"Greg O" wrote in message
...


My dad worked in the switch yard for a few years. I would stop by and jump
on the switch engine and ride for a while if I had nothing better to do.
Greg O

you were lucky! what year was that?

i went to china in 1986. they were still running steam engines there then.
i rode on passenger trains with steam engines pulling them. i thought how
cool it must be to be a chinese steam locomotive engineer. this one time we
were going through that classic chinese landscape with the terraced rice
paddies, was hilly curvy terrain. you could look ahead and see the engine
as it curved around the bends. was amazing. i had the feeling the engine
was a living thing and we were being pulled along by this fire breathing
steam belching dragon. my deep regret is i never even TRIED to get a ride
in the engine. i should've even BRIBED the engineer to get a ride in the
engine. i've heard since then they replaced all their steam with diesel or
electric and now only run special steam tourist engines.
at that time there were signs in the train stations that said you weren't
allowed to photograph the engines. i believe i heard your film would be
confiscated if you were caught photographing the engines. i have a vague
memory of standing on a train platform holding up my camera getting ready to
take a picture and the train crew just happened to be passing by and they
were waving their hands at me warning me to not take that picture. i
complied.
my second father's father was an engineer during the steam era.

b.w.