Stanley... My late Mother taught me not to stare, but when I came to your photo, I just couldn't help myself. This photo speaks volumes about 70's railroading and it has so much to say! A first generation geep leading an early second generation successor says this is not uncommon for this time period -- we used to see this all the time! The uneven jointed rail with evidence of mud pumping up at the joints says the track needs ties, ballast and surfacing. The new ties lying near the tower says somebody knows the track needs some attention, but we're a little short handed these days and they'll be put in when a track gang isn't busy cleaning up the aftermath of a minor derailment in a yard or working somewhere else that actually needs more attention than this place. The interlocking tower with the mechanical pipeline emerging from the bottom says I have "armstrong" levers up here! And the silhouette of the operator seen in the window is the muscle behind moving those switch points and derails -- not an electric motor! Yes, this is a typical snapshot of 70's railroading that, good or bad, I remember so vividly from my youth. And this scene wasn't unique only to Hancock, West Virginia; railroading was like this just about everywhere I went in the east and midwest. This is the the way railroading was and frankly, I miss it very much in so many ways. Thanks for the memories and I hope you'll continue to share your vintage time capsules with us.
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