I was awoken by the sound of heavy rain against my window. The more I listened, the less like rain it sounded. It was very peculiar. I stumbled up to investigate and found the sun was shining brightly for it was 7AM. I peered through my bleary eyes and saw Mad Mike standing below gesticulating. I stumbled down the stairs covering my modesty with a hastily dragged-on dressing gown and opened the door. It turned out that Mad Mike wanted to go out for a photo jaunt. He sat himself down in my kitchen and helped himself to some coffee and by the time I'd stayed in the shower long enough to get wet and dragged on some clothes, he'd polished off the content of the cookie jar and was looking around for more. I swear that guy is an urban waste disposal unit!
We leapt into my SUV, cameras ready and roared along US1 until we reached I20 and from there thundered toward Winnsboro and the Railway Museum where they were having a steam open day. We drove further and further out into the countryside. Clearly some of Winnsboro isn't too great because we passed quite a few shops with sturdy steel bars over the windows. It certainly didn't have the feel of a prosperous area. Perhaps that's why, when we arrived at the museum, they had chained some of their rolling stock to the track.
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| Padlocked to the track! |
I did wonder why somebody would padlock a train to the track. It's not as though somebody who'd come with enough equipment to take the train wouldn't be supplied well enough with equipment that would make short work of that tiny little chain and padlock.
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| The train arrives |
It wasn't long before the train arrived. The schedule was for it to depart around 1:30pm and we'd arrived a little early so we spent a happy hour or so wandering through some of the exhibits. Now the really interesting stuff we were not actually permitted to go and see though I suspect on a weekday when nobody is around at the museum, it would be quite possible to have a good wander, unsupervised. Clearly safety is something they take great pains with. Following the train was a diesel train containing a water tanker. Attached to the tanker and out of the frame was another wagon with staff prepared to spray water on any fires that started beside the tracks. Despite the steam engine having a spark arrester, sparks sometimes get out and cause brush fires. Apparently in the old days of the railway, the trees were cut well back.
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| The train steams |
While the train awaited its departure time, steam billowed in wonderful clouds from the cylinders and smoke projected upward in a black plume from the chimney.
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| Black plume |
I had to hang off the end of a caboose to take the above photo. It wasn't so easy and I've just missed the guy who was lying underneath the train attending to something.
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| Fire train |
The inclusion of a second train to fight fires apparently resulted in a lower insurance premium. It's interesting to note that this particular diesel engine was apparently owned originally by the US airforce. Would would have thought the air force would have needed a train!
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| Warning sign |
The emphasis on safety is put everywhere. While the small crowd there this time didn't have any chance of causing problems, the biggest problem is not that an accident will occur but that a single accident caused by somebody not reading the signs and getting quite rightfully squished by a train will give the whole thing a bad reputation.
The train left as swiftly as it had come and we wandered through the open exhibit trains. There were several carriages all linked together as a train. They desperately needed maintenance as parts were literally hanging off them. Of course, this is precisely why modern trains have replaced the quaint old trains. They're quaint but need ten times the maintenance.
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| Sleeping berth |
The first carriage was a combination of three or four quite spacious cabins, each with its own hand basin, toilet and bed/seat. The cabins were a little small by today's standards - I have seen larger on trains in the former USSR but on the other hand, the Soviet track gauge is wider which means their trains are that much more spacious.
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| Dining section |
I had not anticipated seeing a full dining table laid out in the centre of the carriage. In this way, it's very reminiscent of Stalin's personal coach which I saw when I was in Latvia a decade ago. I knew such things did exist though I suspect this was one of the more economical versions as it didn't have the rich mahogany that I had expected.
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| The kitchen |
The far end of what was clearly the luxury carriage had a small kitchen built in. Ignoring the incredibly fake looking "food" that's there, I cannot imagine what it must have been like working in such a tiny space. I would imagine after a day working there, all you'd want to do would be to scream. It was incredibly small - certainly not big enough to toss a pancake with any ease.
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| The caboose |
The next wagon in the train was the post van. I failed to get any decent photos in there. They looked good on the LCD screen but weren't shape enough for my liking when I got home so I won't include them. Thus I move on now to the last carriage - there were another couple but they were very so-so with one having been turned into an exhibit hall with pegboard secured to the walls. Essentially they were used as storage with a few things put on display so that people could see them. I didn't see the point of photographing a luggage cart that should have been on the platform but which was instead just dumped inside a ropey-looking carriage.
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| Cattle wagon |
A little further down was yet another carriage but with steel plates welded over the windows. One can only imagine what kind of state that was like inside. I did vaguely wonder whether the asbestos had been removed from all the carriages as that was an incredibly popular material to use when these were first built as people didn't realize the risks they posed to human health. Next to that was a semi-open wagon which I presume was used for cattle. It looked quite impressive against the azure sky.
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| The big one! |
Right down at the head of the museum train was a big steam engine. Apparently it's currently out of service awaiting its 10 year boiler rectification. Steam engines are very robust - hence so many have survived for over a hundred years but as with all the old stuff, they need a lot of maintenance. They need daily if not hourly oiling and greasing. It is little wonder that the train companies now all use diesel engines. It seems that the engine currently in use has been loaned from another preservation group.
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| Fall colors |
I just liked the colors in this photo. It's one of the spare wagons together with some fall foliage and some people in colorful safety vests. There's nothing special other than the colors.
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| Road/Rail conversion |
Wandering through the maintenance section, I saw one of the convertible road/rail vehicles. These, one does not normally see. I've normally only seen them when I have been driving past without a camera. It's possible to see here how it actually works. I'm still not sure how the driving system works though. I omitted the chance to look at the rear end because my attention was taken by the truck below.
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| Elderly truck |
This is apparently for sale. I wonder why - the thing looks a complete wreck. Having said that, I would not mind betting that if somebody replaced the wing that's fallen off, it could still go a few rounds with the best.
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| We are not alone! |
There was a little crowd there and we packed up after a couple of hours. Several gentlemen were there with their zoom compacts like the fellow above. It was interesting to note that the men were using zoom compacts or digital SLRs while the ladies were using cameras built into phones. I wonder what that means.
So, bidding the place adieu, we climbed back into my SUV and roared off down the almost empty roads. For a Saturday, the roads were exceptionally empty. I would have expected more people.
