THE HOCKING VALLEY
SCENIC RAILROAD--
and a peek back in time
I like old trains.
The cars clank and groan and go clickity-clack and passengers sway gently on these rusty salutes to nostalgia.
Our ride that day fussed its way from Nelsonville to Haydenville, OH, the latter being the last "company town" in the state; such as made famous in that old Tennessee Ernie Ford tune about "...owing one's soul to the company store."
The train's horn snorted a blast or two at every road crossing but drivers, temporarily interrupted on their daily rounds, didn't seem to mind. Greetings were exchanged in the form of friendly waves while locals and tourists alike trundled along, 1920s style.
Our 14 mile round trip was in an open air car where "air conditioning" arrived on the wind and natural sounds and smells teased the senses, naturally.
Since it is an awkward maneuver to turn a train around, the engine is simply disconnected and moved to the other end via a handy siding track while passengers loiter a bit, then, we waddled back through Nelsonville to our next stop, a 30 minute visit at Robbin's Crossing, a reconstructed colonial village on the nearby campus of Hocking College.
I wandered the village and pondered what life on the Ohio frontier must have been like when native citizens still outnumbered European settlers.
I leaned on a cabin rail, while the village "smithy" somewhere nearby, clanged a hammer on his anvil and, I remembered the US government sent the Wyandot Indians off to a reservation in Kansas in 1843.
They were the last of their culture in Ohio.
SCENIC RAILROAD--
and a peek back in time
I like old trains.
The cars clank and groan and go clickity-clack and passengers sway gently on these rusty salutes to nostalgia.
Our ride that day fussed its way from Nelsonville to Haydenville, OH, the latter being the last "company town" in the state; such as made famous in that old Tennessee Ernie Ford tune about "...owing one's soul to the company store."
The train's horn snorted a blast or two at every road crossing but drivers, temporarily interrupted on their daily rounds, didn't seem to mind. Greetings were exchanged in the form of friendly waves while locals and tourists alike trundled along, 1920s style.
Our 14 mile round trip was in an open air car where "air conditioning" arrived on the wind and natural sounds and smells teased the senses, naturally.
Since it is an awkward maneuver to turn a train around, the engine is simply disconnected and moved to the other end via a handy siding track while passengers loiter a bit, then, we waddled back through Nelsonville to our next stop, a 30 minute visit at Robbin's Crossing, a reconstructed colonial village on the nearby campus of Hocking College.
I wandered the village and pondered what life on the Ohio frontier must have been like when native citizens still outnumbered European settlers.
I leaned on a cabin rail, while the village "smithy" somewhere nearby, clanged a hammer on his anvil and, I remembered the US government sent the Wyandot Indians off to a reservation in Kansas in 1843.
They were the last of their culture in Ohio.
Square dancing friends Sue Brooks, Russ and Jane Matz and Roberta and Don Karger enjoy the switching of an engine (top photo) as our excursion train reverses course near Nelsonville, OH recently. The village carpenter at Robin's Crossing (below) regales visitors with tales from colonial times.
______________________________________
The Hocking Valley RR: http://www.hvsry.org/
No comments:
Post a Comment