The Train Comes

It was early in the morning.  The air was foggy, and there was a chill in the air with dew on the ground.  Steve and Tiffany was walking along the rail trail that went through a small town.  They were holding hands.  Tiffany had her shoes and socks in her hand feeling the dirt on the soles of her bare feet smiling with each step she took.  They took a walk on the trail every day, but this walk was different.

They came upon the old train station that was dilapidated from the lack of maintenance.

“They should do something with that station.” Tiffany pondered.  “It can be very useful as a community center or museum.”

“The problem is that nobody visits this town.  There is not much here.  Ever since the factory closed, the trains no longer come here, and neither does anybody else.”  Stephen looked around.

“Get off the tracks.  The train is coming.”

They were startled and frantically looked around seeing a man that appeared to be in his 40’s dressed up as a train conductor.

“Excuse me.  The train has not been in this town for many years.  There is no train here.”  Stephen informed him.

“No.  You do not see the train, but it is coming.” He pointed to them.

“He’s a kook.  Let’s get…”  She felt something with her foot.  She looked down and saw railroad tracks beneath her feet.

“How…”  Stephen was stunned as he heard the sound of a horn.

 He grabbed her shoulder and pulled her off the tracks as the train arrived, and it stopped at the station.

They could not believe what they were seeing as the door opened on a boxcar, and workers climbed out.

“You see.  The train is here.”  The man smiled.

In a moment, the train faded away.

“As you see, the train still comes here.  Did you see it?”  The man had a bright smile.

“But how..?  What..?  Tiffany was puzzled.

“It is said that the train no longer comes here, but it still does.” The man continued to smile.

Stephen saw that the tracks were gone.  He peeked at the station and saw that the man was gone.

“What happened?”  Tiffany was shaken.

Stephen looked at the station and its run down shape.  He saw the old railroad bed with the dirt path.  He took out his phone.  “It is Halloween.”

She shrugged her shoulders.  “I guess that explains it.”

“It looks as if we will need to look out for trains today.” He warned.

They went back to the trail, and they continued to walk along.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!

The cover photo is of the West Chester Railroad in West, Chester, Pennsylvania.

The second photo is the old train station in Vienna, Virginia next to the Washington and Old Dominion Rail Trail.

The third photo is the old railroad bed of the Chesapeake Beach Railway in the Jug Bay Wetlands Sanctuary in Lothian, Maryland.

The fourth photo is of Number 17 William Simpson of the Northern Central Railway passing through the Howard Tunnel in Seven Valleys, Pennsylvania.

The fifth photo is of the old train station in Point of Rocks, Maryland.