November 2003                                        The Megaphone                                            Page 7

(continued from Page 6)

After a very good night's sleep we headed out for the huge train museum, much of it inside a building the size of several football fields . . . on the other side of the street from all of yesterday's events. After paying the price of admission we ambled around for several hours. Just about every kind of locomotive, boxcar, caboose, flat car and all the rest were there. It must have been quite a job getting them all into that location and placement and then construct a building around them. Come to think of it . . . it's sort of like the chicken and the egg. I don't know which came first, the building or the trains ..??? Some, we could climb inside and others, too old and delicate, were there just for looking at. There was plenty to read about all and I went away with a deeper understanding and appreciation for the industry and interest in the subject.

Returning back to the other side of the street, where we were yesterday, I retreated to the warm restaurant and a cup of hot tea while Marvin stayed outside with his camera, waiting for the next steam engine to arrive. Once an hour, on the hour, the steam engine left with a train full of tourists, 45 minutes later it returned to repeat the same trip the next hour. Although it was the middle of October there were many people about including families with younger children. Sometimes we'd see entire classes of elementary aged children riding the train with their teachers and chaperones.

The second day we were there one of the first things we both noticed was a different engine, the second being quite a bit bigger than the one pulling the train the day before. I was told there were several that took turns being "the locomotive" of the day.

At the end of another fun day we retreated to our caboose for a second and last night. The next morning we headed west and towards home, looking forward to getting there and full of good memories. After a day full of travel we stayed in Cambridge, Ohio. Again, the leaves were food for the soul, this time the colors muted by a slight and misty rain were like a soft concert of heavenly music. As we walked into our home we were so very glad to arrive back to the nest that was ours and the comfort of being in the familiar . . . and at the same time so thankful for the days of wonderment and times cherished together.

JJ aka Julie (Stout) Crim '57
Anderson, IN