Laura, Natalie, and I spent yesterday morning and afternoon taking a relaxing historical train ride on the Texas State Railroad. It runs twice a week between Palestine and Rusk with an old diesel engine and an older steam engine. The steam engine is running the wrong route this month, so we settled for the diesel—we really hope not to be here in August (I won’t be). We rode in the open air carriage.
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- We arrive at the Palestine station
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- I don’t know why this notification is necessary
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- Just before boarding
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- The train side of the station
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- First photographic glimpse of The Beard (aka Beardy). A conductor with an awesome beard (probably how he got the job)
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- The tracks run off out the back of the train
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- As I come back, Natalie and Laura are mesmerized by The Beard
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- I finally get a decent shot of The Beard
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- U.S. Mail box
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- Palestine Elev 420ft
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- Inside of the train
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- The train rounds a slight corner and I stick my head out the window
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- Natalie gets up to take pictures out the back (I had been meaning to do this too)
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- Railroad crossing out the back
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- The East Texas forest breezes by
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- Part of a small town we crossed through, who’s name I don’t recall
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- A bit of track that can rotate a car around
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- Laura watches the scenery
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- Natalie enters sun glasses and hat, maximum aloofness mode
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- Natalie and Laura
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- Laura does her best Natalie impression
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- Tiny brightly coloured houses
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- We pass the meal car as we arrive in Rusk
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- Lillies and flowers at a nearby pond
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- The pond landscape in portrait. This might be the best landscape picture I’ve ever taken
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- We cross through a tunnel/bridge, wandering along a trail while stopped in Rusk
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- The bench we want to sit on is already occupied by a lizard
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- The “Music Hall”, where there was a banjo duo playing. The building is as small as it can be and still count as being a building with a porch
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- Rusk Station
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- Natalie is extra-super-excited after getting a chance to toot the horn
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- The diesel engine
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- The track, as we leave Rusk
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- Waiting for our ride back in Palestine, I discover a really big wrench
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- Natalie poses, all alone, with the empty rain
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- An olde-fashioned signal
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- The now empty train. Almost everyone else is gone
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- The Beard is sighted again as the train prepares to move out. He even spoke to us. Wow
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- A strange insect that accosted Natalie
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- A railroad monument at the entrance the station
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- Do Not Climb Monument
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