Obsession with Trains

Our parents loved real trains and father built model railroads. We lived our summers next to a train track and always ran to see the Kettle Valley Railway Dayliners run through.  Stephanie and Currie live above a railway in Vancouver and so very used to whistles. Therefore was a treat to see the silver streaks of the Metro-North or Amtrak slip along the Hudson. Trains are tied to the river system so everywhere we are we hear trains, which is nice except for one overnight that I'll document soon.  It is really hard to see but in the picture on the right there is a silver passenger train.

As we found out the trains rip through these small towns and in my mind, are a reflection for these the This Train Don't Stop There Anymore. The signs that many of these towns were bustling and critical is endlessly shown on the trip. A lovely example is Kingston, NY.  When I worked in Poughkeepsie IBM mainframe operating systems (VM/XA & VM/ESA) were developed in Kingston.

During my time IBM closed down Kingston and it will never be the same aka This train doesn't stop there anymore. For those who remain in Kingston, I'm sure many retired IBMers like me, there is tourism. We stopped to see the marine museum. It wasn't open yet and if we waited for it to open the tides would have been worse flowing out of the Hudson. As Mark notes marine tourism towns need to understand their hours are impacts be a) tides b) public dock space so that people can come in for a visit and spend. Kingston did a great job on the dock space but let us down on the museum hours. Cherish in Kingston.

On a very happy note, there is a boat building school there. We met fine people and thought about buying this rowboat on the top left. I was the result of a boat building competition. It needed to be finished and would sink right away without work. Stephanie, Mark, and Currie decided that they did not need another project.

Mark says young people do, atleast the inside part of the Great Loop in these "small boats" aka floating shakes with small outboards.

Learning about the boat building. Currie on the left and Mark on the right

Kingston is a pretty town with lots of history

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