Ed just triggered a fond memory I wish to share with the Porch. I've
read a number of anecdotes that describe smells as a very powerful
memory trigger. Here's mine:

> > "...I was in New Zealand and smelled a smell that was familiar=2C
> > but I> > couldn't place it. Finally dawned on me it was coal smoke
> >
> > It seems you never forget that spicy coal-forge smell.
>> Or the smell of a coal fired steam locomotive.
>Ah=2C back in '87=2C about a year after my Mom had passed=2C my elderly
>father wanted to make a last sentimental journey to the small town in
>northern Maine=2C Patten=2C where he'd met my mother.

As we were passing through Connecticut=2C I had an inspiration for a
side trip that turned out perfectly. I detoured to The Valley RR in
Essex=2C CT. Our random arrival proved to be perfectly timed. I saw that
the steam train was out on the line. Pop and I got out=2C strolled
around looking at the static displays=2C which he found very
interesting. Then he heard the steam whistle of the train returning to
the station. Oh! You should have seen his face. "How did you know this
was here???!!!" he said. He had a great conversation with the engine
crew. As we were leaving he told me he'd never thought he'd see=2C
hear=2C and SMELL a steamer again. He mentioned it many times afterward.


Coal smoke & hot oil.......there's a CD album called "Songs of the Iron
Men" by Christian Williams. The best track is "Smoke on the Prairie"=2C
about the steam-powered threshing days.

"The smoke is gone from the prairie=2C and the boys from the
cookshack door.

The whistle is silent forever=2C and its call is heard no more."


John Ruth

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