One for the money
Two for the show
Three for the lady on the radio
Four might be the one
You’ll never know, you’ll never know
If only there was a better way to go
– “Two For the Show”, Trooper, 1976
I consider three to be my “lucky number”. When I lived in Shearwater, our address was 3 Barracuda Drive. On December 7, 2024, the number 3 seemed to work for me.
Train 1: a tank train rolling out of Symington Yard on a lovely afternoon. Two on the nose, one on the tail, and a block of blank black cars in between.
Train 1 entered the siding at Lorette, named for the nearby town. At one point there was a station of that name near here.
Three “hot shots” of one train. Did you know Trooper’s greatest hits album hit quadruple platinum (320,000 sales) in Canada? It was the first to do so.
The second train was waiting on the main line at Lorette, and started rolling as the tail end of the first train cleared the main. Efficient work by the rail traffic controller (RTC).
A swift relocation and train 2 zoomed on by, pulling mostly single-stacked containers… scheduled railroading at work.
The first train remained in the siding, and soon the reason was revealed, in the form of train 3 aka the second westbound train I saw.
Time was up for me, so I didn’t stick around to see the rest of the train.
- Train 1: CN 2762, CN 3119 with CN 3363 on the tail end
- Train 2: CN 2998 with CN 2975 mid-train
- Train 3: CN 2996 + ?
Just One More Thing
Trooper was* a Canadian band out of Vancouver, British Columbia. They started in the mid 1970s, supported by Randy Bachman of BTO and The Guess Who. Over 16 years they released 9 studio albums and one greatest hits album (“Hot Shots”). You probably know at least two of their songs: “Raise a Little Hell” and “Here For a Good Time (Not a Long Time)”.
* technically Trooper is still together and touring, but with none of the original members.. so they are a cover band, in my opinion.
I saw Trooper in concert once. They were touring to support their new album, “Ten”, which turned out to be their last one. I was working in Miramichi and they happened to be there, so why not go? This is my diary entry:
91/07/10/WED – Attend Trooper concert at the Ebb Tide in Newcastle. Concert began at about 10:45, with the first set ending at about 12:00 and the second set beginning at 1:00 and ending at 2:15. Grrrrreat concert. I stumbled out of there deaf and hoarse from screaming out lyrics…
I still enjoy their music. It is good time rock and roll, with some meaningful songs sprinkled here and there.