Trains and Memories

Just got to see a relative rarity in these parts: a near mile long, mixed freight train. Most all of them that come rumbling through downtown are either solid coal trains heading to the power plant south of town, or they're a mix of double stack containers and tri-level autoracks. To see a train with boxcars, tank cars, open hoppers, covered hoppers, gondolas - basically everything but a little red caboose at the end - is really kind of cool.

What made it even more interesting was the fact that quite a few of the covered hoppers hadn't been repainted for many years now. They carried the logo for the SCL/L&N Family Lines System, one of the precursors to the modern CSX. The SCL/L&N is also the railroad of my first train memories. It was like a little mini-flashback for me.

Oh, well. Guess I need to go back to thinking of how I'm going to train my replacement at this place. This should be a really fun two weeks.