I was about five years old when I took my first train trip. My mother and a friend and her son and I went to the Ringling Brothers-Barnum and Bailey Circus. I remember that along the way we played word games. Very simple ones. For example, when we entered the town of Warner, my mother would ask, “Do you “warner” (want) a river?” because the Warner River flowed through the town.
Then the conductor would come by. The conductor was a short, stout men. He would say, “Warner, Warner. Next stop is Warner.”
We always had to change trains in Concord, the state capitol. When we got off at the station, the first thing which always caught my eye was the huge (to me) red, nineteenth century coach, —the Concord Coach. It has been over a decade since I last was in Concord. And it has been years and years since I was in the old train station there. By now it had probably been torn down, just the old Depot in Fitchburg was torn down sometime around 1959. What a shame!
But the Concord Coach has been preserved. I am pretty sure I read somewhere that the Concord Coach is now in a New Hampshire museum, but I don‘t know which one.
My Welch uncle by marriage was RAILWAY EXPRESS AGENT in CONCORD during my high school days,where I went also for a half year to CONCORD HIGH SCHOOL, if you recall, before returning to STEVENS and graduating from there in 1954. My uncle Bill had been an agent(in charge of things for Railway Express in Westfield,Massachusetts, and during the War in Windsor,Vermont. I used to ride the train from Concord to Claremont and vice versa for free, because my uncle would put me on the train. I actually rode the train quite a bit, and recall the wood stove and stacks of wood in the last car on the train and how the condition and care of the trains had deteriorated but the trips were cozy and warm. I also worked in Concord during college or shortly before summers sorting camp baggage going north to summer camps, along with other duties for RREXP. Believe me, I earned my pay. You had three minutes to do things when a train came in,give or take, one minute to put the stuff going north,etc. and take off the stuff for Concord,etc. as well as meeting the train as fast as you could even while it was still moving and you followed. Will save other tidbits about my experiences with trains for another time. Keep up the good work.
ReplyDeletePlease go to TESS GERRITSEN'S website and read her blogs where she is also talking about E-BOOKS,etc. Her characters of Rizzoli and Iles will be on a TV series soon. You can access her site at www.tessgerritsen.com She also has a number of other things to say about writing and publishing which you might find interesting. Thanks, Halford
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