Saturday, October 2, 2010

The Wichita Train Whistle Sings


Sunset, originally uploaded by William 74.
The usually busy mainline was quiet this summer evening, only the sound of crickets and cars on the highway to interrupt the silence. I'd followed these tracks many times, watching trains at places like Rochelle, DeKalb, and LaFox. Freight trains full of coal from the Powder River Basin, grain from the plains of Kansas, produce from California. Boxcars and containers of merchandise heading to customers all over the country.

But not right now. I'd passed this grain elevator often enough, even taken some photos from the crossroads, but never in the fading light of dusk. It was quiet, and all the lights were down, and the cloud cover was slowly moving out, revealing a golden aura above the horizon. Silhouetting the co-op and illuminating a pair of rails spearing westward.

*thanks to Michael Nesmith for the title of this song post, which I stole from one of his records.

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