I hear the train a comin'...

...it's rollin' round the bend...

Today was all about the train... the Chicago St. Paul 261 steam train which was in Milwaukee for the weekend. I got up early so that I could see it come through the Tosa village. If you've never seen the approach of a real steam train in person, with the beating of the drivers, the whistle, the rumble... you really are missing out.

Pa joined me for this sighting, then he called me at about 3:00 to see if I wanted to go out the Oconomowoc with him and my 5 year-old nephew to get a few views of the train. Pa's idea was to first stand on an overpass and have the full impact of the train as it went by. We were unsuccessful the first time... as you can see....but the train had this unfair advantage. It was going really fast.

Next, we headed back to Milwaukee...hoping like all get up that we'd make it on time. Pa was a little saddened by this that his plan didn't work out, but I didn't want him to be discouraged. I mean, I just had a major shitty weekend and here I was cheering up Pa... And we had a gregarious five year-old in the car who was already consumed with the short memory of seeing a steam train from the freeway. So we went east on 94 and exited at 35th street. We drove down the old Canal street until where it ended which is right west of 35th. Which is also, coincidentally, right next to the passenger train tracks. If you're parked on Canal, you are ten feet from the train as it goes by. I stood and waited on one side of the tracks, Pa on the other. You'll see him take off just as the engine approaches.

Yes that is a guy falling off a big pile of debris at the end. The lengths people will go to for a shot of a steam train can almost compare to the paparazzi.

So Pa drove next to the train for about 3/4 of a mile. My nephew was thrilled, but I think Pa was the most thrilled. And I was thrilled to see Pa as happy as he was.

We went down to Amtrak and arrived as it was pulling in. We parked in the Postal lot and hopped out of the car... to this:

And in closing I would like to share just a few other neat shots that I took today. If you ever have the chance to see anything like this in real life, don't pass it up and say "next time". This time shouldn't be missed :)

(For some reason blogger won't allow me to upload any more pictures tonight.... so stop by my flickr album to see the rest) You know the best thing about this? It's 9:30 and I can hear the train's whistle as it's headed through the valley and back up to MN.