A Bookstore Find

 While digging around in a crowded, disorganized bookshop in the eastern part of the state, I came across what I think is a great volume. Though many people would consider it unimportant and not worthy of purchasing, it fit right into my own qualifications for a good buy.

    The book was an old instruction manual on how to run and maintain a steam engine. Printed in 1926, it was the 20^th edition of a 1916 printing. The book is called “Enginemen’s Manual”, written and published by W.P. James.

    The book is a bit over 350 pages with black hardback covers. The corners are rounded perhaps to avoid damage from heavy use. The book is in fairly good condition for a book a little under100 years old. The binding is a bit worn and there are a few wrinkles in some of the pages but for a book this old it is in surprisingly good condition. The edges of the pages are red and none are missing.

    Inside there are pictures of different locomotives and a fold out diagram of a steam engine along with the various parts listed. It describes how to start an engine, how to properly maintain the heat and pressure along with all the things which need to be properly lubricated. It isn’t easy to keep a steam engine running properly!

    From the headlight and how it needs lubricated, (yes, lubricated) to how to set the various valves located on the drive train, it covers it all. After each chapter there are questions and answers to the different exams the firemen and engineers would be tested on. With lots of pictures, diagrams and charts, it is a fun book to page through.

What I consider the best part of the whole package is, inside the manual was a pass for the Reading Lines RR for the year 1935, belonging to Ardnor Barndt, an Engineman of “The New York Division”. (passed away in 1945 at age 58) He no doubt was the man who owned and studied the book. A bit of the book’s provenance, this makes it even more valuable to me. Not bad for $15!

A Last Harrah?

Small snow flurries came and went during the day before, but nothing remained on the ground. The next morning provided a snow-covered landscape. The daffodils were bent over by the weight of the snow and a bunny had left tracks across the unbroken covering of the yard. It wasn't only the snow had fallen during the night, the temperatures had dropped also. Ice needed scrapped from the windshield before the car could be used.

    I always worry about the flowers which have already bloomed but really I shouldn’t. They always manage to survive these brief bits of winter; it is part of their make-up. The snow will only remain for a day or two and soon the temperatures will be rising again. More flowers will be popping up to join the early risers.

    After Church, I took a drive down near the railroad tracks, looking for interesting shots. In the back of my head, I was hoping a train might show up but nothing appeared. There were no trains to be seen this morning.

    I walked along the stream looking for the herons but they were elsewhere, possibly they had seen me and left. Near the swamp, a pair of geese paddled around in the water but there weren’t any other signs of wildlife. It was cold and quiet.

    Today, I’ll enjoy the looks of winter this brief snowfall has brought. I know it will soon be gone and the colors of spring will be surrounding us once again. 

    It isn’t only me waiting, so are the birds. They are happy to visit the feeder in the backyard, but I’m sure they’re looking forward to the return of Spring also.

Some Shots from the Road

     I took a trip last week to visit my daughter and her family in the eastern part of Pennsylvania. Then I went down to West Virginia to visit with Ann Marie where she was “house-sitting” Here are some of the sights I passed along the way.

    It was a very early start to the journey, the planet Venus had just crossed the horizon and it acted as a beacon, showing me the way to go until the sun finally hid it from view.

    The sky hadn’t brightened yet when I stopped at this bakery located near Delmont. The trip east was almost entirely on rt.22. The views are superior to those along the turnpike, there are plenty of places to leave the road and best of all, no tolls! The donuts here are delicious, a perfect breakfast for the drive.

    A few miles south of Cresson is the town of Cassandra. I stopped here to find a geocache and to watch a few trains go by. The sun was just over the horizon and smoke from a coal stove added a tang to the cold morning air. The chill quickly sent me back to the car and on my way again

    Shortly before you reach McVeytown, this old log cabin sits alongside the road. There are no plaques or signs on it but there is a rather large pull-off in front of it. A nice wreath decorates the door closest to the road, someone looks after it!

    Shortly before reaching Harrisburg, I caught a train crossing the Susquehanna River. on the Rockville RR Bridge.  The bridge is located about 5 miles north of the state capital.

    The bridge is the largest stone arched railroad bridge ever built, over 3,800 feet long with 48 arches on it. It is the third bridge built at this site. The first was built in 1849 and was constructed out of wood. It was enlarged and replaced by a iron bridge in 1877. The present bridge was constructed between 1900 and 1902. Some of the piers of the old bridge are still standing beside it.

    This shot was found while researching the bridge's history. No lives were lost but an engineer lost his job because of this accident. August 28^th, 1977 one train rear ended another. You can bet this wasn’t the only accident to happen on the bridge!

You never know where or when you’ll find a bargain(?)

(Midtown Scholar Bookstore)

    From Harrisburg, I returned to rt.22 and continued my journey to my daughter’s house. I spent some time visiting with her family and got to spend some quality time with my grandson. We share an interest in trains so we spent time on the floor running his trains around the tracks. (It didn’t hurt... until I got up!)

    Back on the road a couple days later, I took highways through Maryland and then into West Virginia. 

    It was in West Virginia that the trip left the highways and returned to the roads I love, smaller, two lane roads going through towns and farmsteads. Following small streams and the curves of the hillsides, these roads continuously deliver exciting scenery. 

    Seneca Rocks would be a great place to live. To wake up and see this outcropping every morning would be a wonderful was to start the day. It looks good from both the top and from the bottom!

    The place where Ann Marie was “house-sitting” was a beautiful spot. High atop a mountain, accessible only by steep, curving gravel roads, the location made the long drive up the mountain-side worthwhile!

    One of the chores Ann Marie had to do, along with feeding the cats and dogs, was to feed “the girls” and collect their daily offerings. You haven't lived if you've never eaten fresh eggs, straight from the coop!

    While visiting, I had the pleasure of feeding the horse and pony. The animals always enjoy seeing me... especially when I was bringing food!

    Railroad tracks are scattered all around West Virginia. Local trains carried coal and other products and passed frequently along the tracks which run along the border of W.Va. and Kentucky. There were lots of bridges and tunnels to be seen!

    The Dingess Tunnel originally was a railroad tunnel. Built is the early 1890’s, it is nearly a mile long, and only wide enough for one car. You have to watch for approaching headlights, you wouldn’t want to back out of it!

    Situated near the end of the Dingess Tunnel was the site of many killings. The town was known as one of the most lawless towns in the state. The killings were mainly racial, the locals would “pick off” people coming out of the tunnel. Most victims were immigrants who had come to work in the mines and on the railroads. 

    The two of us searched and found a few geocaches while we roamed around on the mountains. This one was a DNF. (Did Not Find) It was last found in 2017, five years ago. After a long search with a few wrong turns we finally found the location. It was hidden under the overhang but a careful search revealed nothing. Still, the search alone was good enough for us!

    This once was the General Store in the town of Crum. It is the William and Mary Queen Store, built in 1935. Though abandoned for decades there is still hope that this building might get rebuilt to provide housing. (?)

    Even though the mine has been shut down the conveyors and equipment are still there, waiting.

Daffodils, Crocuses and even Quince bushes were starting to bloom. Spring was well on it’s way in West Virginia. Pittsburgh will soon be following!

    The return trip started out dark and rainy. The rain followed me all the way to the Pennsylvania border. It was there that I returned to winter and snowfall!

    The sun wasn’t up yet when I stopped for a breakfast sandwich to get me started on my way. (Sausage, egg and cheese on a DELICIOUS biscuit) Good food is so important to a journey; don’t pass up the chance to try the local grub! About 4 hours later I was almost home, getting closer to my own bed. It was a great trip filled with lots of good memories and experiences. Still…it was good to be home again!

Coming Down the Mountain

 

     Rain pelted the windshield and the headlights reflected off patches of fog gathered in small dips making the seeing difficult. This caused the speed of the car to drop even further than its normal creep. On one side was a steep fall with nothing but trees to stop the plunge, the other had a deep ditch used to drain water from the road. If you want to call it a road!  At the top of the mountain, it is gravel and dirt with large puddles, often spanning the road. It twists and turns following the topography of the mountain. There was no bulldozing a straight path, when a dip or a curve is encountered, that’s what the road does, dip and curve.

     When you are going down, the drop off is on your left, right outside the driver’s window. Like so many West Virginian mountains, you can’t see the bottom. Especially when it’s raining with fog laying around each bend. There are a few spots where you can’t see the road at all, even in the daylight. As you come up the rise, nothing can be seen beyond the hood of your car. You say a prayer and hope that no-one is coming in the opposite direction.

     Whenever an encounter occurs, one of the vehicles has to back up to one of the few “wide” spots and let the other pass before the trip continues. Luckily, there isn’t a lot of traffic on these roads. A mile or two down the mountain the road is paved but it is only the width of a car or truck. The paving makes the edges seem even closer.

     I had left Big Laurel around 6 in the morning, trying to get an early start on my drive back to the Pittsburgh area. The rain and fog was setting the stage for a dismal day of driving. Rain continued all the way from southern West Virginia to the border of Pennsylvania; from there it changed to snow.

     Big Laurel is a learning center, a place that does summer camps, community outreach and promotes social change through education. It sits on 400 acres perched on a mountain top.  Big Laurel is located about 10 miles up the “hill” from Kermit, West Virginia. Ann Marie had been house-sitting and I had dropped down to visit her.

     The night is dark up there. There are houses on top of the ridge but they are widely spaced and even though some have lights on them, the light doesn’t travel very far through the trees. I was searching for an open spot that would give us a good view of the stars but we can’t always get what we want.  Rain followed me down and then tapered off for two days and then returned for the ride back. Clouds remained during the nights.

      During the day we drove around the area, searching out a couple geocaches and looking for things to photograph. There was never any disappointment on that account! On my second day, we borrowed the Jane Deer to explore the roads scattered across the top of the mountain. 

     During the evening there were cats and dogs and chickens to keep us company. The cats and dogs are like therapy animals. Always near-by, ready to be petted or to lick your hand.

     The houses we visited and stayed in were beautiful, filled with pictures and books and of course, dogs and cats. I can only imagine how tough it would be to live up here permanently. There is no store right up the block and the drive up or down would be treacherous in icy conditions. The neighbors always help in emergencies but to get an ambulance or a fire truck up there… I don’t want to think about it.

     Daffodils were blooming along with the crocuses. Greenery was starting to show up alongside the roads and some forsythia was starting to show their yellow leaves. It is always a good sign to see that fresh color of green that the spring brings. We still have a month or so to wait in Pennsylvania but in West Virginia, the beauty of spring is already breaking out.

      While driving back, thoughts of the fun we experienced kept running through my head.  I also kept marveling at the mountain tops, hidden by the low hanging clouds. The peaks were all shaded in different colors, the colors determined by how near they were. 

Taken on the way down, north of Seneca Rocks

     This state is such a scenic place, high hills and mountains, dramatic outcroppings of rock and deep, deep gorges. Everywhere I looked there was beauty. There were so many potential pictures I passed on my way home, but the rain kept me in the car. The “pictures” are saved in my mind, along with all the other great memories of this fantastic state. 

     Wild and Wonderful, that says a mouthful and yet it just barely touches the surface!