I’m not yet ready to write a blog about Christmas, but I’ll get there. This week, I’ve been thinking about trains, especially while watching so many ‘going’ and ‘coming’ through our valley. Trains have change in many ways in my lifetime, and this may bring back a few memories for you too.

In the early 1940s, our family lived on a farm, and when it was necessary to travel 80 miles to the city, many times my Mom and I would take the train. The proprietor of our General Store, would sell us our tickets, and then put up ‘the flag’ so that the train engineer would know to stop the train to pick up more passengers. I loved the huge steam engine, and the recognizable whistle that we could hear on the farm. I didn’t love it so much on the winter trip in 1947, when the train got stuck in the huge snow drifts. I do remember that we had to sleep on the train one night, until the snow plow helped to get the train going again.

When I had my first vacation, after graduating from Nursing School, I treated myself to a long train ride from the small prairie town where I worked to the northern mountain area of the western province. It was my first independent trip to visit my very favorite friends, and the whole vacation was filled with many first-time experiences.

The next significant train ride was with our two children, heading to the west coast of Canada on ‘The Canadian’. We spent a lot of time in the Panorama Car, a sort of ‘bubble top’ that was perfect to observe the beauty of the Canadian Rocky Mountains. The kids were well entertained, no matter where they were on the train, especially in the Dining Car.

Our travels have also given us opportunity to take train rides. We’ve been on trains in theme parks, LRT in several cities, and on a narrow-gauge railway in Alaska. We also toured England on a train, travelled to Edinburgh and Inverness in Scotland, and now enjoy train travels on TV. Our travel days seem to be in the past, but we still have these trains to watch every day. I’m still fascinated, and catch myself trying to count the cars as they roll down the valley. Many of them are well over 100 cars, with multiple engines on front and in the middle, and a pusher at the back.

I've discovered that it is much easier to count cars when I’m at a rail crossing in town, and need to be patient.

Tags: Travel Steam Engine Memories