Ok while we are on the subject, does the NS still run through the tunnel where John Henry lost the race with the steam drill? Have there been any reports of John hunting that tunnel? Growing up my two heroes were Casy Jones (he had his own TV show) and John Henry (somehow back then I tired John Henry to the Miner in the CW song Big Bad John.)
I see ghost trains all the time. Our train line up is full of them at times. Trains that have no power or cars assigned to them. Trains that will run eventually, but it could be a couple days later. Makes it hard to figure out when one is going to be going to work.
Jeff
jeffhergertI see ghost trains all the time. Our train line up is full of them at times. Trains that have no power or cars assigned to them. Trains that will run eventually, but it could be a couple days later. Makes it hard to figure out when one is going to be going to work. Jeff
There is a corollary to Ghost Trains - Trains that are created 'before their time'.
When I was working - Terminals were 'supposed' to give 12 hour advance notice of the need for a train that was outside the normal 'scheduled merchandise' operating plan. The intent was for the 12 hours to allow time for the parts of the organization required to allocate resources (power & crew) to implement plans to support the train. In reality, sometimes, 2 hours was the real gestation period - authority for the train was requested and the train called, with both power and crew being on hand at the time the train was requested. Such happenings could leave adjoining Divisions 'holding a empty bag' where the run time for the train to a crew change point was on the order of 4 hours.
Never too old to have a happy childhood!
Anonymous There is a book called Ghost Trains that has stories of haunted stations, bridges, tunnels, etc. You can probably get it at yor local book store.
I feel compelled to respond to my own post here. I apologize for the fact that I didn't have my geography quite right here. I was going too much on my own memory from the time that I researched this about 15 years ago. Adding to my difficulty is the fact that the geography for this area really is somewhat complicated.
First of all, the large, spidery (and now abandoned) Springville Trestle on the B&P which spans Cattaraugus Creek is at the EAST end of the Zoar Valley, not the west end where I'd put it in my previous post.
The famous Portageville Trestle on Norfolk Southern that was completely rebuilt (replaced, really) is not on Cattaraugus Creek at all but spans the Genesee River gorge.
Sorry about that !
Regards,
Fred M. Cain
I have one here about Grim Reaper! But no really related to train..
Grim Reaper ... if you really see the face of death on the railroad...
https://railworkersunited.storenvy.com/collections/593503-merchandise/products/25690680-poster-the-haunt-of-hunter
Oh, that's good.
If only it was just a joke.
Greetings from Alberta
-an Articulate Malcontent
"Yes, be afraid. Be very afraid"
-- Mel Brooks
scilover I have one here about Grim Reaper! But no really related to train..
Reminds me of the Irish legend of the banshee. The banshee isn't like the Reaper, but is a wailing female spirit who's a harbinger of the imminent death of someone in the household, and the odd thing is, or was, only one or two people in the house will hear it, no-one else, and not necessarily the one who's going to die.
Is it true? Actress Maureen O'Hara said she heard the banshee the night before her grandmother died. My grandfather (on my mother's side) as a boy assisted his father and other men in burning down a tree that was supposed to have been a home for banshees. So some believe it's true.
Americans of Irish extraction don't have to worry about banshees though, they didn't follow the Irish over here. Leprechauns, on the other hand...
Overmod Grim Reaper ... if you really see the face of death on the railroad... https://railworkersunited.storenvy.com/collections/593503-merchandise/products/25690680-poster-the-haunt-of-hunter
Of course, in his later days, EHH looked even more like death than the cartoon....
Peter
I can also add that there are a number of versions as to just WHO the girl in white of Silver Run had been. In the version I posted above, she was waiting for the train at Silver Run Station and either fell or was jilted by her lover and did herself in.
Hmmmn. I'm not sure there ever was a passenger station at Silver Run to begin with. Does anybody know?
Another version has the young girl boarding the train at Grafton (or somewhere) on her way to meet her lover in Parkersburg but she never arrived and no one knew what had happened to her. A while later the ghostly appearances began.
Oh, and an afterthought here. I take back what I said in my earlier post about there is no explanation. I think I may have found the explanation.
To see the explanation, just click here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-b5aW08ivHU
Ha, ha, ha, ha ! ! ! ! !
Ever hear of "The Hookerman?" Soon you will!
(Real high-school stuff, by the way!)
https://weirdnj.com/stories/unexplained-phenomena/hookerman-spook-lights/
Flintlock,
Most interesting, I must say! You know there have also been many, many reports of some kind of a "spook light" along Old U.S. 66 in southwest Missouri and northeastern Oklahoma. So many people have seen it that it cannot be dismissed. It's real whatever it is.
Back before the interstates were opened, many a traveler on Route 66 spotted the light. A few people were even fortunate enough to capture it on film. But what the heck is it? I don't think there were/are any railroad tracks in the vicinity.
Some people theorized that headlights gleaming off the clouds could somehow produce a light like that floating above the ground. But that explanation doesn't seem too plausable either.
However, I liked the explanation about quartz being under severe pressure causing an electrical field. That is an interesting possibility.
After I-44 was opened, people didn't drive much on the old road anymore so reports of its presence diminished. But it has never quite gone away.
https://www.joplinmo.org/575/The-Spook-Light
The Silver Run question deserves a bit more study.
There's a common issue with The War Of Many Names (1861-1865) which involves place names. The Southern names for many battles involve familiar town or context names (like Manassas) whereas the Union used features on topo maps, often watercourses (like Bull Run). We might immediately recognize Silver Run as originating in a stream name, but there are also towns getting their name direct (like Laurel Run in Pennsylvania)
I see a GPS reference for Silver Run Station (it's on Silver Run Road):
Perhaps those of you with an interest can examine this on Google Earth or comparable satellite view or research it better by location.
Overmod,
Could easy be. By all the descriptions I've read about the incident, it happened out in the middle of nowhere in front of a tunnel. But things change. Could there once have been a small community there? This supposedly happened about 110 years ago (if, that is it happened at all). Hmmmn.
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