Tuesday, December 15, 2009

Christmas Steam Train!

Here in Portland we have the "Oregon Rail Heritage Foundation" www.orhf.org For 2 weekends in December they run their 2 Steam locomotives as the Holiday Express. The trains are decked with Christmas lights and a possible Santa sighting. :)

My Hubby and I went out to see the train and take photos and were at the station when the families were disembarking, everyone was just chattering and joyful, the little kids happy, it was such a positive atmosphere of relaxed family time. (oh, how we miss that, but everyone will be home soon :)

It is so rare to see a steam engine, it is awe inspiring. It was a pretty gloomy day and still rather cold but I braved it to accompany my Hubby who is a bit of a steam enthusiast :)

I have to admit I do have a soft spot for Steam Engines, they were still running on a regular bases in England when I was a kid; my friends and I used to go to the local bridge and wait for the London train to go by, we loved being immersed in the warm smoke and hear the loud, thunderous machine roll under us, it was a huge rush, little did we know how dangerous the smoke was for us; I guess if we had known there would have been no fun in it.

Here are a couple of photos I took :)

SP 4449 Article Source: Portland Tribune.

Happy Holiday Travels :)
Happy Painting/Creating! :) T.

8 comments:

Annette said...

Sounds like such a fun day! I don't think I've ever seen a steam engine in motion...just one at a museum we visited.

Erica said...

oh what fun! I love this picture!

Erica said...

I realize there are two, I was talking about the first one, but they are both wonderful!

Fern said...

Most gorgeous train I've seen in a while - here we just see Amtrak or the tri-rail ones... this one is actually PRETTY!!! Must be something to see in person :) Great pics!

Bethany Dirksen said...

Fantastic photos. Such a powerful piece of machinery. I just recently did a painting of a steam engine....I will have let you know when I post it on my etsy shop.

www.dirksendabbles.blogspot.com
www.dirksendabbles.etsy.com

Bethany Dirksen said...

Oh yea....and I'm from Portland too! Gotta love Oregonians - I'm living in Boston now, but will soon move back.

cabin + cub said...

So cool! I have always wanted to ride a steam train. Another reason for us to visit Portland!

Daliana Pacuraru said...

Ha ha
Amazing!
Regards from Romania!