Memories on the Rails

 

Tide out at White Rock B.C. seen from the train

The rocking rolling rumble of the train ran past my bedroom window. It was in the '50’s when passenger trains were still normal on the prairies. I should have been taking a nap, but I was at the window watching and feeling the train passing. If I had been outside, I would have counted the cars, waved at the railway man in the caboose, he would have waved back. If it was dusk, I would see the lights come on in the passenger cars and wonder who was inside the traveling motel. Which one was the dining car, which one was the sleeping car. A skinny kid, I watched as a whole city went past my eyes, one that I never expected to visit. But decades later, I finally took a train trip in a passenger car from Victoria, B.C. to Bellingham, Washington; past coastal farms and ocean views. The most exciting experience was the train whistle. Settling into my seat, the train started moving, the whistle blew…….I was inside the whistle!!

Was there a skinny kid somewhere who should have been napping, watching our train go by, wondering who was inside and where they were going?

“Memory is the treasury and guardian of all things.”

~ Cicero