Mark

[FlyingCrow]

Oh, I've been off the list too long.......oh, Mark.   Well, buddy, I'll look you up in Heaven someday.    At a place where we can sit and watch the Kansas City Southern roll by endless to our heart's content.    Now I know why I did not get a reply to my messages.  

Via con Dios.  Rest in Peace

ABD

 

[daveklepper]

Iinteresting that Mark also knew well William Teague, the organsit of St. Paul Church, who remained a good friend long after my acoustical work for the Church was completed.  I play his CD that shows off the Aeolian Skinner organ quite frequently, and it sounds great on the stereo equipment, much of which came with me from the USA 19 years ago and still works, but now of course with computer playback instead of a dedicated CD player.  On m first visit to Shreveport, the trackless trolley was still running, and Bill arranged a break in my work so I could ride it.   Second visit:  wires still up but the typical GMs provided the service.

[wanswheel]

For ITRR Fans: The Legend of Dinky.

http://cs.trains.com/ctr/f/3/t/91631.aspx

 

Posted by KCSfan on Wednesday, March 28, 2007 4:12 AM

 

Hi Wally,

Yes the ITC cars could easily do 70 mph and more. The normal top speed on the Danville-Decatur line which I rode, and on the Bloomington line as well, was probably closer to 60 mph. I have heard stories of the ITC racing and beating Alton passenger trains at points between Lincoln and Springfield where the two roads ran side by side. Of course this was only for short stretches since the ITC left its private ROW and ran down the city streets of just about every town along the way.

I caught my first sight of an ITC train at dusk around Hamel on the Peoria-St. Louis main line during a family car trip to Springfield, MO in 1942. Dad was driving 60 mph down US 66 when we were overtaken and passed by a 6 car southbound ITC train. I didn't get a close up look since the ITC at that point ran about 1/2 mile west of the highway but I disticntly remember the brightly lighted car windows as the train sped by enroute to St. Louis. Based on our speed I'd estimate it was hitting about 75 mph.

My first ride on the ITC was the one I mentioned in my prior reply. A fellow railfan and student at Purdue took the Wabash overnight Detroit-St. Louis train around 2-3 am from Lafayette to Danville. We walked to where the ITC car was parked on a city street waiting its morning run (the first of 3 daily schedules) to Decatur. The car was open so we climbed aboard and stretched out on the seats to catch a couple of hours sleep. Around 6:30 we were awakened by a car cleaner who swept the car out and filled the cooler with fresh water. About an hour later the motorman and conductor showed up and moved the car a few blocks to the Danville station. About 10 more passengers boarded and around 8 o'clock we were off on our westbound run. The conductor gave me his copy of a hand written train order which I have to this day somewhere in my piles of railroad memorabilia. I remember the order read something like, "To C&M train No. 123, Car No. 456 meet train No. 789 east Car No. 234 at Champaign". Somewhere I also have an ITC timetable signed by both the motorman and conductor of that run. We picked up another passenger at IIRC Fithian, two more at Ogden and several more at Urbana. At Champaign several passengers got off and 12 or so more got on. My friend and I stretched our legs on the station platform for the 10 or so minutes we waited for the eastbound car we had the meet with. Leaving Champaign the car was about half filled and we picked up a few more passengers at Monticello and other points. I remember the train stopping on the outskirts of Monticello to let an elderly lady off right at her front door which was one of the homey personal features of ITC operations. My friend and I told the conductor we wanted to get off at North Junction in Decatur which was where the line from Peoria via Bloomington joined the east-west line.

At North Junction we waited for around a half hour until the southbound morning car off the Bloomington line passed by before walking a short way to the ITC's Decatur shops. It was Saturday and the shops were deserted except for a watchman who let us have the run of the place once we told him we were railfans. In the shop buildings and just outside there were a number of freight motors (Class B, C and D's) as well as a dozen or so passenger cars and we spent the day touring them all. Early that evening we caught the last train of the day for the final run back to Danville which I described in my prior reply.

A few years later while attending the UofI I made several round trips from Champaign to Decatur as well as the cab rides on the freight motors to Ogden which I previously mentioned. Most of these trips were on the orange cars but twice one of the old cars painted silver and blue to match the streamliners were assigned to the runs that I took. I never rode the new post WWII streamliners but I have seen the one (at that time usually only a one car train) that ran between Decatur-Springfield-St. Louis several times at the Decatur station. I hope this long narrative hasn't bored you to tears.

Mark

  

Posted by KCSfan on Wednesday, March 28, 2007 2:23 PM

 

Hi Wally and Dave,

You guys are bringing back a flood of memories that unfortunately exist only in my mind as I was never much into photograpy. I really regret not getting pictures of the CNS&M trains switching from 3rd rail to overhead wire on the "fly" around Skokie. I have always been partial to interurbans and mixed trains. I guess because they were rapidly vanishing breeds when I was a kid and teenager in the 30's and 40's.

I have ridden the ITC, the South Shore and the North Shore but never in an Electroliner. In 1959 I married a girl from Waukegan who lived about 4 blocks from the North Shore line and it was routine to see their trains when we were dating and for the few years they continued to operate after we were married. As a teenager I rode the old IC MU cars to and from Flossmoor and Harvey where I attended Thornton Twp. HS. I Later went to the Uof I on Navy Pier for two semesters and commuted to Randolph St. on the IC, walked a few blocks north across the river and rode the Chicago Surface Lines streetcar which terminated at the foot of Navy Pier. For the life of me I can't remember the street they ran on but recall the cars were smaller than the big red two man cars that operated on the CSL's major routes. I'm not sure but IIRC they were one man cars. I especially enjoyed an occasional ride on a CSL "Green Hornet" on the Clark St. line. I often saw CA&E cars on the loop but never rode on one. While attending Purdue in the late 40's I'd occasionally spend a weekend in Indianapolis. I remember the big arch roofed, open ended Traction Terminal on Illinois Ave. but by that time the interurbans were long gone and it was then an intercity bus terminal. The multi tracks were still visibible in the concrete floor and I could imagine what a bee hive of activity it was when the interurbans of the Indiana Railway and the Interstate were tenants there.

Prior to my marriage I usually drove to work at the Western Electric Hawthorne plant in Cicero but would occasionally take the IC downtown then the Douglas Park El to Cermak Rd. This El line ran around the Loop and at ground level the last few miles through Cicero to its terminus in Berwyn. The last year or so that I worked at Hawthorne the Douglas Park trains were diverted off the elevated loop and ran through downtown via the newly completed subway.

In 1961 WE transferred me to New York and I commuted on the MU trains of the Lackawanna from Madison to Hoboken NJ. These cars were almost identical to the IC's except they used trap doors and steps since the Lackawanna stations, unlike the IC's, were all at ground level. From Hoboken I'd ride either the Lackawanna's ferry or take the Hudson & Manhattan "tubes" across the river to downtown Manhattan. When I first started riding them the H&M cars were all still of 1920's vintage and, while I believe they were actually painted Pullman green, were black with 40+ years of grime and dirt. During my 4 years in New York City The H&M became the PATH (Port Authority Trans Hudson) and the old cars were replaced with new stainless steel, air conditioned ones. The downtown Manhattan stop on the H&M was in the lower level of the Hudson Terminal building. Before I left NY the building was razed and excavation began for the World Trade Center twin towers which were to be built on its former location. It was interesting to see the excavation work progress with the H&M still running through the site in its then exposed original cast iron "tubes" supported on temporary steel trestlework.

During my four year stint in NY I ocassiaonlly rode the red cars of the 8th Ave. subway line to midtown. I also rode the electrified through trains of the Pennsy behind GG-1's to Philly and Baltimore and made several trips out of Grand Central behind the electric motors of the NYC and NH on trains to Chicago, Ohio and Boston.

As a youngster I was intrigued by three other interurbans which I never personally saw, only pictures in Raliroad and Trains Magazines; the CRANDIC, the Piedmont Northern and the Denver and Intermountain. My interest in these stemmed from their similarity to my favorite Illinois Terminal in that they all ran substantial freight trains behind electric motors in addition to their passenger cars.

Wow Dave, 5 consecutive nights in sleepers must be some kind of a record (unless you consider the whole seasons often spent on circus trains). I made numerous trips in sleepers during the 40's, 50's and mid 60's but with one exception these were all one nighters. The one exception was my first ride in a Pullman, a two night one day trip with my aunt in the winter of 1942-3 in an open section car between Tampa and Gary, IN over the ACL, CofG, L&N and PRR on the old Southland.

Dave, I was transferred to Shreveport in 1965 and still live there. I well know the St. Paul Episcopal church which you mention and have attended several weddings there over the years. For the first few years after I moved here the Line Ave. trolley bus (or trackless trolley if you prefer) still ran just three blocks from my house between downtown and a turnaround loop in Cedar Grove on the then far south side of Shreveport. Long after it was replaced by diesel busses the signs up and down Line Ave. still proclaimed to be "Trolley Stops".   

I think I'm getting carpal tunnel syndrome from all this typing so I'll quit my ramblings for now and catch you guys later.

Mark

[Wizlish]

KCSfan, quoted by wanswheel

In 1954 I transferred to the Univ. of Illinois and had the opportunity to take several middle of the night rides from Urbana to Ogden in the motor and caboose with the freight crew - but that is another story.

Please tell me he told that story, and someone can point me to a place I can read it.

[daveklepper]

Thanks, but much of the credit should go to my current teachers at my Yeshiva, Yeshivat Beit Orot in Jerusalem, to NYC Rabbis Gerstein, Angel, and Rohde at Congregation Shearith Israel, and the well-know Stephen S, Wise, who officiated at my Bar Mitzvah.  Also my first Hebrew teacher, my Aunt Leah Klepper, and at least one Christian minister, Father John Andrew of St. Thomas Episcopal Church, Fifth Avenue, New York.

[Firelock76]

David, that was lovely.  I wish I had your wisdom and way with words.

[daveklepper]

"The Spirit of the Rightous is a blessing."  Somehow, I feel that Mark's spirit will not only live on, but even manage to read this Forum now and then and even possibly inspire some of us on occason with memories we had forgotten.

Such thoughts are intrinsic to my own beliefs, like Christians believe that the spirits of JC, the Apostles, and the Saints live, and we Jews, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, Aaron, Joshua, Kings David and Solomon.

[NP Eddie]

ALL:

Another great source of information has died. I wish I would have met him.

Thank you Mark---KCS Fan.

 

Ed Burns

Happily retired NP-BN-BNSF from Minneapolis.

[Deggesty]

Mike, that is a great tribute to Mark. I well remember the gracious reception he gave me in Shreveport a year and a half ago, taking me around the city and pointing out what is and what used to be in the way of railroads.

[wanswheel]

Texas Eagle Trip Report

Posted by KCSfan on Thursday, September 04, 2008 2:09 AM

 

My wife and I just completed a caoch roundtrip from Shreveport to Chicago on Amtrak (Thruway to/from Shreveport connecting with the Texas Eagle at Longview, TX). The thruway operator said that his passenger loads were at or near full capacity recently compared to pre-high gas price times when few used the service.

Northbound (Amtrak east) the Eagle, No.22, was 4 hours late departing Longview and arrived in Chicago almost 4 hours to the minute late proving that the scheduled running time between the two points is doable. I had expected it would lose more time northbound from Longview and was surprised that the UP dispatchers apparently made a concerted effort to prevent that from happening. The delay was due to a freight derailment blocking the line in or around Austin so southbound No. 21 had been annulled south of Ft. Worth where its consist was turned around and ran north as No. 22 that day.

About 40 passengers boarded at Longview which included those of us from Shreveport and a number who came on the Thruway connection from Houston. The waiting room in the old T&P station in Longview has seats for only about 25 and needs to be enlarged to handle current passenger volumes. Since the weather was nice a number of us chose to sit at the several wrought iron patio tables located on the outside platform. Had it been cold or raining it would have been SRO inside and a miserable wait for the train. Because of the delay Amtrak had pizzas brought in for all the passengers which was an unexpected but nice touch.

The Superliner consist was transition sleeper, sleeper, two coaches, diner, sightseer lounge and two more coaches; eight cars in all. I understand the sleepers were completely full and would estimate coach occupancy at about 70% both ways.

All cars and restrooms were surprisingly clean, well stocked and comfortable. The ride was smooth and heading southbound two of our tablemates in the diner commented how much better the Eagle rode than did the train they had taken from Albany, NY to Chicago. There were decals on the vestibule walls in our coaches stating that the cars had been "Prodly rebuilt by Amtrak Beech Grove" and if I hadn't known their age I would have thought they were brand new. The sightseer lounge (upper level) was the only car in the train that looked like it needed a little refurburshing. But the lower level lounge was in good shape, well patronized and offered a good variety of drinks and snacks dispensed by an affable and smiling attendant.

Without exception the train crews and dining car, lounge and coach attendants were friendly, courteous and professional. One smiling conductor even picked up a crying baby passenger and walked him up and down the aisle until he quited down. On our northbound leg the conductor  held the train an extra 5 minutes in Poplar Bluff so us smokers could catch an early morning cigarette. Except in the dead of night a PA annoncement was made explaining and apologizing for every delay enroute. Quite a contrast from last February when I was waiting for my wife coming from Chicago on a very late Eagle at Marshall and chatting with the new T&E crew who told me "they never tell even us why we're delayed". Fellow passengers were sociable and seemed to be enjoying the trip in spite of the trains lateness.

As we were approaching St. Louis an announcement was made asking passengers connecting with the Capitol Ltd and Cardinal in Chicago to detrain there and board a bus that Amtrak had chartered to take them non-stop to Chicago in time to make their connections. Quite a number of passengers were going to points in Michigan and could not be gotten to Chicago in time to catch their connecting train. They were told that Amtrak would either arrange for their bus transportation from Chicago that evening or provide overnight hotel accommodations and have them catch the morning train to Michigan. I was impressed with the arrangements made for those who were traveling beyond Chicago and much surprised that Amtrak would incur this additional expense.

The station area in St. Louis is a construction zone. It was formerly just an oversized Amshack but is being enlarged and modernized to handle the increased number of riders and added Lincoln Service trains that run between there and Chicago.

The Cross Country Cafe diner was a bit of a let down. Plastic plates, cups and glasses, a pretty limited menu and of course everything over priced. I recommend the French toast for breakfast and the Caesar Salad with grilled chicken *** that I had for lunch was quite generous and tasty. For dinner on our southbound leg both of us had the barbecued brisket with mashed potatoes and steamed mixed vegetables. It was surprisingly good considering it was pre-prepared and just warmed on board. Any shortcomings were more than made up by interesting table mates one of whom was a college exchange student from Finland.

Going south the Eagle was about 2 hours late arriving in Longview. Most of this delay ocurred between Bloomington and Springfield where there were 15 mph slow orders at each grade crossing due so some problem in the signal circutry that actived the crossing lights and arms.

Overall our round trip was much better than I had expected. True, the Eagle is chronically late and its pace is leisurely but except for that I'd give the service an "A" grade. If time enroute and probable lateness are not a major concern don't hesitate to ride this train. My wife and I will certainly be taking the Texas Eagle on our next trip north.

Mark

 

 

Riding the Illinois Terminal

Posted by KCSfan on Thursday, July 26, 2012 11:24 AM

 

Todays CT Photo of the Day brought back fond memories of the day in 1952 (could have been "51) when the ITC ended its service to Danville. I was a student at Purdue at the time and a railfan friend and I decided to visit the IT for this memorable occasion. We boarded Wabash No. 3, the Detroit - St. Louis overnight train, in Lafayette, IN around 1:00 am on a Saturday morning for the 50 mile trip to Danville. After arriving in Danville around 2:00 we walked from the Wabash depot to a spot where the IT car that would be the morning train for Decatur and Springfield was parked overnight right in the middle of a city street. The car was open so we climed aboard and stretched out on seats to catch a few hours sleep.

Around sunup we were wakened when a car cleaner came aboard to sweep out the car, service the water cooler, etc. and upon completion of these tasks move the car and spot it in the middle of a main street in front of the downtown hotel that housed the IT station agent and waiting room. After a quick breakfast we returned to the hotel where a dozen or so passengers had gathered and the motorman and conductor were receiving their train orders from the agent. Somewhere in my archives I have an ITC timetable signed by both men and a yellow flimsie copy of that train order addressed to "C&M train No.61 car XXX".

Soon after the conductor called "All Aboard" to the waiting passengers we were off and once we left the city streets for the IT's private ROW the motorman notched his controller open and we sped along rocking rather wildly stopping only at Ogden to board another passenger before reaching Champaign. Several passengers left the train there and my friend and I got off  to walk around the station and to observe the loading of LCL freight and express shipments into the car's baggage/express compartment. There was a good bit of activity and several new passengers boarded the car. As I recall it was about 10 minutes before we left Champaign enroute to Decatur.

I recall the car stopping  to let an elderly lady off right in front of her house in Monticello. The ITC truly lived up to its slogan as "The Road of Personal Service". Somewhere we had a meet with eastbound train No.60 from Springfield and Decatur but I don't recall exactly where and would have to find the copy of that train order I have to pinpoint the location.

We asked the conductor to stop at North Junction on the east side of Decatur where we got off the train to await the arrival of the early morning train from Peoria on the line through Bloomington. After that big orange car passed by we hiked down the track to the IT's large Decatur car and motor shop. It was Saturday and the shops were idle with only a friendly watchman on duty. We identified ourselves as railfans and he gave us the run of the entire shop and yard. There were a number of cars and Class B and C freight motors in the shop area and we spent the entire day clambering over and around everyone of them. My only disappointment was that there wasn't a single Class D streamlined  motor in the shops that day.

A bit before 5:00pm we flagged down and boarded east bound train No.64 for the return trip to Danville. To our surprise the train was made up of a motor car followed by a trailer and was likely the only two car train on the Danville line since WW2. Both cars were packed with railfans and regular (mostly elderly) riders who wanted to ride the very last ITC train to serve Danville. Most of the trip was made with the horn blaring away as we sped past people standing at nearly every grade crossing to wave goodbye to the IT.

After that day IT service on that line ended at the Ogden Wye about 10-12 miles east of Champaign. By 1954 passenger service was cut back to end at Champaign but freight service lasted a few more years all the way to Ogden. In 1954 I transferred to the Univ. of Illinois and had the opportunity to take several middle of the night rides from Urbana to Ogden in the motor and caboose with the freight crew  - but that is another story.

Mark

 

 

Southwind Livery

Posted by KCSfan on Monday, May 21, 2007 9:16 PM

bill haithcoat wrote:

KFC fan :lots of good info. But actually the South Wind did go through both  Birmingham and Montgomery. I am an old Dixie Flagler, Georgian  and L&N buff and  have tons of old timetables to verify it.  Its major cities were: Chicago, Indianapolis, Louisville,Nashville,Birmingham,Montgomery,Jacksonville,Miami.  Its Louisville, Nashville, Birmingham,  Montgomery route was shared by the well known L&N Humming Bird and Pan American.

Hi Bill,

You are absolutely correct. I must be suffering from "old timers disease" because I had completely forgotten that the L&N's mainline between Louisville and Montgomery ran through Birmingham as well. As a teenager and young man I rode all three of the streamliners between Chicago and Florida and one of my fondest memories was riding the South Wind's observation car early one morning through the fog shrouded turpentine pine forests of south Georgia between Thomasville and Valdosta watching the semaphores rise to green as we cleared each block. My only companion was a very young ACL extra board flagman who looked self conscious in his brand new uniform. My destination was always Bradenton (below Tampa on the ACL's Sarasota line) and in those days I'd have to change at Jacksonville from the Chicago-Miami trains to the ACL's West Coast Champion which carried a through coach and Pullman (from NY) to Sarasota.

I believe it was in the early 1950's that Pullmans were added to the consist of the three trains as well a through coaches and sleepers from Chicago to St. Petersburg, Tampa and Sarasota. These were carried in the Champion south of Jacksonville and the connection at Jax became guaranteed. Prior to that if one of the trains from Chicago was late the Champion would be held in Jax only briefly for passengers coming from Chicago. Once I missed the connection with the Champion and had to ride an all stops ACL local all the way to Tampa in a straight back coach seat. In addition to a few head end cars that local carried only a "Jim Crow" combine and a single coach, lunch was a stale ham and cheese sandwich and candy bar purchased from a news butcher who boarded the train during the Orlando station stop. Even for a railfan it was a trip to be endured not enjoyed!

Your mention of the Southland brings back fond recollections of my first ever trip in a Pullman. It was in the winter of 1942-3 with my Aunt from Tampa to Gary, IN in an open section car with Auntie having the lower and I the upper berth. Two nights and one day behind steam all the way over the ACL's Perry Cutoff, the CofG from Albany to Atlanta, then L&N to Cincy and finally the PRR behind double headed K-4 Pacifics. Another first of that trip was eating in a dining car. I remember that meal like it was yesterday; a breakfast in a CofG diner consisting of fresh orange juice, country ham topped by fried eggs, grits and a piping hot corn meal muffin served in its cast iron baking dish; all savored during a high speed dash behind a CofG Mountain as we rolled up the speedway between Macon and Atlanta. What I wouldn't give to relive that trip again.

Mark

 

 

Classis Train questions (50 years or older)

Posted by KCSfan on Saturday, January 24, 2009 7:10 PM

 

Deggesty

Mark, you have the right junction between the GS&F and the SAL. Hampton was not a well-known junction, perhaps because the rest of the year the GS&F had only its Valdosta-Palatka train going through there. As to the operation into Chicago, the Big Four had trackage rights from Kankakee north; it did have its own station in Kankakee (5/6 of a mile from the IC station).

Johnny

Johnny,

I remember well the GS&F Palatka branch since it was the locale of one of my fondest memories. As a young boy I was riding in the family 1941 Buick Century down the highway which paralleled the railroad for many miles through north Florida. I was in the back seat  keeping a lookout ahead as always for, hopefuly, an oncoming train. Imagine my surprise when I heard a whistle and looked out the back window to see a train rapidly overtaking us. Glory be it was a mixed train headed by an immaculate 4-6-0 in unmistakable SR green and gold passenger livery.  Her tender was proudly labelled "Southern" in gleaming gold letters with GS&F in smaller gold leaf under the cab window. A grinning negro fireman was waving from the cab to us as the train sped by. The consist was maybe 12-15 freight cars followed by a SR combine with a plume of black smoke trailing just over the car tops. The icing on the cake was when that hogger blew a melody on the chime whistle for a grade crossing just as he passed us. Our speedometer showed 60mph so I would guess that ten wheeler had to be doing at least 75 mph. Soon the train was out of sight vanishing in the distance down that long tangent track. A faint trail of smoke hung in the air over the highway and track. What I wouldn't give to have a picture of that train but as usual in those days I didn't have access to a camera. However that glorious scene is etched forever in my mind's eye.

This may be a technicality but I don't think the Big Four had trackage rights over the IC between Kankakee and Chicago. I lived my youth along this line and all Big Four trains (with the exception of the James Whitcomb Riley in the early years when it was headed by a streamlined 4-6-2) were headed by IC locomotives with IC train crews and IIRC carried IC train numbers. This leads me to think this was something other than a trackage rights arrangement.

Time for the next question. What train was both dark and sparkly, what road ran it and what were its end point terminals The question refers to the name of the train not the colors of its equipment.

Mark

 

 

 

A Railroad Christmas Greeting

Posted by KCSfan on Friday, December 11, 2009 4:18 PM

 

At this joyous time of the year I'd like to extend a warm holiday greeting to all my Classic Trains friends. I've learned much from each of you and truly cherish our visits together on the forums. I had you all in mind as I penned the following and hope you enjoy the results of my literary efforts.

             "Twas the Night Before Christmas a Long Time Ago

                                      by Mark Foster

           The markers were lit and hung on back of the way car,

             but because of the storm couldn't be seen from afar.

                The lamps in the crummy cast a flickering glow

                       inside the car and out onto the snow.

 

                 The rear brakie had stowed his flagging kit

                and climbed to the cupola with a cigarette lit.

                 On the conductor's desk inside the way car

                 sat a miniature tree topped by a silver star.

 

     A wrinkled old hogger clenched a cigar between his teeth

  and its smoke hung 'round his striped cap much like a wreath.

     After a few scoops of coal and blowing water gauge cocks

   the fireman settled down comfortably on his left side seatbox.

 

      The head shack snoozed in his doghouse atop the tender,

      fitfully dreaming of Rule G 'cause he'd come off a bender.

     The carknockers checked the journals for waste and for oil

          and when finished were weary from all of their toil.

 

        A switchman lined all the leads to the main just right

then headed to his warm shanty for this was the last train tonight.

         The conductor's lantern swung up and swung down

          letting the engineer know it was time to leave town.

 

 With two shorts on the whistle he notched the throttle just back

    and for good measure put sand on the snow covered track.

           Past dimly lit switchstands the train slowly rolled

             onto the main through the snow and the cold.

 

      The lightning slinger's key flashed an OS over the wire

 then he turned and warmed his hands by the station stoves fire.

        His thoughts turned to the kids and jolly Saint Nick,

             'twould soon be the end of his second trick.

 

Through the snow down the track the headlight shone bright,

      a most welcome beacon on such a cold stormy night.

  The stack now barked briskly, the clean fire burned bright,

'twould please any brass hat who might chance see the sight.

 

          For each grade crossing the whistle would moan

          and all aboard thought of their family and home.

          The semaphores all dropped from green to red

                as by each one the fast manifest sped.

 

      The head shack lined the switch for a mid-run meet

         then headed back to his warm tender top retreat.

        After the passage of the Night Owl passenger train

           it was out of the hole and back onto the main.

 

Side rods again were a blur, lineside poles fairly flashed by,

          and the snow continued to fall from the sky.

 By dawn the run would be over and all safely back home.

   Merry Christmas dear friends, 'tis the end of this poem.

[NorthWest]

Oh no! This is terrible news.

I am going to miss Mark's excellent questions and wealth of knowledge.

Rest in piece, and thank you for all of your contributions.

My sincere condolences to his family.

[wanswheel]

KCSfan Mark (1932-2015)

http://www.auldsfuneral.com/memsol.cgi?user_id=1646969#

Good-bye, Mark, thank you for excellent example, be with God, rest in peace.