RV & RR Memories

Back in the early 90’s there was a time when we didn’t own a recreational vehicle. But the urge to travel was upon us.

So we visited a local RV dealer and asked if they ever rented their motorhomes. They said they would but it would not have bedding or dishes. We could supply those so we rented what turned out to be a brand new Class C for three weeks and headed west.

We took U.S. Highway 2 which takes the same route as the then Burlington Northern Railway stopping at places of interest to us along the way. One of those places was Havre, Montana, then headquarters of the BN.

There we met a PR guy and talked trains. We told him about our then current model railroad, the Midland Industrial, and my fictional history of it.

“History of the Midland Industrial Railroad

The Midland Industrial Railroad came into being in the early 1970s when the Burlington Northern merger made the BN owners of trackage though several neighborhoods in the city of Midland. Since the BN prefers through traffic to local switching, they sold fifteen miles of former CBQ tracks, from Dowling Yard to Isle Yard, to the Midland Industrial Railroad, retaining the right to run their coal trains through to serve the power plant in the Essex neighborhood. The BN also sold several Great Northern locomotives to the Midland Industrial.”

He was surprised at how real my history sounded. He said it sounded just like what the BN would have done.

If you are interested, you can read more about our Midland Industrial at Midland Industrial.

Once we reached the west coast we dropped down to U.S. Highway 30 for the trip back east thus following the Union Pacific Railroad.

What brought all this to mind? Today we stopped for lunch in Green River, Wyoming, which brought back memories of our stop there all those years ago.

That time we stopped at the huge freight yard in Green River. They have a bridge that crosses their yard where Dave decided he’d go to take pictures. While waiting for him, I sat down on a bench outside the yard office. A fellow came outside several times while I was sitting there. He turned out to be a UP conductor waiting for the yard to assemble his local train. We talked a little and he asked me which direction we were traveling. I said east and he went away. Shortly he returned with a multi-page printout of the manifest for a train that would be heading our direction that he thought we might enjoy chasing. The next time he came out he was astonished to see me actually reading the manifest. When he realized how much I was into this stuff he went back in the office and came out again with more stuff for me including a current timetable, a book of track spots, and a plastic holder into which crews put their switch lists while working to protect them from the elements. I wish I’d asked the guys name. He sure made my day!

And I enjoyed it all over again today just remembering it.

TTYL,

Linda