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This doesn't really quailfy, but back in the Fifties we lived across the street from the L&N yard in Marietta. The yard was separated from the street by a jungle, but it didn't keep our windows from rattling every time a mainliner went through. We had a large garage in the back yard and an L&N switchman rented a stall there. My cousin and I had a bad habit of going into the yard and walking the tracks down to the Square, strictly against my Grandmother's orders. One day the switchman was at a steamer hooked to a caboose. He asked if we would like a ride. Would the cat like a bowl of cream? He put us in the caboose, where we went straight to the top and opened the windows. We went about a mile and a half to the team track and back, waving out the windows and hooting -- kings of the road. All along the way our Grandmother's friends were calling her with the news, one after the other. When we got to the house, of course, She Who Must Be Obeyed was waiting, and we got our tails thoroughly warmed. Did that stop us from going to the yard? Of course not! The only time I remember being allowed to go to the yard was the night the water tower caught fire. All of us went and laughed our heads off at the sight of a WATER tower burning half down! God bless the W&A, the NC&St.L, the L&N, and CSX. The historic W&A line, site of the Great Locomotive Chase in the War of Northern Aggression (the first Medals of Honor were awarded for this) is still a very active line, sometimes a little too much so. I very much envy you folks who got actual cab rides.
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