...I hear, or see, a train?
Sandpoint Idaho has to be the iron horse capital of the world!
Apparently, no less than forty to sixty locomotives pass through that town on a daily basis.
Last weekend, every time one passed by, I couldn't help but jest about their ubiquitous presence - without using the word train...
I hear something.
Can you feel that?
What's that noise?
There must be an earthquake.
Is that a helicopter?
Another tractor-trailer unit must be passing through town...(an entirely different post).
Can you hear that?
What's that banging?
I hear a whistle.
What are those lights?
What's that screeching?
The ground is shaking.
WHAT DID YOU SAY?
I have always found trains facinating:
Their power.
Their noise.
Where are they going?
Where are they coming from?
What are they hauling?
I can't help pausing to listen and watch every time one rolls by, shrieking and pounding, along the rails.
Sandpoint Idaho has to be the iron horse capital of the world!
Apparently, no less than forty to sixty locomotives pass through that town on a daily basis.
Last weekend, every time one passed by, I couldn't help but jest about their ubiquitous presence - without using the word train...
I hear something.
Can you feel that?
What's that noise?
There must be an earthquake.
Is that a helicopter?
Another tractor-trailer unit must be passing through town...(an entirely different post).
Can you hear that?
What's that banging?
I hear a whistle.
What are those lights?
What's that screeching?
The ground is shaking.
WHAT DID YOU SAY?
I have always found trains facinating:
Their power.
Their noise.
Where are they going?
Where are they coming from?
What are they hauling?
I can't help pausing to listen and watch every time one rolls by, shrieking and pounding, along the rails.
A helicopter flew directly over our heads yesterday morning...
"Oh, look, a train!"
I love trains. Much nicer to ride in than airplanes. I'm glad you had a nice time, and yes, the AC agent made the switch before boarding. Calgary airport is really nice, overall, and the staff there were quite friendly, including the customs agents!
ReplyDeletexx
AM
AM, I've spent a lot of time at Calgary airport!
ReplyDeleteAs a matter of fact, Beth and I will be going from there to Montreal to visit Mum and Dad in a few weeks.
I miss Via rail, too. It hasn't passed through these parts for years. I remember riding horseback along the CPR right-of-way in Canmore and waving to passengers from the saddle!
Train is my most favorite way of travelling and as you know did a lot when in Europe.
ReplyDeleteI also love the sound of the eerie train whistle in the distance.
Did you know that Canadian train whistles are middle C on the musical scale?
Apparently Rosemere now has a commuter train all the way to Montreal now - wish it was there when we were.
I also remember when you and Beth at two were at my old Ottawa apt and when the train went by Beth got all excited - I saw a choo choo, I saw a choo choo! I'm sure she'd roll her eyes if reminded of that today.
Lesley
xx
I remember my high school years in New Jersey, we lived just up the road from a Train station, our family new the time schedule! The rumbling, the ominus prescence. It is such a large piece of machinery. I love the old locomotives, such a great name - locomotive. There was an old one in Georgia where my parents used to live at Stone Mountain, I would ride with my Mom.
ReplyDeleteI love trains, used to live right by a train track, for some reason the sound is so comforting. Over here they are different, no long whistle etc...it so reminds me of home.
ReplyDeleteA real steam train too? Are they still in use over there? Ooh I'd so love to see that. As String says, trains in Europe don't sound the same. The only whistle blowing is when they leave a station and it's the conductor, but all the same, I also MUCH prefer to travel by train than car or air. I love your poem too.
ReplyDeleteKoos and I have a dream of having a house by both a canal and a level crossing. We both like the sound of the trains going past, Last week we chased a train for kilometres just so Koos could get a good pic of it at a level crossing.
It was a goods train, a goods train, the shame of it, the shame of it .
Anyone remember Thomas the tank engine?
Lesley, I remember every year, just before Christmas, Mum would load us onto the train at the station in St. Laurent. We would meet Dad and Grandma and Grandpa at Eaton's in Montreal and later we'd end up in Santa's lap telling him what we wanted for Christmas. The grand finale would be dinner in the top floor restaurant before driving home with Dad.
ReplyDeleteThe summer Holly stayed with us, she rode the train to and from work using the Rosemere station. I used to walk down to meet her in the evenings.
I like the name "locomotive", too, Grace. It gives such a feeling of power... a sort of onomatopeoic word.
String, I, too, find the sound comforting, even when I sleep right close to the tracks. I don't find it distracting at all.
It might have something to do with growing up at the end of a major runway for Montreal international airport...
Ah Val, you caught me... That photo I nicked from the internet!
(I usually make a note when I do)
It is indeed Sandpoint rairoad station, though. The same station Eugene's boys, Ian and Lee, leave from to go visit their mom in California.
We did travel on an old steam train at Silverwood Theme Park just south of Sandpoint. I did a post last summer about it.
Alas, the big diesel electric trains are the norm now.
And, yes, I love a good train ride, too!
I'd really like to do the train tour through the Rockies, but I find it difficult to justify the price - especially when I can drive the same route at a pittance of the cost!
I still remember lying in bed and hearing the whistle as the train traversed the crossing.
Two longs a short and a long... That's when I realised the pattern of the train whistle for a level crossing.
The CPR trains rumble through our valley now carrying coal north to Golden then on out to the coast, then back south to do it all over again. There is a level crossing directly across the lake just below my friend, Sue's, property. When I'm on the phone to her I can hear the whistle first through the phone at her end before the sound reaches me across the lake. It's kind of neat!
Thanks Folks - I really enjoyed your responses!
xx
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ReplyDeleteGreat storytelling again, Dale, and mucho thanks for sharing.
ReplyDeleteLong long time ago I had a girlfriend who lived in a disused railway station on a heavily used (every 15 minutes) diesel railway line.
The first time one came through, I almost fell of my chair. By the time number six came by I wondered if I had missed noticing number five. That's how quickly I got used to it.
Her family hadn't heard any of them at all for a long time...
Good thing you got used to your girlfriend's trains in a hurry, Koos.
ReplyDeleteYou may have remembered noticing number five if you had indeed fallen off your chair each time...
Thanks for visiting!
xx