>I waited around a bit and the engineer returned, started up that big >engine, and agreed to pose for a quick "happy snap." Here he is holding his >coffee and wishing you all a pleasant day <smile>
http://home.earthlink.net/~digisnaps/4712b.html Whenever I see a North American railroad engine, it always takes me back to when I was eleven years old (1971), and my mother, grandmother and myself were travelling across Canada after getting off the boat from England at Montreal, to meet my father and sister in Vancouver after a 6 month sojourn in the UK. We spent three glorious days on a Canadian Pacific train, complete with observation cars and everything. The porters came and made the beds up at night and it was right out of scene from Some Like It Hot, with curtains everywhere. Going through some fantastic scenery, from mile after mile of rolling plains of wheat to the Rocky Mountains themselves. It was breathtaking. The bit I remember the most, was getting to travel a two hour stint in the cab of the lead engine, in the foothills of the Rockies. It was snowing and there was a velvet cover of virgin snow on the ground as we rolled along. [That's enough waxing lyrical - Ed.] In the twilight I could make out deer leaping ahead of us and then darting off into the forest. It just couldn't get better than this. The engineer *was* wearing the full garb from what I recall, complete with striped cap. He was a tower of a man and I remember him pulling out cans of distilled water (sic) from an ice chest under his seat, gulping the contents down more or less in one go, and unceremoniously crushing the empties in his enormous hands - just like Captain Quint does much later in 'Jaws'. I was in complete and total awe. It stays with me to this day. Thanks for the nice shot, Shel. Cheers, Cotty ___/\__ || (O) | People, Places, Pastiche ||=====| http://www.cottysnaps.com _____________________________
