This cache is for my dad who instilled his love of trains in me.
As a child, my parents and I would walk to the train station to catch a train to the terminal in New Jersey on the west side of the Hudson River and take a ferry into New York City. We went there to go shopping, to see the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, and even to see where the plane had hit the Empire State Building in 1945. A few weeks later, to celebrate the end of WWII, we took the train to see the Broadway ticker tape parade, and then the subway to Grant’s Tomb to see the flotilla in the river while the sky overhead was filled with warplanes. I loved visiting Grand Central Terminal to see the Kodak Coloramas, but the best parts were the trains, rushing people, and announcements about departures and arrivals.
I watched locomotives on turntables – they didn’t run both directions like modern day diesel engines. The passenger cars weren’t turned around; the backs of the seats just flipped back and forth. The conductor would come through the car at every stop to collect tickets and put the stubs in the backs of the seats. I envied the way they hung out from the train by one arm to signal to the engineer while the train was in motion. (I still want to do that!)
I put pennies on the tracks to flatten them. We were told that we could go to jail for destroying U.S. currency. We did it anyway. We counted numbers of cars in freight trains and rarely agreed on the final number. We waved to the engineers who never seemed to tire of waving back.
I took my children on cross-country train trips to visit their New Jersey grandparents. In 1994 I took the train to Portland to pick up my new car, Little Red. I rode the new Intalgo and spent a day at Powell’s Bookstore in Portland. A few years ago I took an overnight northbound train from Winnipeg to Churchill to see polar bears. Most recently I have watched trains go by just a few feet from me while looking for and placing caches. My all-time incredible train experience was the trip from Cuzco to Machu Picchu in Peru.
Yes, I have had train rides on 6 continents. (They don't have trains in Antarctica!)
Trains will always be a part of my life. I live where I hear the sound of trains in the distance. The electric train my Dad received in 1920 runs around my tree at Christmas and has that uniquely wonderful smell of ozone.
* * Feel free to share your train stories in your log – I will enjoy reading them. * *
Final coordinates:
N 46° 59.ABC _________ W 122° 47.DEF _________
A = ____ the first number of the zip code of the clock’s manufacturer
B = ____ the posted speed limit at the train station
C = ____ the station dedication date - December 1 ___ , 1990
D = ____ the sum of Z ___ + Z ___ (see below)
E = ____ the sum of Y ___ + Y ___ (see below)
F = ____ the last number in the year the historic corbels were made - station corner - see coordinates
Y = ____ the number of missing alphabet letters - you will be walking on them
Z = ____ the first number after CP on posts in front of the light signals as seen by a northbound engineer
Check sum A - F = 26