Re: Count our blessings!!

Those of us who are old enough to remember 1958 (except for the few lucky ones who lived within driving distance of the N&W or D&RGW narrow gauge) cannot begin to express the anguish of the first full Year Without Steam.

As John has pointed out, we are SO LUCKY that ANYTHING has survived! Each of us should do the best he (or she) can to help preserve what little is left. Given the present state of the Whirled and the economy, enjoy - and help preserve - what we have have while we can!

Are the D&S or the C&TS or even the NN perfect? No. But they are WAY better than a bicycle path between Rockwood and Silverton or Cumbres and BigHorn, or a deserted right-of-way from Ely to Cobre. And who, in 1958, could have imagined riding a train from Devil's Gate to Silver Plume, or that Orbisonia and the woods of Oregon and Maine would echo to the sound of steam whistles in Two-Thousand-goddam-Ought-Seven??

I, for one, am VERY grateful that the opportunity (if not always the means) to relive a semblance of my youth still exists.

THANK YOU Al Harper, Tim Tennant, Mark Bassett, et al & etc., ...

- El Curmudgeono Viejo y Loco



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/05/2007 08:50AM by Russo Loco.