The WildClickers take the train to the Rainforest. Track 61

My grandfather was a station master and telegrapher. We lived a block from the depot, right by the railroad siding. It was a small town, but had a huge siding which could hold more than 200 cars. The only time you would ever hear my grandmother swear was when an engine was coming down the line and she had her laundry on the clothes line. As it was a big siding, the engines were obliged to slow down when approaching anyway, and all the engineers knew to look for her wash on the line. If they saw it, they'd stop and would not enter the siding until she'd gotten it all down.

All the little children of the family, all the cousins, would stand at the south window of the dining room and watch the shunt engines moving the cars around, breaking down trains and making up new ones. Lots of crash and bang as the couplings collided. Better than television for a babysitter, the little ones could literally spend hours watching the "choo-choos" working out in the siding.

I've got the travel bug now!!!!!!!!!!

Just received a cool article! We can stop along the way and visit the Carabou!

Caribou Summer
From the journal of photographer John Dunne:

"There is a tarp over my tent to keep the ultraviolet sun rays from degrading this good tent. The tarp comes down pretty low, and I must crawl out backwards to exit the tent. When I did so this morning, I stretched, turned around, and there were hundreds of caribou. I slowly crawled back in the tent. They were already spooked, though, and left soon. When I got out to look around, I saw several thousand caribou along the hills by the river. They were all females and calves.

"On the hill beyond the river, little calves were running like mad up and down the hill, just playing, What a feeling: They were born a couple weeks ago. They can stand within 20 minutes of birth and run within an hour. Now, they were zooming around in big circles, jumping and bucking.

"I estimate there were 3,000 caribou in this valley today. They've all headed east. All the other caribou that have passed through went west. Logic? Pattern? No, that's caribou."

Read more of John Dunne's journal:
http://www.wilderness.org/OurIssues/Arctic/journal.cfm

See a slideshow of Dunne's journey:
http://www.wilderness.org/OurIssues/Arctic/slideshow.cfm

moo's and caribou

and hi lad!

(Big balls in cowtown, yeah)
(Come on fiddle, yeah)
(George)

Workin' on the railroad
Sleepin' on the ground
Eatin' saltine crackers
Ten cents a pound
Big Ball's in Cowtown
We'll all go down
Big Ball's in Cowtown
We'll dance around
(Ehhhh, come in momma, the hog's done got me)

(Mind if I sing one George)
I'll go to Cowtown
I'll dance around
Board up your windows
The big boy's in town
Big Ball's in Cowtown
We'll all go down
Big Ball's in Cowtown
We'll dance around

Put on your new shoes
Put on your gown
Shake off them sad blues
The Big Ball's in town
Big Ball's in Cowtown
We'll all go down
Big Ball's in Cowtown
We'll dance around
(Come on Ricky, fiddle down)

Everybody's smilin'
You can't find a frown
(Ah)
The girls are all happy
Cause the Big Ball's in town
(That's right)
Big Ball's in Cowtown
We'll all go down
Big Ball's in Cowtown
Yeah, yeah Big Ball's in town

Good slideshow, sad commentary.

ebeth you still up?

FYI - I'm having a little trouble getting my password back from the forest clicking folks.
when I got the bug on my PC I lost all my cookies and I'm having a hard time getting things worked out with them.

Round 2 of clicking accomplished.

littlek, yes it was, but the journey quite marvelous!

hi Husker! Good seeing your posts again at both rainforest sites!

Danon, have a great visit with daughter and grandbaby! Searching for railroad artifacts, but so far haven't found a good page. <not yet anyhooo>

Hi ya Setanta! Sounds like a great place to have spent your childhood!
Thanks for sharing your story.

A photo of the 3rd and Townsend SP Railroad Station - San Francisco
<first auto i ever drove <legally> was one of them kinda mobiles! A 1947 Chevy!> I'm having so much fun viewing vintage pics!

I took a shot, and although i would never have thought it, here is a photo of the depot where my grandfather was station master and telegrapher . . .

Wow, Set, that's super-cool!

Small town in the middle of nowhere, but damn it, google has got an image of almost everything.

I dunno, if you were looking for an old general store or town gas station I dunno if you'd find an image. RR stas have a bit of a cult following.

Here's one better . . . the legend for this image has this coal-burner entering the siding, which means that it's crossing the street in front of my grandparent's house, the house i was raised in. These are the coal-burners that used to wait just outside the town for my grandmother to take in her washing.

So, your grandma's house is behind the train or the camera?

The train is just passing my grandparent's house, and is to the right of the photographer. The photographer would have been standing on the grassy verge of a very small wood lot across from the front yard.

Great photos, Setanta! Your grandmother must have been a very neat lady.

littleK - a photo of a Safeway store- 1953 - <my car parked out front> <grin>



Wow, I found a photo of the reopening of a Chevron Station (Mission Street, SF) <with National Guardsman supervising> after the gasolene strike of 1934.

Damn, gasolene prices were 15 cents a gallon!

Ok, lets all go on strike!!!!!!!!!!

<digression alert>

Oh! I love this photo! Been a long time since I boarded a train. Last time was to Union Station in Wash. DC. Hope you all had a happy 4th! Ours was great! Big parade in NJ. It was wonderful! Happy to be back and clicking away! thanks for 61, it was a great year for me, sweet sixteen!

This is going to be a cooool trip! Great photos, thanks!

Great stuff, Setanta and Stradee. That is all really interesting and good pics.

Clicked.