New Car

[RAM]

Deland I always liked that drive on 60 in Texas PH.  I just wish I would have been down there when steam was still active.  The only 2-10-4s I got to see were dead in roundhouses.

[Deland]

 Ram, I missed the steam era by accident of birthdate. They were all gone by the time I was aware and I come from a Santa Fe family so I was aware at an early age. I did manage to ride a passenger train a few times when the locals still carried a Passenger car, the old Pullmans(I think) with the velour seats and a conductor that watched out for his buddy's grandson. My mother's cousin was a mechanic on cars for a long time and I've actually (shhh) gotten to ride an engine and a caboose in the yards at Amarillo a few times. My maternal Grandfather was a switchman and was killed switching in the late 30' early 40's when he had his legs amputated by a car running over him. My mother was only 12 so I never had a chance to meet him but my grandmother remarried(unheard of for a widow with 3 kids in those days) another trainman who worked Santa Fe all his life. I also had an uncle who only ever had two jobs, the Santa Fe, summers during high school and the Army after graduation, four years later, back to Santa Fe. Several of my great uncles and cousins were also SF lifers. 3 of the 28 guys in my HS grad class were also SF lifers. A couple are retired and one will late this year, he's a Brakeman/conductor and doubts there will be any in the next few years. Trains are so automated these days that he says he's usually just along to be sure the engineer doesn't go to sleep and because he likes to ride trains.