Like most of us, it would appear you were fascinated by trains from an early age and paid attention to what you saw when you were around them.
My earliest memory is of changing trains in the middle of the night in a summer rain. Both trains were powered by steam locomotives and I distinctly remember red on their tenders. I inquired of my mother when this might have happened and she informed me it was the summer of 1947, when I was just 2! She and I were coming from Alpine, Tex., to Denver to visit my father, who was then working in Denver and in the immediate postwar period was unsure his job would last and so had not yet moved us north. My uncle in Alpine was Southern Pacific's division surgeon there and got us trip passes to El Paso on the Espee (T&NO). From there we took the Rock Island north to Dalhart behind steam and changed trains there to the FW&D, also behind a big Pacific. Both Burlington and Rock Island, of course, had tender heralds with red in them. It's such a vivid memory in my mind to this day, over 67 years later.
Hol
To: CBQ@yahoogroups.com
From: CBQ@yahoogroups.com
Date: Mon, 29 Sep 2014 23:35:08 -0500
Subject: [CBQ] Re: CBQ] Re: California Zephyr in Denver
Darn this Kindle Fire. Sent my message before I could finish it.
On my first California Zephyr ride, which was around 1954 or so, I remember us being wyed in Denver by a steam engine. Hol, thanks for validating what I thought I saw.
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Posted by: Hol Wagner <holpennywagner@msn.com>
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