Being a bit of a “Steam Train Buff”, as the cold crept slowly in and a hint of Christmas too, I ventured out, with my wife, to await the much acclaimed “Festive Train”, en route from Kemptville to Merrickville and Smiths Falls. We joined a small group of 3 cars at what we all thought was an early enough time to see it, and stood around patiently awaiting its appearance. A lovely family with a little boy and his little sister chatted with us as the time crept slowly by and no action was evident. A few skeins of Canada Geese flew overhead, and I shot some hopeful photos of them and the Grandad of the group also showed interest in them too, as it appeared that he too was interested in birds, and a keen reader of my weekly articles. Super!
Well, as it turned out, when advised by a passing car who took pity on us all, that the train had gone whistling by so fast an hour earlier, any hopes of seeing it were dashed from our minds. By the description of it, we would have been hard pressed to recognize it for what it was had we too seen it then! At first they, our informants, thought it was an ordinary freight train roaring through, but no, it was the “Special”, which proved to be a very big disappointment for them and their own kids, who didn’t get much of a viewing of it at all and were very disappointed! What a pity that the people between stops didn’t get too much consideration from the CPKC, but then again, we don’t know the logistics and organization involved in even getting the train down the tracks to us to start with, so I’ll not even make any comments, or make any un-educated guesses about it!
Our garden birds are still very busy, and it has now become even more incumbent on me to get out to my feeders daily to restock them. The busy action speaks many words and makes the effort well worthwhile. I hope that you too are finding the same and getting the rewards too. Stay safe and well.
Cheers,
John Baldwin
