Linda Nance Travels to the Past...

Image by doug_wertman via Flickr

The train rolls on and so does time...

Many years ago we went on a family vacation.  One of the things I enjoyed was riding on a real old time steam engine.  There is a place in northern Arkansas where you can ride the train. It is now used to give tourist the opportunity to experience the sights, sounds, and feelings from the past and occasionally when they make certain movies.

My parents had given me a camera as a child and explained to only take special pictures and make each one the best that I could.  I understood now it was to help prevent me from taking every and any picture I could click and later they'd have to pay to develop pictures of floors and other strange things.

The years had passed, but I still had the little camera and used it to take many memorable pictures for me and my family.  This trip was filled with wonderful moments shared with not only my children but parents and Grandfather.  He was an amazing man of heart, soul, and a gift of sharing with others. 


Riding on an old fashioned steam engine train brought back memories for him and he began to share the tales from the past.  They already had a man who told interesting facts about many things including the train.  The shock and amazement on his face would have made a fantastic picture but I was also too shocked to quickly focus and click...

The seats were all facing the front of the train. He slid his hand down touching the ornate bracket on the seat, asked me to stand for a moment and like magic the seat back rotated to face the opposite direction.  I thought he had broken the antique seat as did the tour narrator judging by the expression on his face.

Grandpa laughed and explained that many of the runs went from town to town and back in those days.  They did not want to try to turn every car around for the return trip and the people would not want to ride facing backwards.  The hinged seats were the answer.  He went on to explain about many things he remembered as a very young child.  Everyone in the passenger car listened and was smiling as he shared the memories of the past.  You could almost see the little boy who had gone with his father, the conductor. 

It was a day filled with wonder and shared memories.  Of all the pictures there is one that I would like to share.  At one point I went to the back of the train and stood on the little area at the back of the caboose.  I took my picture as the track faded into the distance.  I could almost hear and feel the time fade into the past and hear the echoes of the stories I had heard from my grandfather and great-grandfather.

The train rolls on and so does time...

  

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