NE933
Conductor
14 years ago tomorrow, February 15, 2000, a great lady in my family succumbed to diabetes and stroke in her 80's. She was a woman of grace, ettiquette, and used force in keeping peace amongst the many warring and fighting factions of our family. She kept light and peace in the house, inspiring and loving. It was heartbreaking to watch as her body lost more and more of the medical battles, unable to fight back.
Anne Evans is probably the womb in which my love for trains was born for she loved them too. Maybe not as obsessive, fixation driven, the world shall wait until I read about how an F40 works, but loved rail never the less. Her parents just in from the Czeck/Ukraine region on a boat to Ellis Island, they were shipped out to Nesquehoning, PA, near more well known townships like Jim Thorpe and Tamaqua. Coal was king, and the might Jersey Central, Lehigh Valley, Pennsylvania Power and Light, and short regionals, would transport people and black diamonds all over. The railroad leased the houses and everyone in town worked for them. Most had small farms of a few chickens and pigs to raise and ultimately slaughter for food. Holidays were simple, but from what I remember, always happy. Rails connected the family to New York, Scranton, WilkesBarre, Reading, and Philadelphia, and the little girl Anne with nine brothers and sisters would walk to school, one of the brothers were more adventurous and walked through the now sealed and collapsed Hauto Tunnel to reach Lansford for his school, often barely enough room to let steam locomotives pass without getting burned or struck.
Though steam was in her heart, she loved the modern stuff as well, and saw Amtrak as the railroad for the future of America and its guests. She saw me climb aboard a ConRail GP35 or 40, with permission from the crew on break, and wanted to try herself! Her legs would not have it, but we got a treat afterwards, when it left we went to the grade crossing in Wessport, PA to wait for it, my tape recorder in hand. And oh, what a holy experience: the horns blasting, lots of warning bells, and the growling of six diesels pulling 104 cars to Allentown.
She was a humble and simple woman, and I just wanted to give her a little ovation here on AU. In 1998, I read the writing on the wall, and we took her on her first and only Amtrak ride NY to Philadelphia on the Metroliner. Though a bit late, I'm glad she got her chance to ride the legandary train of the legandary passenger railroad of the U. S.
Anne Evans is probably the womb in which my love for trains was born for she loved them too. Maybe not as obsessive, fixation driven, the world shall wait until I read about how an F40 works, but loved rail never the less. Her parents just in from the Czeck/Ukraine region on a boat to Ellis Island, they were shipped out to Nesquehoning, PA, near more well known townships like Jim Thorpe and Tamaqua. Coal was king, and the might Jersey Central, Lehigh Valley, Pennsylvania Power and Light, and short regionals, would transport people and black diamonds all over. The railroad leased the houses and everyone in town worked for them. Most had small farms of a few chickens and pigs to raise and ultimately slaughter for food. Holidays were simple, but from what I remember, always happy. Rails connected the family to New York, Scranton, WilkesBarre, Reading, and Philadelphia, and the little girl Anne with nine brothers and sisters would walk to school, one of the brothers were more adventurous and walked through the now sealed and collapsed Hauto Tunnel to reach Lansford for his school, often barely enough room to let steam locomotives pass without getting burned or struck.
Though steam was in her heart, she loved the modern stuff as well, and saw Amtrak as the railroad for the future of America and its guests. She saw me climb aboard a ConRail GP35 or 40, with permission from the crew on break, and wanted to try herself! Her legs would not have it, but we got a treat afterwards, when it left we went to the grade crossing in Wessport, PA to wait for it, my tape recorder in hand. And oh, what a holy experience: the horns blasting, lots of warning bells, and the growling of six diesels pulling 104 cars to Allentown.
She was a humble and simple woman, and I just wanted to give her a little ovation here on AU. In 1998, I read the writing on the wall, and we took her on her first and only Amtrak ride NY to Philadelphia on the Metroliner. Though a bit late, I'm glad she got her chance to ride the legandary train of the legandary passenger railroad of the U. S.
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She done good!
