There were literally hundreds of spots just like we presented. There is no way we could show them all. Bye all from the Cheat Mountain in and around Durbin West Virginia.
OUR CABOOSE CAMPING VACATION
This was one of the nicest things we have done over the past fifty years. We may return for fall color if my health holds up.....providing they have enough cabooses.
Oh that is so good to hear!! We've been doing something similar every year for the past 10 at least. This one (Durbin) has the best employees/owners!! Now I can't wait to go back. Great pictures!
Looks like you had a great time, thanks for sharing.
Trying to convince hubby to look into it.
Doc, what fun!!! I remember seeing debilu's thread on her Caboose trip last year and I've got it bookmarked - sounds like something we'd enjoy :)
Doc, this is so cool! Thanks for the tour. Gosh, I wish I had known about this before Daddy died and Mom got sick. They took one of those riverboat rides several years ago and had the time of their lives. They would have loved this too.
Those of you who are or who live with a fustrated engineer...........go back to the pix labeled...REAR OF THE ENGINE. This is where four rough sawed green pieces of timber were used in the repair of the Durbin Rocket. This is evidence of mountain craftsman's work possibly after a deep in the mountain accident that bent or broke the steel foundation steel beams. That's my guess. No one there today knows when this was done. In fact they never gave it a thought until I ask. The rocket was a logging engine. Those beams were available and consequently is what were used to get back on the road without wasting days to bring in steel and weld it in place.
This message was edited Aug 12, 2009 4:16 PM
Too bad my Dad's been gone 5 years he would have LOVED to do the caboose camping.
That's really neat- thanks for sharing!
http://mountainrail.meer.net/index.html
for info
Doc, This trip looks wonderful. So glad you were able to get to enjoy it.
That looks like one neat ride Doc. My GF was a retired railroad blacksmith, started in the 19teens. He always enjoyed the trains he helped build and repair. He loved to travel by rail, or so I was told. I think his last trip was in the 50s, cross country to escort his newly married daughter to her husband stationed in California (my parents). The company took care of their own back then, his family rode for free. I had the pleasure of his company for my first 16 years and learned a lot. Ric
This ride while brief was just great. I worked in the commercial power house field for a good many years. That made this engine most interesting to me.
Doc, showed your pictures to hubby, he is a retired electrician from the Bessemer and Lake Erie RR. He knew about every piece in your Spare parts picture. LOL
So sad what has become of out RR system, I keep saying it was what built this country, we should be getting back to it. I would not mind taking the train to work every day. I use to ride the Streetcars in Pgh. that was the only way mom and I got to where we had to go. Streetcars and shoe leather.
Their are a few train locations like this scattered about our country. This one was within reach or range of our medical oxygen needs. We have two more similar locations where we may invest a few more days within our ability to travel to and enjoy.
Wellsboro, Pa has a train that runs daily in the summer and into fall color.
Near Mount Union on route 522 in Pennsylvania is a major historical site containing several working trains, a roundhouse and several shops. Several of the trains are on duty Spring, summer and for fall color. Many of the employees are retired train people.
The key to this type of interest is that it is the lives of the employees and their true interest that makes the event priceless. No sleepy ticket takers and parking attendents at these sites.
Via Dmail I have been ask about my camera. Presently I have a "Kit" camera......the Canon Rebel XTi with two bottom end lens that came with it. Most of the photographs on this event were shot with full automation....three shots a second. Because the train was movng and bouncing about I used the sports mode. This enabled me to get three to six shots of each subject as we were inroute. There was little time to play with all my other options. I took at least two hundred pix each day we traveled and trashed most of them to get a few good compositions. My junk file was a bit larger than my keepers file. LOL
Doc, What a treat. I can remember when a locomotive with a coal tender and red caboose ran outside our back door between our back yard and the lumber yard. There was a siding where a box car or gondola of wood products was left to be unloaded. It was scary but thrilling to see the man reach between two huge cars to uncouple them. I often ran to the kitchen window to see if a man was standing on the rear deck of the caboose, so I could wave to him. I always wondered who could possibly be so lucky to be able to do that, and look it's you and Betty! Thank you for sharing your vacation and bringing back these memories. Pam
If the man was not on the back deck of the caboose he was likely inside boozing. The stories about that lonely man and his plights are many. Some are sad while others are crazy as your mind could make them. Seems lots of activities went on in that caboose that were not on the daily work sheet. All pickups along the way were snuck aboard and the fun began...or something like that. In keeping with human nature facts would have it that they were not all hungry free riding men. LOL
Doc, Last I was over that way the New Hope Ivyland was still operating in Northern Bucks Co. just above Washington's Crossing. Ric
Yes, Ric. It's still running.
Thanks Stormy, It's been a few years since I was up that way. I still have sketches and pics of the old train and station. I have sketches of a bunch of old stations, always wanted to do paintings of them when I got time. LOL Ric
I just found this.. very, very cool!
Hey, great train and camping trip!! I love the thunder and rumble of an old train. I lived next to a track in Arkansas as a kid and heard the trains every day/night. It was like a cosmic stop in play to hear and watch the trains. Your pictures are wonderful, Doc!!
Thank you!!! My camera without any specific coaching just signed me up for evening classes at Penn Tech a wing of Penn State to maybe learn how to do even better photography. I know there are better pictures in that funny little box if I can tweak them out.
Hey.........Falls Church (pretty country) is where my wife's family from grandmother on originated. The homestead was a farm with river frontage. My father in law and his buddies on several occasions built boats in Pennsylvania and fish floated and poled their way down our creek to the Potamic to the farm. That was a long weekend. The boats were left for the kids to play with until it was bondfire time.
Did anyone else take any interesting trips this year?
Hmm. The zoning/district of the Mason/Dixon District may have changed considerably since the farm days of in-laws. What is now Falls Church runs past Arlington and Alexandria (further south of Arlington. Arlington and Alexandria now reach the Potomac, while Falls Church does not. Too bad. Canoeing and Kayakking is a favorite sport here, but we are close to a couple of lakes--Lake Barcroft and Lake Accotink. Accotink is public while Barcroft is private.
No, I didn't take any mentionable exciting trips this year. Maybe next. Too busy.
Well, we went to Amsterdam... and then we took a couple of weeks to travel around the southwest... but I'd say our most exciting trip was the one we took to the hospital August 18th to bring Joyanna home! :-)
I'll be doing this again in 2 weeks!
I went to Cape May, NJ for a week and also had 2 long weekends in Atlantic City. Went to two concerts in Atlantic City. One was The Moody Blues and the other was Crosby Stills & Nash.
Next month I'll have a 4 day Chesapeake Sailing trip and a weekend in New York with my neices, who have moved into yet another apartment. They move every year, but now they are only on the 2nd floor (as opposed to 3rd, 4th & 5th floor walkups) and thankfully did not ask me to help with this move!
Also plan to visit my other neice at her apartment at Penn State. She is a freshman and it's the first time she is away from home.