We interupt this blog...

Lately, I've been catching up on a number posts I had started but not finished (see Another long time between blog posts... ). But yesterday, when I was going to write about some sermons from our church, we ended up driving my mother-in-law to Connecticut at the last minute to see her sister who is in bad shape. The sisters needed to visit and my wife wanted to see some of her cousins that she hasn't seen for a while. The bad news was that both of our children had colds and we couldn't take them in to see their great aunt because she is so weak. Also, due to the length of the trip, we thought it was better if I drove. So, we decided that the three kids (the two younger ones and me) would go to the nearby Connecticut Trolley Museum while Cindy and her mother visited their relatives.

I have loved trolleys and street cars since I was a kid growing up near Pittsburgh where trolleys were always a large part of the mass transit system. I'd do anything for the chance to ride the trolley. So, I think I was looking forward to this trip more than anyone. The top picture is the view out the cab of the trolley we took a ride on at the museum. It is a 1912 St. Louis Car Co. open-air unit from Rio De Janeiro, Brazil. We had a nice long ride but it was awfully slow. This is partly due to the condition of the tracks and the age and condition of the trolley. All the work is done by volunteers and there just isn't enough time and manpower to fix everything the way they would like. The picture on the left shows my son Evan next to this trolley. When we got to the end of the line, we got a short talk on the history of the local electric railway and the car we were on. Then, since there was no loop, they flipped the seats so we could be facing forward on the way back.

Just to show how much work they have to do to get the cars in shape for riding, the bottom picture shows my daughter Emma in one of the cars they are still working on. There were other trolleys in a lot worse shape and I wish I'd have gotten pictures of them. It is amazing to think of a bunch of volunteers giving up their time to recondition these machines that are in such terrible shape. When I saw the ones waiting for work, it sent shivers down my spine. One of my worst nightmares about work is to be put on a project where I have no idea where to begin. My heart goes out to the dedicated volunteers who can look beyond the problems and get started working on such a difficult problem.