Apr 16th 2012 08:18 am Scratch that idea

Buy the new book, "Beaucoup Arlo & Janis!"Today's "Arlo & Janis!"
When I think I’m not so old, I remember my boyhood. If you read the first section of “Beaucoup Arlo & Janis,” you might recall I grew up in a house on a small hill, just above town. I could sit in my swing set and look out over the rooftops of downtown West Point, Georgia. I remember hearing steam engines as they’d ease through town. They did, indeed, go “choo choo choo.” I couldn’t see the trains from my vantage point, but I could see, above the buildings, the plume of black smoke from the stack as the trains eased through the far side of town. Also, I could hear the police “call box.” This was a telephone that was housed on a utility pole at the main intersection of the small city. When it “rang,” a klaxon horn would sound. Patrolmen then would rush to answer the telephone. They did not have radios in the police car. A lot can change—will change—in a lifetime. And so quickly.

Posted by jimmyjohnson / Vintage A&J

41 Responses to “Scratch that idea”

  1. Crab from Grapeland on 16 Apr 2012 at 8:33 am #

    Now even Dick Tracy’s wrist radios are hopelessly obsolete.

  2. John in Virginia on 16 Apr 2012 at 8:41 am #

    I can remember seeing riverboats steaming up and down, Jimmy.

  3. Bob, near Mark on 16 Apr 2012 at 8:59 am #

    Railroad tracks ran about 50 yards behind my grandparents house. The tracks actually ran through their property, and there was an old “cow tunnel” under the tracks to allow livestock of former owners to cross under the tracks. When we were kids, whenever we heard a train coming, we’d run to the tracks to watch the train pass by. I have an old photo of a steam locomotive approaching, with it’s black smoke coming from the smokestack.

  4. Whistling Rufus on 16 Apr 2012 at 9:20 am #

    Right On, Bob! The train ran near my Grandparents house, and I’d always run down the hill to watch it pass. Sometimes the conductors would toss candy, or one time, a comic book out the caboose window. That section of track is long gone now. So are cabooses.

  5. Bob, near Mark on 16 Apr 2012 at 9:27 am #

    Whistling Rufus, Like the old Duke Ellington song said, “Things ain’t what they used to be.” My grandparents’ house is gone (arson by a neighborhood kid one Halloween night), and the property was leveled and subdivided. I won’t go anywhere near the place, because I want to remember it the way it was.

  6. nonegiven on 16 Apr 2012 at 9:50 am #

    We used to have the storm siren blow with a different pattern whenever there was a fire. That was before the volunteer and standby firemen had pagers.

  7. Russell Way Out There on 16 Apr 2012 at 10:17 am #

    Coke, the drinking kind, in 7-1/2 ounce bottles…for 8-cents. And why don’t these keyboards have the “cent” sign?

  8. buzz on 16 Apr 2012 at 10:26 am #

    Here’s another change: Now it would be husbands telling wives they need to shave.

  9. Galliglo in Ohio on 16 Apr 2012 at 10:26 am #

    I spent my childhood on a hard-scrabble farm out in the boonies. In the summer, I could hear the train whistle, sounding the RR crossing in the village about 4 miles away. That whistle called me… “to far-away places with strange-sounding names…” So many places I longed for, that I shall never get to see…

  10. Bob, near Mark on 16 Apr 2012 at 10:34 am #

    Russel, you mean one of these – ¢ ?
    Hold down the “alt” key and type 0162.

  11. Bob, near Mark on 16 Apr 2012 at 10:35 am #

    Also, instead of 1/2, you can get ½ by holding down the “alt” key and typing 0189.

  12. Dave in MA on 16 Apr 2012 at 11:21 am #

    Bob, near Mark, I believe that only works on Windows machines, because, as we all know, (wait for it)….. Mac’s don’t make cents……

  13. sandcastler on 16 Apr 2012 at 11:57 am #

    GiO, I heard the whistle too. Ran off to join the Army as soon as I could, fourty years later I am still trotting the globe. These days are less stressful than the early years were, today I am just the old gray-haired mentor to an upcoming generation.

    The milkman is dead, but we drink more milk than ever.

  14. Galliglo in Ohio on 16 Apr 2012 at 12:11 pm #

    Sandcastler, age does have its advantages…

  15. phil in Missoula, MT on 16 Apr 2012 at 1:30 pm #

    Well, it seems that I’ve stuck my mouth in my foot and brought down the wrath of the denizens of this blog upon my head. My apologies Mindy, I didn’t mean to discourage you or to be hurtful. You go right ahead carry on with your admirers here as much as you please and have fun. Otherwise, they may lynch my IP address.

  16. sandcastler on 16 Apr 2012 at 1:45 pm #

    phMM, stats don’t lie; for that you cannot be blamed. Pretty sure the Queen of the Bamboo will be back with machette in hand.

  17. Dan in SWMo on 16 Apr 2012 at 2:53 pm #

    If I may put in my 2¢ worth on behalf of the Mac, we do have plenty of special symbols and don’t have to remember an Alt-number code to access them! (I just hope that you can read the cents symbol I used without your Windows machines messing it up.) On the Mac, ¢ is option-4, instead of the shift-4 that gives the $.

  18. Jerry in Fl on 16 Apr 2012 at 2:59 pm #

    As a wise man once said “A whop bop-a -lu a whop bam boo.” I couldn’t have put it better myself.

  19. phil in Missoula, MT on 16 Apr 2012 at 3:10 pm #

    The solution to the cents problem is probably to change the expression. I can’t think of anything you can buy for a penny or even a dime. Gum on the gumball machines is 25¢

    So…you just have to get used to the idea that your worthless, 2¢ opinion is now worth 2-bits.

  20. Mary in Ohio on 16 Apr 2012 at 4:02 pm #

    My Dad was born in 1902 – before the Wright Brothers successfully flew. He died in 1957, but it was well within the scope of a normal lifetime to have seen man land on the moon. Those are probably the two most dramatic ends of a spectrum. Wish he had ben there.

    My Grandpa – born in 1876, died in 1972 – lived by railroad tracks. Now I live within a couple miles of some tracks, and the trains have changed dramatically, but the whistle sounds eerily similar. In fact, this morning, because of whatever the atmospherics were, it sounded as if the train was across the street!

  21. Ruth Anne in Winter Park on 16 Apr 2012 at 4:18 pm #

    Mary – My grandmother was born in 1884, not only pre-flight but pre-auto. She told stories of riding home from social events in her youth and relying on the horse pulling the buggy to know the way. She died in 1973 and her last years were spent in central Florida, where we could and did watch manned space launches from our front yard. (This is the same grandmother who tipped off little 9th-grade-me that Ed Sullivan was going to have some band on called “the Beatniks, Beatles, something like that”.)

    While her generation saw marvelous changes in transportation, the changes in communication, and the computers that make some of them possible, in our generation may prove to be even more miraculous.

  22. David in Austin on 16 Apr 2012 at 4:21 pm #

    We used to put pennies and dimes (silver) on the railroad tracks behind my grandma’s house. If placed properly, the train would roll over the coins repeatedly and smash them into long shiny ovals. I have heard that one could make crossed swords the same way, using straight pins crossed on the rail. Unfortunately, that never worked for me.

    I was told years ago that the “Q” signal (- – . -) at grade crossings was based on the steam signals of ships entering harbor carrying the English queen. Apparently she was one an American train and the engineer used the same signal to announce their arrival as they traveled across country. The normal train whistle signals aren’t related to Morse code, so that may strictly be legend.

  23. MarkinTTown on 16 Apr 2012 at 4:39 pm #

    My grandparents house is located a short distance away from a Southern Railroad (now Norfolk Southern) main line. I can’t recall hearing steam whistles as a child, but do recall them from a later date, when Southern was running steam excursionsin the 1970′s and 1980′s. My parents rented a house on the same street as my grandparents which was adjacent to the train tracks. Whenever I heard the steam whistle blow I would hurry out to the hill overlooking the tracks to watch them go by. One of my favorite Gasoline Alley strips of the 1980′s recalled the Southern steam engines and even had it properly colored in the green and gold which Southern used.
    If you are ever in the Chattanooga, TN area, look up the railroad museum there. They have short excursions daily, including one pulled by a 1950′s era steam engine. For a little bit more money you can ride in the cab of the engine and watch the men at work. I did and highly recommend it!

  24. Mark in Boston on 16 Apr 2012 at 4:49 pm #

    MarkinTTown: Wow! You remember when colored comic strips were properly colored, and not colored at random like now?

    You’re old.

  25. Russell Way Out There on 16 Apr 2012 at 4:54 pm #

    The Chesapeake & Ohio ran two blocks from our house — we had dirt streets and didn’t use such hoity toity terms as “blocks” — and I used to sneak out and put pennies on the tracks so the trains would flatten them. I learned they get awfully hot and not to pick them up bare fingered until they cooled off. Then I discovered how much fun it was to sit on the tracks when a train approached, poised to run, just to have the engineer slam on the brakes and then say all sorts of new things to me at the top of his voice. Turns out one of those engineers knew my Dad and although he didn’t say to much, he surely did communicate with me that (1) I shouldn’t sit on the tracks at any time, and, (2) I wouldn’t be able to sit anywhere for several hours. Actually, the learning process followed its normal pattern: Mom taught me lessons 1 & 2 first — she also knew the engineer in question — and then Dad gave me the graduate course. When I got older and heard about Double Jeopardy, I told them they could no longer do that. Mom taught me, then, that (1) she darned well could, and, (2) she darned well would after which Dad taught me that (1) he darned well could, and, (2) he darned well would would PLUS (3) “Don’t get smart with me, Young Man, I can still whip your ***. The day he died, feeble and ill, he could still whip me because he was the one man I could never raise my hand against even in self defense. Mindy! Come back!

  26. Russell Way Out There on 16 Apr 2012 at 4:56 pm #

    I meant that Dad didn’t say much, not the Engineer.

  27. Bob in Orland Park on 16 Apr 2012 at 5:02 pm #

    The Rock Island RR freight yard was down the hill from the house I grew up in during the 40′s and 50′s in the south suburbs of Chicago. It had a roundhouse, turntable, “hump” tracks, the whole nine yards and LOTS of steam. When we moved it was too quiet and we couldn’t sleep.

  28. Tom (somewhere in Georgia) on 16 Apr 2012 at 6:42 pm #

    My Ohio hometown was a railroad hub for the old The Nickel Plate Road. We had our share of railroad crossings. Consequently, trains were blamed for many curfew violations. It was a tough life. (Ha) My dad was an RR engineer and was on the road a good bit during the days of steam engines. On his return trip, he would signal my mom with a distinct whistle sequence and she would pick him up in “the Yard.” We lived a couple of miles away but we knew when dad was home. I’m so glad mom avoided the “wait til your father gets home” threat. Miss you Mindy.

  29. CW in 617 on 16 Apr 2012 at 8:03 pm #

    Before the introduction of the “Forever” postage stamps, whenever the first-class price kicked up by 2¢, there was of course a run on 2¢ stamps. Only a few years back, some USPS offices had vending machines that did take pennies, possibly for that very reason (not wasting the postal workers’ time).

    I confess that I abused the privilege, sometimes pouring in pennies to buy a single first-class stamp.

    In a related matter, I’m now stuck with 21¢ in Canadian pennies. Do these need to be flattened by Canadian trains, or do USA trains not care about whose pennies are involved?

  30. sandcastler on 16 Apr 2012 at 8:16 pm #

    CW in 617, the international law fourm is two rooms to the right. You make also need to check with your state’s railroad commission as to locate regulations on aforemention pennies.

  31. Bob, near Mark on 16 Apr 2012 at 8:47 pm #

    CW in 617,
    Flattening 100 Canadian pennies would be downright loonie! It would be quite a huard thing to do.

  32. John in Virginia on 16 Apr 2012 at 8:54 pm #

    No Mindy today? Seems unusually quiet, especially without her blushing or stalling to “yet another day.” But I can’t believe she got mad and went off to sulk or pout. I suspect that when that lady gets angry she makes it very well known without any hesitation at all. I hope the Bamboo Boogie Man didn’t sneak up on her. I’d love to see her bamboo campaign filmed and put on Youtoob. Sandcastler, do you know her?

  33. Hurd in Bay Minette, al on 16 Apr 2012 at 9:02 pm #

    My father went to work for the Gulf, Mobile & Ohio right after he got home from WW2. We always lived within 1/2 mile of the depot of whichever town we lived in. Whenever I hear the train horn now I think of my parents and how hard they worked to send me out prepared to live my life. I will always live close to railroads.

  34. sandcastler on 16 Apr 2012 at 9:03 pm #

    JiV, only know her as a regular in a room fiiled with characters of varied stripes and assorted spots.

  35. MarkinTTown on 16 Apr 2012 at 9:31 pm #

    To Phil in Missoula, MT. I reread post from yesterday before Mindy said bye. If you have time to count percentage of posts per person, you need to get a life outside of this box. (Grin, not serious)
    I spend all day working on a computer from home and then talking to you folks here. Maybe I need to get another life. No, no, you can’t make me!

  36. Galliglo in Ohio on 16 Apr 2012 at 10:46 pm #

    Mark N TT & Phil in MM: We don’t need to get another life – ours is just fine! I LIKE to listen to all of you – and insert a comment once in awhile…

    Mindy – we miss your humor! Come on back!

  37. Jerry in Fl on 17 Apr 2012 at 1:37 am #

    Well, I stopped the bamboo discussion cold. Let’s see, what did Little Richard have to say about pennys. You know who I mean-Richard Penniman.

  38. Jerry in Fl on 17 Apr 2012 at 1:39 am #

    Well, I stopped the bamboo discussion cold. Let’s see, what did Little Richard have to say about pennys? You know who I mean-Richard Penniman.

  39. Jerry in Fl on 17 Apr 2012 at 1:39 am #

    oops!

  40. Dave in MA on 17 Apr 2012 at 6:16 am #

    Jerry in FL, you only said oops! once. Now things are out of balance! :)

    While people are remembering the “good ole days”, my wife and I were talking this morning before she brought me to the train station. We had to roll out our non-barrel-shaped trash receptacle for pick up by the automated truck. It comes along, reaches out with a claw and picks up your receptacle and dumps it into it’s topside, then places it back down on your curb. The whole city is done in one day. When we were first married (way back in 1989) the trash pick up in town took all week, and consisted of a guy driving up your street, stopping at each house, walking into your yard, rolling out your barrel to the truck, dumping it, then bringing it back to your yard for you. “Murph” knew where everyone’s barrels were and made sure things were always back where they belonged. My how the times have changed in only 23 short years.

  41. Dan in SWMo on 17 Apr 2012 at 9:56 am #

    Speaking of remembering the old days, the reason there is no cents character on the keyboard is because it really was not a necessity in the days of the old manual typewriter. Instead, you would (and I have done it) type a lower-case “c” then backspace and type a slash on top of it.