My first overnighter completed...
Most of my modeling friends are also avid rail fans, folks who chase down real trains as a side hobby to their model work. While I do enjoy the sight of locomotives doing their thing on the rails, I've never been much of a chaser.
Thursday night found me in a Holiday Inn overlooking the Red River near a major UP/KCS rail hub. The first sight to greet me was an old UP SD40-2 idling in the shade of an overpass, no doubt assigned to run out her last daze sorting cars in the yard.
My car's parking buddy was a real treat...
...not often one can get so close to a Hi-railer.
My room had an impressive view as well...
...leaving me to think that I would enjoy a pleasant night's rest, blissfully lulled to sleep by an occasional distant air horn, accompanied by the low rumble of EMD prime movers and clatter of running gear.
Was I in for a rude awakening---literally every 30-45 minutes, all night long.
You see, downtowns are generally crowded with traffic during the day, something city fathers wish to keep moving freely during regular business hours for very obvious reasons. 100+ car trains coming and going don't help this flow and so are relegated to running at night, making the required horn blasts at grade crossings---right under my window---every 30-45 minutes---all-night-long...sigh.
Nathan Airchime M5s are not designed to make rail fans out of people looking for a good night's sleep.
I'm praying that my boss gets his next hotel room alongside a Slipknot/Marilyn Manson/Seether allnighter...
2 comments:
Your room's view there, sir... that "green triangle" and rail tracks are like sirens singing "put me on your layout...come, put me there..." I guess I saw something looking a little like this on one of your layouts (at least, the feeling of the scene, if not the image itself).
Hey, half a mile from my home is a railroad - I hear the "music" too - day and night, but I can't complain, I like it even when half asleep - except when a certain locomotive is on its duty - it has a horn that seems a lot like the changing voice of a puberty kid. And in the dead of the night...tough lullaby for me! :))
God bless you and keep safe on your travels.
Thank you, brother.
Now that I think about it, you're right, I do have a similar situation on my switching module...only not quite as loud... :-)
Post a Comment