By 
On the way to Salina yesterday, Dave and I stopped in Latimer, pop. 21, in Morris County.
We wanted to photograph this cool old elevator.
Dave wandered off toward the elevator, and I stayed on the tracks to get some vanishing point shots.
Then I heard a whistle. I wanted to stand on the tracks and get a photo of the Union Pacific freight train headed right for me. But I figured that might freak out the engineer, he might think I was suicidal and slow the whole machine down. So I stepped off the tracks for my photos.
Dave has great photos of this same train.
WAS THE TRAIN going about 55 or 60, i worked in a signal shack west of there installing some equipment. it would scare me every time they went by. the shack was about 7′ from the rails
It may have been going about 50-55, I’d guess. And I was surprised, after the long train went through, the rails were still COLD to the touch.
I love trains. When I was a very small girl (I might have been four or five because I know I hadn’t yet gone to school) my Mother, my sister Eleanor and I lived in a little house in Woodbine while our Dad was fighting in WWII. She would give me some money and send me down to the grocery store to get a loaf of bread or something she needed to cook supper. She would admonish me to “watch out for the train!” because I had to cross the train tracks that ran right alongside the elevator on the way down to the store. And sure enough, the train came every day – I don’t remember whether it was once or twice or more often – but it was big and black and puffing a lot of steam. And it had a loud whistle. It was very exciting.
Aha! Do you remember, dear Elizabeth, the time you were driving and as we were ON the tracks, I saw the train THIS close to us? I think I yelled and you said “YOU SCARED ME!” (and you think that didn’t SCARE me???) hehehehehe (oh, those good ol’ days!)
We used to go out to the tracks behind my grandma’s house and put pennies on the tracks and wait for the train to come to mash them. I guess that was defacing currency, but we had fun (if we could find the pennies after the train passed over).