At the Como Roundhouse This Morning II

Sunrise over the old Como Yards
the night crews would be gone to rest.
It’s rather a ghostly picture now,
though I remember it at its best.

Memories of little old engines,
ready for the morning freights.
One for the east at seven thirty,
the other for the west at eight.

Train crews bustling around the yards
and enginemen oiling around.
Weather didn’t seem to matter much,
even though there’s snow in the yard.

Memories of whistles sounding off
as they pull out on the main.
Billows of smoke in the rising sun’s rays,
made a picture not seen again.

George Champion, 1958

Samuel Howard‘s photo in his August 7th post “At the Como Roundhouse This Morning” of the sunrise over the old DSP&P / C&S roundhouse in Como brought to mind the above poem written by George Champion who as a young man worked for the railroad in the machine shop and later on trains. George was also quite the photographer, and shared many B&W 8x10s with me when I interviewed him in 1981 when George was 97, for an article that ran in a 1982 Rail Classics magazine.

The accompanying photo of machinists in the wooden machine shop attached to the roundhouse was taken in about 1907 by George on a 4x5 glass plate negative, and the shot of #9 on the turntable by the roundhouse was just one of the many excellent photos he had taken (this is the same #9 that today is in the Breckenridge park).