January Rails

With work being busy in 2015 and requiring weekend attention, I didn't get out to watch trains very much. Saturday was another nice day for January in Iowa so my caregiver and I went and did some rail fanning.

Just as we were getting to Ottumwa, a train was leaving town. When this happens I always wish I had been just a few minutes faster with my morning routine and caught the train on video. At least it was within sight and a nice greeting for the day.

After briefly checking out the Amtrak station, we parked at a place where two sets of track cross over each other and form a diamond. After about 30 minutes of waiting, a single loan train horn sounded in the distance. A few minutes later the lonesome call was heard again.

My ears listened attentively to hear it again, trying to determine which of the four directions it was coming from. My watch beeped at the new hour sounding like a trumpet blast as i continued to wait. Finally, the headlights of the train came into view and passed our location with the camera recording. The rhythm of the wheels pounding the cross over almost having a soothing feeling.

Shortly after, we quickly grabbed lunch and returned to dine by the rails so as not to miss anything. Unfortunately, the next two hours of waiting did not result in another sighting. With time up for taking care of physical needs, we started the 45 minute journey home.

Hopefully 2016 will allow for more time on the hunt for rails. Getting out to enjoy God's creation and anticipating oncoming trains is a fun part for this quad life. With a blizzard predicted for later this week, it will be a while again, but the year has just begun.