photo by Al, the sunday fictioneer
Progress. This was the last day I would walk the tracks between Cameronville and Lumsden’s Curve. The last day to pull hard to switch the tracks. The last day to check the lights were green when they should be. Last walk the line looking for loose rails, problems with the gravel bed, something on the tracks.
Progress. A new owner of the line wanted to make it modern. New trains, new switching equipment, new everything. Straighten Lumsden’s Curve. No need for people. People like me. As I walked I said good-bye to the creatures I’d gotten to know, the landscape, the rails.
Progress. All that was left to say good-bye to was the train. I heard the whistle as it pulled into the Cameronville Station. Took the large repair tool box and set it carefully in between the two rails. Sat down on it. The whistle leaving the station. Didn’t just see today’s train coming towards me, saw the thousands that made this run while I walked the rails. Good-bye.
shape shifting 
Understandable but very very sad. You’ve really managed to convey how this man felt; bravo.
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Thank you.
I looked at the tracks, thought of my uncle who used to work for the railroad, and how much it remained a part of him. Then the last few lines came into my head.
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Wow. That’s a sad story. You showed his feelings perfectly. Well done.
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My uncle worked for the railway, and when he retired, he’d go down to the tracks to watch the trains, or over to the depot to chat. I think the railroad gets into your blood.
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I think it does. There used to be a manual gate in the town where I grew up, and we used to go and watch just to see him come out and close the gate, and then open it again. He would chat to some people as well. We were never allowed to, my parents said it would distract him and may cause an accident
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No train gates to watch. But locks for personal boats to go through. Always pestered to go on Sunday.
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I love watching the canal boats
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I love watching canal boats on British television. I saw speed boats, recreational boats, the odd yacht. But I loved to image when there were barges loaded with coal and wood, going down the canal, and boats with spices and silk coming up. Of course, the railway made the canals obsolete, so our stories meet in the middle — your tracks and trainman, my canals and barges.
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There was a kids program set on a canal. Will try to remember it – I just did. I think it was Rosie and Jim
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