Rock on ,Old Iron Horse !

Mr.Hawkins started a wonderful thread below . Reading each entry is well worth it .I wish to elaborate on my entry into what was my great life adventure . My dad bought me a Lionel train set . My mom gave me several of Lucius Beebe's atmospheric but almost unreadable paens to American railroading ,both large and small . My life was ruined after that ! Some childhood memories.... 1. At four , we were taking my father to board the S.S. Lurline for his business trip to Hawaii in early 1956 , at Long Beach . No freeways yet ,so everywhere in the LA area a traffic jam .I remember we stopped on railroad tracks .I was scared as I saw a very old harbor steamer stop about 250 feet from the road . That spring ,I remember seeing a 0-6-0 switching around the "Brew 102 " works along the banks of the sparkling LA River .A year later I rode the Key System in the Bay Area .I do not remember where we boarded ,but dear old Dad got me a seat net to the motorman .I remember crossing on the Bay Bridge ,and rolling down sunny Telegraph Avenue through Berekely ,terminating at the grand old Fairmount Hotel in the Oakland Hills .
A year or so after that I rode the short-livedctrain in Griffith, behind Oahu Railway and Land #85 .In the mean time ,reading Beebe's "Hear the Train Blow" I learned all about narrow gauge . In 1966 ,I talked Dad into a trip on the Silverton .He hated it (he hated train travel in general ,like many in his generation), I loved it .
Time passed , and I had a long history working on the narrow gauge ,both in Durango and Chama . I often ended up explaining myself to why I chose that path in life . The disbelief of others made me question the choices I made .I look back and get philosophical .It was a wonderful life adventure ,but perhaps not a good life choice .I dearly wish it stayed a hobby intead of a vocation. As I have said to many younger men interested in working on a tourist roads ,"I wouldn't trade he experience for the world ,but I wouldn't do it over again !" Nevetheless , my life was a celebration of something that is close to core of what made our nation a giant among nations ,and the great fellowship that enshrines it .