On 5/23/2012 12:35 PM, John Ruth wrote:
> 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, 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, back in '87, about a year after my Mom had passed, my elderly father
wanted to make a last sentimental journey to the small town in northern Maine,
Patten, where he'd met my mother.
>
> As we were passing through Connecticut, I had an inspiration for a side trip
that turned out perfectly.  I detoured to The Valley RR in Essex, 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, strolled around looking at the static displays, 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, hear, 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", about the
steam-powered threshing days.
>
> "The smoke is gone from the prairie, and the boys from the cookshack door.
>
> The whistle is silent forever, and its call is heard no more."
>
>
>
>
John and All,

This thread brings back childhood memories for me.  I grew up in the 
'40s and '50s in Raleigh, NC.  It was a very small city in those days 
and even a child could walk across it and return home before supper time.

I grew up on the East side of town - to be precise on East Street - one 
laid out by the developers in 1790 when lots were first sold.  I lay 7 
city blocks East of the railroad tracks that came through town - the old 
Seaboard Air Line Railroad and the Silver Meteor and other famous 
passenger trains passed through.  But, the long haul trains are not what 
this thread evoked although I could identify their whistle sounds as 
being very different than the short haul trains.

The mention of the sounds and smells of steam locomotives reminds me of 
lying in bed on hot, sticky summer nights and listening to the huffing, 
puffing, squealing and belching going on in the train yards as men from 
my neighborhood made up and broke down trains by the car.  In the 
earlier evening, I could hear the roar of the crowd at the ballpark just 
beyond the tracks when something good happened for the Raleigh Caps - 
especially if it was a Friday night double header.  But, those steam 
locomotives 'hostling' cars around and making steam engine noises took 
my imagination to places I could only dream about.  They also helped put 
me to sleep as the night became more still and the sounds became more 
dominant.

Ah for an era that was not dominated by the sounds of the automobile, 
perhaps for just one week - to get it out my system and jolt me back to 
reality.

How many of you grew up in railroad terminus towns, where crews turned 
around and worked back to their home shops?

-- 
Bob Hutchins
Temple, TX, USA
Preserving ASCII art with every post

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