Final Thoughts on Steam in the Snow

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This was a great experience and now that I’ve done it once and learned what it’s about, I am putting it on my calendar for next year too. Maybe then I’ll get my “Money Shot”.

Some people choose to follow the train in their own cars. These folks are called “chasers”. With the mild weather we had there were a lot of them.

The Snow Train crossing a vintage trestle bridge.

North Conway is a pretty town. We headed to dinner at sunset. Although with the heavy cloud cover there was no “sunset” the lighted ski trails on the mountain made up for it.

Steam in the Snow 2012

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The “Steam in the Snow” is a special Charter by the Massachusetts Bay Railroad Enthusiasts (Mass Bay RRE). This special train is chartered from the Conway Scenic Railroad. According to the handouts this continues a tradition that was begun  in 1934! This is called a  Fantrip which is a trip made just to  observe and photograph the railroad operations.

The route for this trip was from North Conway to Notchland by diesel and back to North Conway pulled by the steam engine. The return trip includes the photo stops, the main reason I was on this trip.

At a photo stop the passengers who are interested in taking pictures get off the train. A photo line is set up that we aren’t supposed to cross. Then the train is backed up out of sight so that it can be run back by us for photos. After the “run by” everyone climbs back onto the train until the next stop.

There were 300 passengers on this trip which according to the “Car host” was a lot. The photo stops were crowded because a photo club brough 35 members for a class of which photographing the train was the subject. You could spot the class members. Most of them were using tripods. I had been warned not to take a tripod as it would be too crowded.

The organizers tried to split the photographers into 2 groups and do 2 run-bys each stop but it was taking too long to get everyone on and off the train. I was getting a lot of heads in the pictures until about the third stop when I decided to get aggressive. I started asking people to let me get in the front row and then I got on my knees so they could “Shoot” over my head.

My “picture of the day” was actually taken after the train left a tunnel. Everyone was crowded right at the tunnel entrance. I gave up trying to get a position in that mob so I went on down the tracks and knelt down on the berm that sloped down from the tracks. I was pretty close to the tracks but no one yelled at me to move so I stayed. What an adrenaline rush! I could feel the ground shake and the wind as the train rushed by almost knocked me over…but I got the shot! I think If I’d have been standing it would have been instinctive to back away as the train approached. But by being on my knees  I was committed! No time to move.

Although I got that picture and few others, none reached the standard I was trying for. That just means that I will have to go back again next year.

We had dinner at Rafferty’s in North Conway before we all piled back into the bus for the ride home. A long but satisfying day was wrapping up. The sun hadn’t cooperated but it had been pretty warm for January. The overcast made for nice even lighting for the pictures.

Having staged “run bys” is an awesome way to get pictures. I just wish it hadn’t been quite so crowded.

First Adventure of 2012

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It seems like 2012 is off to a slow start as far as my exploring goes but that’s partly because the car is limping badly. I have an appointment to get it into the shop on Martin Luther King Day. Until then I am trying to keep driving to a minimum. I don’t want it to quit on me before I can get it fixed. I need to be able to get to work.

Before I knew the car was in dire straights I made arrangements to get the day off on Saturday Jan 7, 2012.  This was done so I could go on a “photo shoot” in New Hampshire. I wasn’t going to miss it just because the car needs some work. Instead I arranged to take the bus transportation being offered. Even so I had to drive 50 miles to get to the bus station in Woburn.

The bus was leaving a 7:15 am. It’s at least an hour drive from my house to Woburn so Saturday morning my alarm was going off at 5 am. It’s still very dark and cold at 5 am!

I was on the road by 5:30 and arrived at the bus station in Woburn in time to get breakfast at Dunkin’ Donuts.

The bus was a charter from Crystal Tours and arrived right on time. They started at South Station in Boston  so there were already other riders on the bus.

Those of us from the Woburn stop were loaded on and we were off. The tour leader said he would let us sleep as it was still so early. Then he proceeded to make announcements and chit-chat over the speakers all the way to North Conway. Every time we went over a railroad track or crossing or even had a track run beside the road, he had to tell everyone what it was and its history.  You see I was on a “Rail Fan” tour. Everyone on the bus was a die-hard train buff.

I like trains but I am not a “rail fan” I don’t memorize the history of the rail lines or know how to maintain a steam engine. These friendly folks knew stats and tossed them around the way sports fans toss out batting stats or field goal completions. Mostly I smiled and nodded as everyone around me seemed to be speaking a different language.

We were heading to North Conway, NH for a ride on the Scenic Railroad. This was a special train that is chartered by the Massachusetts Bay Railroad Enthusiasts, Inc. for a day known as “Steam in the Snow”. Too bad we don’t have the snow! (Ok there’s a little bit in New Hampshire)

The day is set up so that a diesel engine pulls the train the first half of the journey with the stream engine in the role of the caboose. This part of the trip is non stop and is nice and relaxing through some very pretty country. On this leg the box lunches were distributed, along with the route guide.

At the end of the line the diesel is unhitched and the steam train takes over for the trip back to North Conway. This was the part I was waiting for.

Resolutions

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Just because I assigned a theme to 2012 doesn’t mean I can escape the urge to  look at the new year as a new start, a chance to get a “do-over” with a new  (old?) set of resolutions.

So here they are: the same old worn out chestnuts that I bring out every January. Still, if I BELIEVE this may just be the year.

#1. Be a better housekeeper!. Not perfect but just a bit more conscientious.

#2. Eat Well…not more , just more healthfully.

#3. Exercise

#4. Clean up my financial life.

#4. Above all Live Life Fully! (LLF)

You notice I didn’t say I was going to lose weight…not 10, not 30, not 100 lbs. Would I like to lose weight? Sure who wouldn’t but my effort is to focus on health not weight loss. If I can be active and feel good then I’m not going to sweat it if I’m a bit “rotund”.

Moderation in all things!

A “Good News Story”

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Around my workplace it seems everything is a “Good News Story”. The phase has been so over-used that no one pays much attention to it anymore. But I want to share an experience I just had on Dec. 30 that not only made my day but was a real  “Good News Story” in my book!

I just got through complaining right here about the poor service provided by UPS. Sometimes it seems that getting anything done or fixed is just a chore beyond words, between IVR’s and Voice mail or when you finally reach a real person,  their unhelpful manner. The problem is so widespread that I hate to admit it’s even in my workplace. So when a company really steps up to the plate and goes the extra mile one should be as quick to offer kudos as we are to criticize.

My “Good News Story” is a Walmart story. Yes, that retail giant that everyone loves to bash for one thing or another. So here it is.

When I returned  from vacation last May I found a flat tire on my car. The flat was caused by rot in the sidewall and couldn’t be repaired. It was a Sunday and I was a long way from home. I was lucky to be at my sister’s and the family rode to my rescue. My nephew  removed the tire and his wife drove me to the only place in town that was open on a Sunday for tires…Walmart.

We dropped the tire off and went back to my sister’s to wait for them to call back when the tire was replaced. We waited  and waited and waited for something that shouldn’t have taken more than an hour. Finally we called them only to be told that it was all set and that they had been paging us in the store.

Ok so they dropped the ball. At least I had a new tire. Back to Walmart we went to pick it up. We had to ask the tire person to put it in the car which he did very reluctantly with much sighing and air of being  “put -upon”. But we had the tire.

My nephew then put the tire back on my car and I was on my way. The car did shimmy and pull but I chalked it up to the fact that I needed another tire and that I hadn’t had the tire balanced or aligned. As the summer progressed the GM dealership rotated the tire at least twice and reminded me I needed to get another new tire before the snow  started flying in the winter. (They never said anything else about the tire)

Well, it’s winter now and by now I need 3 new tires so not wanting to get caught in a snow storm with bald tread, I took my car to the Walmart out here. This is where the story really gets good.

I went in on Friday 12/30 at 8 am in hopes of putting one tire on before work. That would give me a pair of good tires and next payday I would do the other two.

The first problem is that Walmart will only mount tires in pairs. If I wanted 1 tire I was going to have to put it on myself. After some  haggling they agreed to put just the one tire on. I wandered into the store to do some browsing while they took my car in. Not 5 minutes later my cell phone rang. (Houston we have a problem) The tire I had on the car from the Walmart in New York, the one I’d been driving on all summer, was the wrong size for the car.  So we were back to needing to put on 2 new tires.

I was really concerned now because it’s the holidays. I don’t know about you but I don’t have any extra cash lying around this time of year. I had the money for 1 new tire..not two.

The Walmart employee was burning up the computer keys trying to find the workorder from the store in New York but he couldn’t find any record. I answered his questions and then told my tale again to the service manager. The big question was how or why would they have put the wrong size tire on the car??? ( I’m sure it had nothing to do with the “I don’t care” attitude displayed by the employees there..maybe incompetence?)

By now an hour had passed. I’d called my sister in New York to confirm the address of the Walmart store we used and review what happened that day in case I’d forgotten any details. The service manager disappeared into the back area while I mentally juggled money and bills in my head.

9:15 the service manager came back out. She told the attendant to write me up for 2 new tires and then credit one back. She explained that Walmart had no liability for putting the wrong tire on because they didn’t physically put it on the car but she had called her manager and they agreed that if I gave Walmart a tire and told them to replace it with a new one, that I should be able to count on it being the right tire. So for safety reasons they were going to replace the tire with the correct one and only charge me for the one I wanted!

I confess..I was speechless! I have never had any retailer step up like that, especially not a big chain store! It was more than I could ever have expected. That was being treated like a business used to treat people back “in the old days” when reputation was everything. They really made my day!

I went to work and told everyone at work about the great experience I had at Walmart. It was an $80.00 tire but they have probably gotten way more than $80.00  in positive word of mouth from me and they will continue to get it. They did good. A “Good News Story”. They deserve to be recognized.

Kudos Walmart! Well done and Thanks again!