A dish of trains with a side of ham


"Faith is the strength by which a shattered world shall emerge into light"
~Helen Keller.


             I am back friends, I took a much needed sabbatical from not only my blog, but railfanning for the most part. I have been busy pursuing my amateur radio license and trying to fix the van to make it road worthy before winter. In early August I was granted my ticket (technician license)  to operate my radio that I had been busy fixing while I worked on my studies. After obtaining my license me and my buddy Dave decided to go to Alliance Ohio and watch trains. It was a warm September evening and thunderstorms had just finished rolling through the area. As the sky was clearing off we visited a local train shop and once we were done we headed trackside. That is when we heard a Westbound coming into Alliance and I got the bright idea to go and see if I could get a picture off the Martin Luther King bridge. Now this was no easy task due to the rock fencing applied to the bridge, if one wants to get a shot either they have to risk using a ladder ( a sure fire way to arouse the local PD) or have a camera that happens to have a lens that is small enough to shoot through the small openings in the fencing. Fortunately for me my cell phone fit the bill and I nailed this shot of a stack train as it made it's way through Alliance.

Not a easy shot, but one worth the effort 
 So once we watched the stack train go by and another mixed freight as it passed on the other track we decided to make the long journey down to the Amtrak station to hang out and enjoy the evening. Once down at the platform I looked up on my phone to find the Alliance repeater for the 2Meter band , once I found the frequency and dialed it in and entered the proper tone I was able to hit the repeater. While calling out my sign ( a requirement every 10 minutes) I made contact with Tomas, a local farmer in the area. Once we exchanged call signs and info we spent about 30 minutes rag chewing ( a ham term for long conversations). As we finished up another Westbound called the interlocking and I was able to put the radio down and capture him as he moved through the last light of the day. 

Rolling West 
As fate would have it the trains and the radio would go silent until night time when we saw about 5 more trains and time would have to wind up for the day. That day was a much needed retreat from the everyday hustle and bustle my life has become, and having another hobby that I can do while waiting on trains makes it all the much sweeter. As I close I am going to leave you with a little food for thought. Sometimes we can let life's burdens get to us, much like I have but sometimes we just got to find the strength within to keep fighting for the things we love. Sometimes this is not always easy but in the end it will be worth it. Until next time take care my friends. 

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