[Philmont] Autumn Adventure versus Philmont Training Center

My great uncle Vincent Hiltz was a railroad engineer. He had his dog
Boxer chained to a railroad spike in his yard, which was a good thing,
as Boxer liked to lunge at visitors.

When I was a little boy he took my tiny hands in his great big hands
and helped me make the movements to learn how to tie my shoelaces.

He took me out to the railyard one quiet day, lead me to his engine,
hoisted me up into the cab, and let me sit in his seat with his
engineer cap on. He had to hoist me up because my nose came right to
the lowest rung in the steps to get into the cab. His engineer cap
slipped over my ears at one point and the cap covered my eyes.

I got to tour the caboose, too, and remember thinking what a cool club
house it would be. :-)

Joe Jansen
JAJansenJr@gmail.com

On 11/24/07, John LeBlanc <philmontjohn@yahoo.com> wrote:
>
> And don't cheap out on cheap motels in Colovis, they are next to the
> railroad tracks and you get to listen to the trains whistle by at all hours
> of the night huh Calvin Gray?
>
>
> But John, if you were a railroad buff, that sound would be just like
> lullabyes! Not to mention Clovis has a nice model train museum in the old
> depot, AND if you make advance reservations you may be able to tour the
> Norman Petty Recording Studio. That's where Buddy Holly made all his great
> records, and Jimmy Gilmer and the Fireballs recorded "Sugar Shack." (Sorry
> if this is too far back in time for some of you list readers.) One of the
> neat things about the Petty Studio is the 1950's furniture and fixtures.
> It's well worth a visit. I just don't know if the scouts would appreciate
> it, though.
>
> Take a virtual visit at
> http://www.superoldies.com/pettystudios/pettytour.html
>
> Steve Hanson, Austin TX
> Counselor, Railroading Merit Badge
> Chaplain, Thunderbird District
> and a good ol' Owl, too.
>
> **************************
>
> But Steve, I am a railroad buff. My grandfather was a brakeman, head
> brakeman in fact from the days there were two brakeman on each train, on the
> KCS, one of only two railroads in the Us still operating under the original
> name. My monther, still alive at 93, still has her lifetime pass to ride
> KCS free and it was honored by all other lines she presented it to.
>
> As a kid growing up in the 50's, we rode the trains a lot simply because it
> was cost effectife. Free is free,
>
> She now lives in a nice retirement apartment in Beaumont about two blocks
> from the tracks from the west coming into town and gets to listen to the
> whistles every few hours. It's music to her old ears, although the diesel
> horns are not the same as the steam whistles were.
>
> But in clovis, with the East and west bound tracks paralleling each other,
> enough is snough and after a long days drive, I choose the other side of
> town and this is a jab at Calvin gray who mistakenly stayed on the track
> side of town and listened to the trains all night long.
>
> One of the aspects of my job is supervising loading of about two hundred tan
> cars and the shipping of same. I get to listen to a LOT of trains.
>
> Consider this, at my deer cqamp, the "pegs" on the bathroom walls that the
> towels hang on AND the toilet paper rolls from are railroad spikes driven
> into the appropriate size holes bored into the wall to hold the spike. And
> if that ain't cool, I don't know what is.
>
> And I used to sing my olkdest daughter asleep singing the Wabash Canonball.
> Worked every time and listening to my wife laugh at us from the next room
> was worth the effort.
>
> It worked for me.
>
> John LeBlanc
>
> PS I still have my American Flyer model train, that's the one the had a two
> rail track. I commented to my wife that I never had a Lionel trail as a
> kid, so two years ago she gave me one for Christmas. When I finished my 30
> X 30 metal workshop last year she came home only to find me adn my Lionell
> sharing the then empty confines and enjoying life as any normal 61 year old
> should.
>
>
>
> ________________________________
> Be a better sports nut! Let your teams follow you with Yahoo Mobile. Try it
> now.

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As you gather around this virtual campfire with fellow
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Received on Sun Nov 25 04:46:47 2007