Story #129 Honk -
Last Saturday the 1:30 train had just left Sheepscot and I staged the railcar at the south end of the main to run as the second section with two passengers. The steam train had just rounded Davis curve when a car with PA plates pulled into the parking lot. A fellow got out and walked over towards the depot. I said "sorry, you just missed the train but there's time to get a ticket for the railcar" He smiled and said "the railcar is why I stopped by". He purchased his ticket and climbed into the front seat. There were still a few minutes before our departure so I asked him where he lived in PA since I spent a lot of time there when I lived in northern Maryland. He replied that he lives in King of Prussia. I told him that our Executone voice mail training center was in that area and I had been there a number of times. He said "it's a nice area, been there about 30 years but I'm not originally from Pennsylvania, I grew up in Colorado". I asked if he had lived near any of the Colorado narrow gauge lines and he said he lived outside of Denver. He added "I like the Colorado narrow gauge lines. I especially like the galloping goose and have ridden one, that's why I wanted to see your railcar". I smiled and said "well, the Model T is not as big" then I asked where he had taken a goose ride figuring that it was on the Cumbres & Toltec or at the Colorado Railroad Museum. He said "it was a long trip, the trestles at Ophir were really high". It took a second to sink in ... my passenger had ridden a Galloping Goose on the Rio Grande Southern. I asked him when he rode the RGS and he said that his father had taken him in 1951.