Thursday, April 29, 2010

Steam Locomotive

I've been meaning to post about this for a couple weeks, but the time got away from me. See my posts about gardening for details!

Union Pacific #844, the last steam locomotive built for this line

Early in April, we had one of those weekends that included a little bit of everything. Thursday we got the house all spic and span, for a wonder. Friday we had some friends in from Austin for a visit. Saturday the Captain helped his brother begin demolition for a little home remodeling project; while I dug up the earth for garden box #1. Sunday morning, we were all up and ready for church 30 minutes before time to leave, also a wonder!

As we enjoyed leisurely coffee and cereal around the breakfast table, the Captain suddenly looked up from surfing the web (since we have canceled the paper) and asked, "What time is it?" The answer was 8:38.

He had just discovered a notice that this historic locomotive would be passing through town, within a mile of our house, between 8:20 and 9am. We looked at each other, then hastily loaded the kids into the car and headed over to the Wellborn crossing to see what we could see.

The small gathering by the tracks was full of anticipation, the kind of atmosphere one finds before a small-town parade. Boo saw a classmate, while I chatted with another mom and Lulu made friends with her daughter.

After a miniature eternity of 30 minutes, the locomotive hove over the horizon. The Captain pulled out the camera and lined up for his shot. I was mesmerized by the iridescence of the steam vapor cloud puffing out above the locomotive.

Suddenly, the group realized this steam train was not proceeding at the leisurely scenic pace we had expected. We all tumbled backward a few paces, in order to be at least 20 feet away from the charging beast! In a blink, the train blew up to and past us, then disappeared around a bend, taking its deafening steam whistle with it.

Recently, Miss Boo has begun saying, "Here comes the future... HEREitis THEREitgoes!" That's about the sum of our steam train experience.

What a rush.

To read more about this particular locomotive, read the news post the Captain found that morning: Historic Locomotive Steams Through Brazos Valley.

1 comment:

  1. I've enjoyed my visit this morning. Loved reading abut your garden. And the train - great pic. My husband recently MADE Addison a wooden train whistle that makes a haunting and beautiful sound with 4 tones. It makes her cry : ( but I think that will pass as she gets a little older. Blessings to you.

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