Train!

We live close to the train tracks.  Not as close as some people, but close enough.  They are part of our daily life. Almost to the point where I don't think about them. Until someone new comes to visit and says "Hey you live near the train tracks!"

From the Cat Ranch, you can't see the trains in the summer, but you can hear them.  The more leaves that fall, the more you can see the trains.  (Yet another indicator of fall!)

This was last fall, after the leaves had fallen.

We live along a mainline with LOTS of train traffic and side spur.  It's hard not run into train traffic in the area.  The tracks are everywhere around here. 

Every now and then, when coming home from the store, we get stuck waiting for the train to jockey. Usually it's not more than a 10 minute wait.  It doesn't feel like a long time if you are close to the front of the line and can watch the trains.  If you're in the back of the line, then it's the longest 10 minutes ever. Usually the 10 minutes when you need to use the bathroom. (I should have gone before we left!)

 
Although one hot day, we were coming home from the beer store and got stopped by a train that went back and forth for what seemed like a half hour. Walt Kowalski said "If this train takes any longer, I'm drinking the beer right here before it gets warm."

We also have train nuts.  They love, love, love the trains.  They wait by the tracks with cameras and video to record the trains.  Most of the time it's just tanker cars and transports of trailers.  Once I saw a train full of green tractors. That was cool. 

Then there was the day the tanks came through. They stayed for a few days and were guarded at all hours. Makes me wonder if we miss things going by during the night.  Secretive things. 

Grammy tells stories of her childhood watching the trains go by transporting new cars.  Now the new cars are hidden behind doors of the train cars.

Last summer, on our way home, there was an unusual number of train nuts waiting by the side of the road.  Something more than a usual train was coming.  We stopped to ask and were told a steam engine was coming.  The train nuts had it timed. They had friends at every crossing along the way and located the train with pinpoint accuracy. 

It was a sight to see. 

That doesn't make me a train nut does it?