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A Two Train Day

Freight & Passenger Trains

It was a nice afternoon to run some errands. We found a freight train running through town as we had a rest at the Ashland Visitors Center.

CSX 5244

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All Passengers Aboard!

Jun26

Rain Or Shine

Even on rainy days it’s fun to watch the trains. Even if we’re munching on lunch inside the car, we’re still right next to the tracks and able to get a good view of Amtrak as they pass by.

Amtrak

Of course watching them in the sunshine is much nicer. Especially on a sunny warm day.

Amtrak 91

And it’s especially nice when we get there as the local commuter train is pulling into the depot to drop off passengers from Richmond.

Amtrak 91

The Simple Things

Apr15

Do You Like Trains?

Many people plan for months for their spring break. Taking exotic vacations, or visiting family or running off to the beach for fun in the sun after the cold winter months. But in this financial recession many families can’t afford those big plans to get away from it all. For those folks there’s still things to do to enjoy the week and relax a little.

We’ve learned that sometimes the best memories come from the simple things that cost little to no money at all. As long as you’re spending the time with those you love. And doing something you truly enjoy doing.

Evil & Spring 04/2012 – Watching the Trains In Ashland

For us, that’s a little 20 minute trip into town. In particular into Ashland, Virginia. Touted as the “Center of the Universe“, it’s a simple little historic town where one of the countries oldest colleges calls home. That would be Randolf-Macon College.

One of the advantages of living in the middle of no where is that going into town is often a an adventure. And that’s true for us.

Because we’re so far away from civilization we plan our trips, whither we go north to Fredericksburg or south to Ashland.

But on occasion taking a spontaneous trip brings the most fun. And on our last Saturday of Spring Break that’s exactly what we decided to do. We made it a train day! Continue reading →

Coming And Going

Apr14

North & South Bound Passing

As we’ve mentioned in our little train tribute section, it’s not often we see north and south bound trains passing each other in the middle of town. Today was one of those special days.

CSX 751

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Waving At Trains

Jun24

Train Poems

Trains have been a fascinating fixture in every culture of the world. They draw people to them to watch them pass by and even to wave at their engineers and passengers. There so many different things that draw us to the roaring sounds of a train. Roger McGough tried to put some of his reasons into poem.

Amtrak 54

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The Birthday Train

May28

An After Dinner Treat

When your birthday falls on a week day, it’s nice to go out to dinner on the weekend. And our after dinner treat is always a walk around Randolf-Macon College and train watching.

CSX 5445

Freight Train

Oct2

Counting The Cars

There’s nothing like counting cars on a freight train. I remember as little kids we always counted the cars on trains and anticipated seeing the caboose. Most trains do without the caboose now days. But it’s still fun to count the cars.

CSX 5380

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The Garbage Train

Aug13

What’s That Smell?

Summer is the worst time to be around garbage. Even if it’s in a train. When the garbage train is heading south, it’s typically taking garbage from up north to some dump down south and that’s the worst time to be train watching. When it’s heading north, it still stinks. But not nearly as bad!

CSX

Just One Train

Jun7

A Slow Train Day

Even on the days when we have time to watch the trains, sometimes they’re not very accommodating and we only see one during our visit. This was such a day.