Take the last train to Alna Center.... Conductor John Roberts (with the fur hat) uses his kerosene-burning lantern to direct Engineer Bob Longo in coupling Locomotive #10 to Coach 8 for the last trip of 2014.....a night run to Alna Center. They will take only two coaches tonight, as the crowds from the museum's Victorian Christmas event have now departed for home. Earlier in the day, the crews were running 5-car trains, including every piece of rolling stock that could safely carry people. One of those trains had nearly 200 people on it. Two of the cars in use during the peak of the event were open excursion cars, and with temperatures topping out at about 30F today, the ride had to be pretty sporty on those. Still, Mainers are hardy people, and there was no shortage of folks willing to ride those open cars. Now, the folks left in the yard are mainly narrow gauge die-hards...either museum folks or railfans, who just can't walk away from a locomotive with a fire in it. They will fill the two coaches and spend the next 40 minutes soaking in the look and feel of nighttime railroading, the way it was back about 1915.
A continuously growing album of photos that IMHO reveal the awesome and seldom-seen beauty of the railroad world from the dimming of day to dawn's early light! From dusk to dawn, trains roll on! (I'm still finding gems of sunset-to-sunrise surprises!)
