Thursday, March 10th, 2011
The temperature at 8AM was 54.7F with mostly cloudy skies.
There are a lot of people fascinated with trains. The two who enjoy them the most that I know are Robert, G4PYR, and Doug, VE1UY. Robert spends every weekend messing about with them and Doug would if he could. So today we had a Robert and Doug day.
We had planned this day for several weeks. We tried to get the train organization on the phone but one had to push 1 for this, 2 for that, so like fools we said we will go without reservations. We could not push 1 or any other number via the trucks phone. I am not so sure we could do it with the cell phone. I find the cell phone hard to use and the truck On Star phone so much better.
We went down to Globe about one hour southeast of Gold Canyon to board the train. We could not get on board. The train was full.
The train runs five miles west of Globe, then back to Globe, then seven miles east of Globe and then back to the station. At seven miles east it stops and lets those off that want off to attend the casino. The train then picks them up on the next trip, the afternoon trip. Probably the casino helps finance the train in some way. Apparently it is run by all volunteers.
This is more or less a head on view of the train.
This is the Railroad Station.
Every Railroad Station in the world must have something with Thomas the Tank Engine on it. Of course Robert over in the U.K. has the real thing we are sure.
The Railroad Station Entrance.
The ticket booth in the Railroad Station.
This is Karen, the Train Engineer, Joan and Bob. This same organization owns a train in Colorado and this Engineer stated he runs this one for awhile and then goes to Colorado and runs that engine up there for awhile. At least he gets a change of scenery from time to time.
The train is getting a bath before its run.
The train is the Arizona Eastern Railway's Copper Spike as can be seen on the side of the car.
The Arizona Eastern Railway sign on the car.
This is a description of Globe, Arizona.
This is a side view of the engine. Doug can probably tell us the complete story on that Engine. Would it be World War II vintage or newer?
This is the kids train and I am sure a lot of kids have many memories of it. At least it looks like fun to me.
The day was far from a complete loss but it would have been fun to make the trip in the Dome Car and get a few photographs.
On the way home we stopped at a Target Store and paid our bill. The clerk was Sharon from Emneth, Cambridgeshire, U.K. She grew up in Watlington not far from there. This is near Robert and Robert should hang on to the girls from that area if they all look like her. It would do wonders to the scenery over there.
When we arrived home about 3PM it was warm. The temperature was 88.6F under scattered cloud. Perfect for sitting out. By 4:20PM the temperature was 87.8F with scattered cloud and still perfect for sitting out.
There was a lot of chatter on 14023 kilohertz when we arrived home. There was a contest on and each station simply sent their call sign until they were picked out of the pile. This went on for quite awhile.
By 5:15PM the temperature was 85.9F and they stated a clear sky. We can see quite a bit of high cirrus. We are not sure where this Gold Canyon weather station is but we believe it is to the east of us and must be a few miles east of us. At least it was not a clear sky.
When the evening dumpster trip and the movie ended it was 62.3F under a clear sky. On the dumpster trip we could see a clear one quarter moon.
That was our day. Not the day we hoped when we crawled out of bed but none the less an enjoyable day. We were hoping for photographs for Doug and Robert taken from the trains dome windows. Sorry. It was not to be.