dressed in bib-denims, plaid shirt, engineer boots and a lunch bucket the size of a suitcase came through, on his way to the train. The GF immediately said "That's the stoker!". I agreed, he was certainly qualified. A few minutes later, an older gnarled, walnut complexioned, thin man came through, carrying a smaller lunchbox. He looked like 14 miles of bad road...The GF said, "The engineer! And a lunchbox with a quart of Jack Daniels!" :p

We boarded the passenger car. There were three (IIRC). The car was bare wood, no glass just rectangular holes for windows, and rows of bare wood church pews. We stopped, and took it all in...Pax looking at us. The GF went into a airline stewardess spiel "Thank you for flying Gettysberg Railroad, we'll be flying at 10 feet at 40mph. There are oxygen masks etc flotation devices etc..." She had the car in an uproar. :rolleyes:

It was a 14 mile (again, IIRC) ride, housewives hanging up laundry, kids playing, dogs barking, then a stop. Nothing much to see, then the train started backing up...All the way back to the station! :eek:

It was a fun two hours or so; especially watching the stoker and the engineer getting steam up. The stoker stoked; the engineer just lounged around and watched. The conductor came through collecting tickets, everyone including the station ticket lady dressed in period costume. I seem to remember an oiler oiling the exposed total-loss bearings before the trip but I don't know where he disappeared to. :)

Always a fun trip; the National Observation Tower was still up back then, you could take the elevator up and view the whole battlefield. There were tour double-decker buses; cassette tape guides; human guides; group tours; etc. In the park proper, you could hardly walk ten feet without bumping into a monument. We always went on off weekends, no re-enactments. There was one hopping bar in town, and our Best Western had a wet bar. It was worth the 9 hour drive just to see, hear, and ride the train. :thumbup:

Just for fun !!

This illusion is called the Ponzo Illusion

Both yellow lines are exactly the same size and length.

https://i.imgur.com/oCrwRSl.png

Train tracks are such fun :)

Amazing sheepherder :eek: I had almost the same train as in your memories just 5 blocks from our 1st house in Sakatoon.

https://i.imgur.com/Lk8aIi8.png
https://i.imgur.com/Op5nO1X.jpg Almost numbers matching ya ?? :thumbup:

Plus as kids we used to ride the miniature train in Kinsmen Park just a few miles down from the train trestle we used to cross in my previous post.

https://i.imgur.com/UaULs7z.jpg

Your post has awoken so many happy childhood memories in me sheepherder ... Thank you my friend :rockon:

As kid we lived one block from 4 sets of tracks .. 2 for the "streamliners" and 2 for the freight trains. On the other side was a large forest preserve. We would regularly cross the tracks to bowhunt in the forest preserve. It was illegal, of course, but we didn't know it.

I had a part beagle who would go everywhere with me. When a slow-moving freight blocked our way, we simply grabbed a ladder, crossed the boxcar to the other side, climbed down and jumped off. My dog didn't like being left behind so she would wait until 4 wheels went by, jump in under the train and wait for another long break in wheels and then jump out on the other side. She never came close to getting run over.

In the summer we would hop a freight and take it to a public swimming pool about 4 miles away. A neighbor boy wanted to go with us one day so we gave him a crash course in getting on and getting off safely. When he got off, he just jumped instead of hanging on the ladder and getting his legs moving in a running motion before letting go. He stumbled and fell when he jumped and his lower body rolled under the train. Luckily, he rolled back out and down the grade before the next set of wheels cut him in half.

My friend and I were so scared that we grabbed him and beat the living snot out of him for not following directions. All we could think of was how much trouble we would be in if he had been killed.

We never even spoke to him again.

We used to place a coin on the rack and trade coins!

Coins were my one brush with the RR Police. They saw me, came to my house, and told my parents. I don't recall my punishment, but I never did it again. :(

I forgot all about the freight trains! And the freight engines. The passenger trains were streamlined; the freights were boxy and had rails around the engine. :rolleyes:

Bill Lyon recalled the train trestle outside Belfast NY. I used to pass under it every time I went into Belfast with my parents (it was a wet town). I think it was the 8th longest, at one time in the '50's. Wonder if someone posted a pic of it??? :confused:

Yeah! Bunches of them! :D

Remembering the Belfast trestle...In 1965, my dad took me with him to the Belfast Hotel to get beer (we had a cottage at Rushford Lake; the grown-up cottagers would play Euchre and drink beer at night). We had a 1962 Buick Special with the 215ci V-8 & 3-speed manual. For some reason the cases of beer weren't ready, so my dad had a couple beers at the bar. When we finally loaded up a couple cases of Genesee, he told me I'd better drive, he'd had too many and didn't want to get pulled over. I was 15, no license. Uh, yeah, OK dad...What??? :eek: We made it back to the cottage. My first driving lesson! :p

Interesting, in NZ the "Big" trains were the KA class.
My Dad was a driver and me and my older brother did get to ride on them (on night runs.)

I checked spec's with the US "Big Boy", wow the Big Boy is 3 times the size of the KA and (to a little boy) the KA's were huge

Big Boy 762,000 lbs
KA 208,320 lbs

If I recall correctly, 1278 was a Canadian Pacific locomotive originally. Sadly, she suffered a catastophic crown sheet failure in the mid 1990's, badly injuring the engineer and both stokers. I don't think she was ever repaired.

Personally, I'm a big fan of the B&O, and it's steam locomotives from the great age of steam on American railroads.

I remember seeing this last Fall

https://youtu.be/7TJPmkcPer8

I had a retired whe ran from Miami t Jacksonville and ccouldnt case how many lost their lives, either drunk or intention! https://injuryfacts.nsc.org/home-and...-and-injuries/

Indeed Kiwi, the "Big Boy" was truly a big boy. We used to drive out to the entrance of Weber Canyon in Utah and watch these monsters start up the grade. Lots of noise and smoke. An era long forgotten by most, but those of us older folks will always have a soft spot for big locomotives.
Lyn

That video made mention of Baldwin locomotive #38 that was used by the Huntingdon & Broad Top Mountain Railroad and Coal Company.
My home town, Robertsdale, Pa, was located on Broad Top Mountain and that is one of the locomotives that ran there! Who knows, maybe I hitched a ride on a coal train it pulled.
Ron

My grandparents lived near a warehouse in Dayton, Ohio that was a frequent stop for train traffic. Frequently my grandfather would take whatever cousins were around over there and pick up rubber "washers" after Sunday dinner. Apparently they were used in some capacity to cushion the payload transported in/on the freight cars.

Although sheepherders post has brought a flood of pleasant childhood memories revolving around trains and trestles cirelaws post has brought the dark side of rail travel to light and awoken within me a rail tragedy in my own family. :(

My brothers wife lost her father, Bill Brownlee, in the 1986 Hinton Alberta train wreck.

A CN freight train traveling at 96 km/h at the time of impact, ran head-on with a VIA Rail passenger train, leaving 23 dead and 95 people injured. It was the most lethal rail disaster in Canada to that date.

The value of property destroyed or damaged in the mishap was in excess of $30 million 1986 dollars.


https://i.imgur.com/hia108S.pnghttps://i.imgur.com/2SefVWL.png

The YouTube video below shows the magnitude of equipment involved in this 'head on' collision.
One of the trains involved, the run-away train, was 6,124 feet long or 1.16 miles and consisted of 118 cars including 3 Locomotives.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OX5p3yjM8L0

The investigation and witnesses.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-9FKSNF--Mc
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VLNu6WRl6hM

Bill Brownlee's death was an incredibly sad day for us all ... Bill's was an empty casket funeral.
Many of the dead were never found such was the horrific nature of the collision.
For miles around this incident people were alerted by the 'Sonic Boom' created by the impact.
Bill was in the lead engine at time of impact.

Rest in Peace Bill ... the family misses you every day. :(

https://www.jonroma.net/media/rail/a...1986-1-eng.pdf

Flow river flow...
 

...Let your waters wash down
Take me from this road
To some other town...

I live close by the Erie Canal, and although I've lived here 26 years, I didn't know that this railroad bridge was just a couple miles from me. It's the same rail line as my pic in the first post, spanning the Erie Canal. It's known as the 'upside-down' bridge. I'm planning on visiting it in the next few days, just 'cause... :D

...All he wanted...
 

...Was to be free
And that's the way
It turned out to be...

It was a beautiful day out today, so I spent a couple hours looking for the 'Upside-Down' bridge. I found it. It was about 10 feet away from a viaduct I pass under about 15-20 times a week. :rolleyes: There's no fences or any obstruction blocking access to the bridge - You could just climb up the slope where the viaduct is and be on the railtrack. :eek: I didn't climb it. I wasn't even sure if it was allowed to park where I was (I often see City Police cars parked there, radar-ing speeders coming up the hill).

The third pic is of one of the Canal locks, with the bridge in the background. Next pic is of another lock up-Escarpment from the last lock. The Erie Canal and the rail line runs roughly parallel to Lake Ontario although some 15-20 miles South of the lake. There is what is called locally "The Escarpment", which is simply the difference in height above sea level between Lake Ontario and Lake Erie. Where I live, in Lockport, that difference is 224 feet. My house is 6 feet above the level of Lake Ontario. Hence, the locks. Trains also have to climb that Escarpment, but the rail line is much more gradual. The locks and bridges are in a perpetual state of repair/maintenance. My tax dollars at work. There's virtually no commercial traffic on the Canal, it's pretty much all recreational now.

I noticed a couple of passenger cars parked on a remote siding. I wanted to get closer but this is a 'rough' part of the City and I was hesitant about intruding on anyone's 'turf'. Going a couple blocks farther North I noticed a couple more, obviously boarded up and unused for years. These two, like the other two, were parked on an unused siding (possibly the same one) alongside warehouses that did have regular tractor-trailer traffic while I was there. Offices or storage maybe?

When I had first pulled off the street at the viaduct, an engine with several cars was just crossing the bridge. I wasn't fast enough to get out and take a pic of that. :( So, I went down to what I think is the 'train yard' (there's only two engines in the Falls Road Railroad). I couldn't get in a position to take a pic of the front of the trainshed, just the rear. It looks like there's some kind of rail machinery parked there, but the engines weren't in sight. :crying:

My digital camera with it's tiny LED display screen was washed out in the bright sunlight; I couldn't see/read the symbols on the screen, so the pics are pretty poor. (Couldn't even tell when they were in focus, if they ever were). For some unknown reason, the camera switched from single-pics to .AVI for the last three shots. I had to take SS's from the video. :banghead:

An interesting tour of part of the FRR line. If I get a chance in overcast daylight I'll take better pics, and maybe get a shot of the engines. :thumbup:

I found some pics online of FRR's locomotives. There are also several online sites with information about the 'upside-down' bridge, the engines, FRR, rails lines in WNY...Many many sites... :rolleyes:

It seems that the FRR line is small but also connected to other bigger lines that occasionally use this section of the line. Genesee Valley seems to have an interest in it as their engines are sometimes seen in the Lockport rail yard.

Wikipedia has a page on FRR describing the engines -

Engine roster

The Falls Road Railroad, like all other GVT properties, is Alco-powered. The railroad uses one New York Central vintage RS32 (2035) as well as one Nickel Plate vintage RS-11 (1802). The 2035 is the primary engine; however, 1802 will be used on days when an extra train, such as a passenger excursion or snowplow, is needed.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Falls_Road_Railroad

https://www.gvtrail.com/region/western-new-york/

https://historicbridges.org/bridges/...ss/lockportrr/


I believe that last pic of mine in post #1 shows the snowplow parked at the rail yard. :)

I miss my own railroad!!