The river flows...

[ithacaartist]

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.