On the way back to our house, I saw an approaching train on the tracks that parallel the highway between our two towns. This is a pretty rare thing at 11:00 am, given the commuter trains that run on weekdays. Being the train nerd that I am, I slowed down to let it catch up to us.
We paced the engines for a couple miles, and I put the windows down on the truck so we could hear the two GE AC4400 engines running through their paces with 100+ covered hoppers in tow filled with Wisconsin corn.
My granddaughter asked me a few questions, such as "why do people spray paint the cars", and eventually "where is it going?" I told her most of the grain movements on this line wind up in Texas.
As only a nine-year-old can do, she suggested "Let's follow the train to Texas."
So we did.
Or at least we did to the next town past where we live, as I still had to work that afternoon, and a 900+ mile road trip was probably something I'd hear about later.
We hit some open road, and I was able to get about a half mile ahead, which gave us time to pull off at a grade crossing. I opened the windows again so she could fully experience the train, which was now running at about 45 miles an hour. As it passed us, the engineer gave a short horn salute and the conductor waved out the window. She was super excited that they did that just for her.
There's a perception that our hobby is just a bunch of Grumpy Old Men, which statistically is probably more true than not, but it just goes to show that people of all ages can be totally captivated by a pair of huge locomotives rolling by just a few feet away...
My granddaughter, who's usually inseparable from her tablet or some other form of digital enterntainment, is apparently one of those people.
Good catch BTW. UP6492 looks fresh out the paint shop.