A December night in LA. 2023.
Our Cottage.
My Grampa bought it in 1948.
It had been the One Room
Schoolhouse in Arcade.
The windows faced South,
for Schoolhouse lighting.
Ken Berwanger, the farmer
across the road, had gone
to school there.
Grampa Ronald built the
front and back porches, pouring
the concrete himself.
There was a school pencil
sharpener on the wall,
near the Telephone
that had no dial.
You just picked up the phone,
and if no one was on the
party line, the Operator
would pick up and ask
what city? what number?
and would place the call.
The Cottage had
cold well-water plumbing,
on the exterior,
so that when the (drained)
pipes would still split
in the winter...
the leaks wouldn't flood
the place.
No central heat.
GE electric Stove.
Norge Kerosine Stove.
Arcade was the closest town.
The Arcade & Attica Steam
Excursion Railroad crossed
Main Street.
Doug Berwanger played
Accordion on the train,
and would let us on for free !
You could walk from car to car,
including a flatbed
observation car that
gave a terrific view.
Ever get a real coal cinder
in your eye ? I did.
The Railroad store sold
Comic Books, penny candy,
and North Pacific Gliders.
Howard's sold clothing
across the street.
Woolworth's had clothing, books,
and stationary, as well as small
die-cast Tootsietoy cars.
Rosier's Hardware sold
Matchbook Cars, and fishing gear. And plumbing supplies.
Both my Dad, and my
Stepfather were Railroad men.
Dad was an Engineer for
Bethlehem Steel's South Buffalo
Railway, and Emerson ("Bud")
was Chief Clerk of Conrail in
Buffalo.
I bought Bud an N-gauge Train set one Christmas...
but he was
keenly disappointed
with its size.
I showed him N-gauge rail
magazines, and the sophisticated layouts he could
build ... but he never did.
My dad had extensive H-O
model trains,
but some family
friends had borrowed them, and
broke the motors on the engines.
They would have needed
new brushes on the motors,
and possibly rewinding.
I considered doing that
with Luke, but he was too
glued to his internet games.
Chuck
[Beans Wed, 12-13-2023 Time : 11:00a]
(reminiscent of the A&A RR)
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