Funny How Time Slips Away...

Has it been a year since I posted ? Yes, it has been a year - and WHAT A YEAR !! So what has been going on? Trip in March to Tennessee for Yeager family history - trip in May with Jared to Philadelphia, Strasburg, Gettysburg, Harpers Ferry, etc, - trip in July with Sharon to Minnesota for Gregg family history - trip in September to Colorado & New Mexico to ride steam trains - trip to Longview in October to have my prostate cancer removed.....

I will try to be a little more timely from now on...

One More Time...

We made it back to the Texas State Railroad in Rusk "one more time". There are strong indications that 2006 will be its last year of operation due to budget cuts. Steam Engine 300, a 2-8-0 built by Baldwin in 1917 was at the head once again, so Jared and I posed with it.

The Group

The primary reason for the trip was for Carolyn's siblings, plus other family members, to get together. But where was Carolyn when this photo was taken ?

Outlaws

Some of our folks were causing trouble on the train and got arrested by the Sheriff and his posse.

Looking Back

Hopefully Jared will be able to bring his children to the Texas State Railroad. But at least he will be able to look back on a beautiful Fall day in 2006 when he rode it with his family.

Western Adventure

Carolyn and I flew to Salt Lake City last Tuesday. On Wednesday we did some genealogy research at the Mormon's Family History Library. It is a very impressive facility - three floors of computers, microfilm, microfilm viewers, books, and helpful volunteers ("missionaries"). They are really serious about finding ancestors because they believe family members will be together forever if they are identified and "sealed" during a special Mormon ritual. Carolyn found some Moseley information and I found additional Davis ancestors.

Unusual

The area west of Salt Lake City is bleak - Salt Lake and the Salt Desert. We stopped at the famous Bonneville Salt Flats Raceway and there was nothing but a sign and a motorcyclist that said he went 150 mph just to see how it felt.

Beautiful

The area east of Salt Lake City is beautiful...big mountains...canyons...clear streams. A recent 12 inch snowfall made the scenery picture perfect.

Nevada Northern Railway

The real reason for going to Salt Lake City was to get to Ely, Nevada - home of the Nevada Northern Railway. The NNR was built 100 years ago to haul copper ore. When the mine shut down, the company gave the property and equipment (much of it steam powered) to a volunteer group. The operation is described as the best preserved standard gauge short line and complete rail facility left in America.

Hand on the throttle and eyes on the rails...

Nevada Northern has a program where guys like me can actually operate a full size steam engine on mainline tracks (under the watchful eye of a real engineer). So I did that on Friday September 22! It was a great experience - I operated their 1910 Baldwin 4-6-0 coal burner No. 40 from Ely to Keystone and back (14 miles)...went through 2 tunnels twice (got cinders in my face inside those dark passages)...blew the whistle at the road crossings...the real deal! Carolyn chased the engine (I wasn't going very fast) and took some video. A really great experience...I can smell the coal smoke and hear the whistle now...

Engine House

The NNR engine house was really a step back in time - a time machine. They started getting engine No. 40 ready for my noon run at 6 a.m. (I was there at 5:50) Their machinist (a nice gentleman about 80 years old) went over his "baby" from cow-catcher to coal car - checking, oiling, adjusting, etc. He used one of those long black flashlights like my Dad had...really reminded me of him and what he must have done thousands of times in the T&P roundhouse.

Carolyn and Grandma Zella

Carolyn just finished a 39-page document on her memories of "Grandma Zella". It is very well done and contains several photos, letters and other manuscripts. I'm sure she will be glad to share it with family members. Shown below are a few photos from the document. Click on a photo for an enlarged image.

Left: Leslie holding Jared, Fiona, Frances, Sharon, “Futchie”, Carolyn, Bobby, Dani, seated: William Gaskell, Back Row: Johnathan, David, Rodman, Christopher, Lincoln

Top photo: Unposed family group: William Gaskell, seated on 97th birthday. Left standing: Bobby, Sharon, David, Carolyn, “Copper”, Futchie


Bottom photo: Dani, Hendrix, Futchie
November 2001, Newest addition at the time.

T&P 610 memories

T&P steam locomotive No. 610 has special memories for me. In 1991 I took my Dad to see 610 in Palestine. He had worked on the engine while it was in service for the T&P in the 1940's. (That is him in the cab of similar engine 619 in the black & white photo) We were able to go over 610 from front to back and he pointed out many of its details. One of the photos I took in 1991 was of him standing next to the coupler on the rear of the tender. Yesterday I asked a friend to take a photo of my grandson and me standing in the same spot.

Steam train ride

Yesterday my grandson Jared and I rode the steam train at the Texas State Railroad in Rusk, Texas. We, along with 14 members of our local railroad club made the trip from Rusk to Palestine and return. According to signs posted at the depot, the TSRR has no funding from the State of Texas after 12/31/06. It would be a tragedy if this historic and well-ridden train is silenced. There are already too many folks that have never seen a steam train or even ridden a train. In addition to the train ride, they have a historic steam engine on display in Palestine: Texas & Pacific No. 610. It last saw service in 1976 as it pulled the Bicentennial Freedom Train through Texas.

Zella, Ol' Man and Ol' Tom

Jack ("Ol Man") Moseley and his faithful one-eyed mule Ol' Tom plowed many a mile together. "Ol Man" and Zella were Futchie's parents.

Reynolds Archives

A negative found in one of the "little" houses behind the Reynolds' in 2002. Bobby appears to have his Soapbox Derby t-shirt on (the dog is a male)

SP 745 Steam Engine

SP745 Steam Engine
The planned visit to Shreveport by Southern Pacific steam engine 745 was a no-show...it broke down Saturday near the Oklahoma-Arkansas line and had to be put on a siding. The train of private cars containing passengers was pulled by a diesel into Shreveport Saturday night and on to New Orleans on Sunday....The silver lining is that SP 745 will someday have to come through Shreveport to get back to New Orleans...hopefully it will be steaming on its own power. I took this photo in 2005 when 745 was in Bossier City.

Interests

Family, steam trains and old cars

Introduction

The purpose of this site is to provide a way to share images with my family, friends and associates. As they say: "A picture is worth a thousand words"