Dinner and a show



"Friends are the siblings God never gave us"
~Mencius~


            This is one of those cases where you wonder who had more fun, you or the other person. Every year our local shortline puts on a dinner special for the clients who use the railroads service. This time we caught wind of the dinner special a few days early and decided to give chase. That day would prove not only fun to us but also the whole train of clients and their families. 
I got off work as usual and decided to head over to Dave's house to ride with him as my van was in no shape to be chasing trains. Once we got everything in the car we proceeded behind the shopping plaza near the yard to set up to try and catch the consist as it left the yard. While waiting for the train to get under way we got to see a few CSX trains including the Q016.

Q-016 entertains us as we wait for the dinner train.
With the Q016 out of sight we began to hear the dinner train proceed out of the yard and within a few minutes we saw the consist lead by an old Southern Railway high hood GP35 painted into the parents company colors a definite plus for adding variety to an already special move. 

The 106 and the Buckeye Lady as it departs
Once they left the yard we decided to go with out plan and hit every other grade crossing as this would be an easy chase with them as they shoved a few miles out to lake Dorthy where they would set and enjoy a dinner. Now the fun began for the both of us as once we got to the first crossing they waved as the went by but soon the waves would turn into almost instant fanfare as they probably wondered how we were getting ahead of them. Now the Buckeye Lady is a specially modified passenger car with a picture window on one end allowing the occupants to see out with a unobstructed view. Here we see them as they crossed the second crossing on the way  out to the dinner location.

A picture perfect shot of a wonderful evening
Once they crossed the last crossing before the lake (a place we had no access to) we decided to go have dinner as well at the McDonalds up the road. After the dinner we decided to head back up to the crossing we left them at and as before we began the chase hitting the crossing we missed before and was met with the same kind fanfare as before. As the train neared the end of the journey and soon would be heading back into the yard we caught them one last time out on the old Erie mainline as they passed the former depot now used as a ice cream parlor.

On the way back home from dinner
Now once they got back into the yard we decided to wave one final goodbye and take one last pic as daylight was fading fast and they were probably eager to get home as we were as well after a long day of work and a afternoon of chasing trains I was surely tired out as well. Once they were out of sight we decided to both head home Dave dropped me off to pick up the van and as I drove home I thought about how I hoped I was not too much of a pest but to find out everyone had a good time and that my friends is all I wanted in the first place. Now as I get ready to leave you I want to leave you with this food for thought. Friendship is a strange thing we pick a person and say hey I want to do things with them. The key is to pick friends who not only will encourage you but also will correct you with things you are doing wrong. I have had the joy of being on both ends of the spectrum and I did not like the correction end of it especially when I did things I thought was right but were destructive in the end. The results were that my friends were right and in the end I couldn't fault them for telling me the right thing and that my friends is a true friend. Until next time Take care.

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