Railfan Stories

I wasn’t feeling great mentally on Canada Day morning. I woke up feeling anxious and sad, for no particular reason. Life with depression.

I don’t sleep well. I can get to sleep just fine. I just don’t sleep long enough.

Local switchers – the unheralded but vital part of railroading.The main line trains get all the glory, but someone has to gather all the cars for those trains and sort them. Sometimes they’re called “yard jobs” or “local trains” or “transfers”, but whatever the name is, they usually have one or two locomotives and whatever … Read more

I didn’t mean to see trains. Sure, I admit I keep a watchful eye out for them, but I was just running errands. Honest.

Recently my wife texted me that on the way to work, she saw a train carrying windmill blades. That was unusual enough for me to get off the couch to go look for it.

“Wanna race?”

That was the last thing I expected a railway conductor to say, but there it was.

I awoke with a start. What time was it? The blurry digits of my clock radio seemed to say 4:00, but that couldn’t be right – could it? Donning my glasses, I confirmed that A) it was indeed 4 AM and B) I was wide awake. A glance outside showed a lovely morning shaping up, … Read more

For all the times that we sit trackside and watch empty tracks, we have to remember that occasionally Lady Luck smiles upon us and sends us something unexpected.

Well I look over yonder across the plainThe big drive wheels are poundin’ along the groundGonna get on board and I’ll be homeward boundNow I ain’t had a home cooked mealAnd Lord I need one nowAnd the big steel rail gonna carry me home to the one I love “Steel Rail Blues”, Gordon Lightfoot The … Read more

It was far too nice an evening to sit inside. We had fresh snow on the ground, the sun was shining, the sky was blue, and the temperature was hovering around freezing. A very pleasant evening for early April in Winnipeg.