Re: Missed opportunities: trips you wished you'd made
Author: Tom Moungovan
Date: 02-05-2011 - 16:36
An interestin idea for a thread...
in 1973, Al Shelton & I were in Zacapa, Guatemala. It just did not occur to me then to stay one additional day and use it to take the steam powered train to the Salvador border. This was a really spectacular ride that I never did got to see. Should have struck while the iron was hot.
I had an offer to ride a segment of the last w/b CZ, from Keddie to Oroville and declined as I wanted the photos. This one's a toss-up, I'm glad for what I recorded on film, but do miss the ride.
I was riding a 42" gauge 2-8-0 in Brazil and the engineer Emidid Girola, offered to let me run. The gauges were in metric, I didn't know the railroad and I was unfamiliar with the brakevalve being used, so I declined. Heck, he'd have coached me through all of that, my loss.
Back in '81 or so, my cousin & I got tacit permission to hobo the SD&AE from Campo East. The next morning it was raining and although we waited around for a few hours, I believe that the train was annulled. Nothing moved all day.
I totally missed the Milwaukee and have been regretting it for years. This one really should be first on the list!