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Thursday, May 12, 2005
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Windy Acre Railroad
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Established October 2003
Down a red brick path and hidden in the recesses of a shaded wood lies a small shed which houses the most curious of tenants. If your curiosity leads you to peek through the clouded windows you will find a undersized red machine resembling the early steam engine in appearance. Upon opening the door and making a closer examination, you will find this curio to be equipped with many modern gadgets, including headlights, link & pin couplers, and an air-pressurized whistle, which lets out a long, high-pitched wail.
The chassis of this electric engine tilts forward to reveal the mechanisms behind the power. A 12V battery, connected to an DC/AC inverter, powers a 1/8hp motor. This allows the engine to pull more than 400lbs.
Taking a peep into a rough greenhouse next to the shed, you’ll discover a wooden coach built on the same "amusement park" scale as the engine that pulls it. The coach is roughly 3ft wide, 5ft long and 4 1/2ft high and seats 2-4 passengers (depending, of course, on the passengers’ sizes).
In the immediate vicinity of the engine yard is a wrought iron bench that gives the red brick "station platform" a charming, picturesque atmosphere. Here the passengers may wait comfortably seated in a cool, shaded spot for the arrival of the 4 o’clock train. From this vantage point, they can see down the line until the tracks disappear around a bend. These tracks, if one had the intent to follow them, come to an abrupt end after 120 feet. Here and there are signs of track layers lately at work.
Many are the dangers of life as a train engineer. Already, after only a year and one half, this train has twice been held up by robbers. One gang of bandits, a group of brothers, came armed with wooden swords, which they flourished with much slow-motion bravado. Fortunately, there were no passengers at the time. The inducement for robbery was a shipment of gold from a California mine. The engineer managed to escape to safety and the engine was recovered later. The second hold up was a daring venture by a lone young man, who stopped the passenger train, and demanded the valuables of all the ladies on board. Unluckily for this desperado, the passengers had wisely bestowed their valuables with friends before traveling. On this occasion, the engineer bravely fought for the honor of his train and deposited the passengers safely at the station. |
posted by cori
5/12/2005 07:07:00 PM
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What a neat story. Well written and told.
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You look adorable les! that was a great story!-d2
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What a neat story. Well written and told.