Train Buffs

Auriesville, NY
42 56.24 N 074 17.80 W

Well, we left the Capital District of NY behind and we're heading into the Mohawk Valley.  This is very familiar ground to us.  For many years, we lived at the East end of this valley while our parents lived at the West end.   We drove back and forth many times.

The Mohawk Valley has it's own character and beauty, different from the Hudson Valley.  It is here that one can see infinite shades of green in June.   Here, the terrain gradually shifts from ancient plateaus to glacial drumlins (tear shaped hills made of gravel.)  It makes for many splendid scenic views.  Indeed, we've seen lots of idyllic paintings of the valley views.  Most were from the 19th century and nearly all depicted belching smokestacks perched in the middle of natural beauty.  That was considered a sign of prosperity in the 19th century.  

Up on the bluff beside us is the Auriesville Shrine.  That is a place with a very interesting history.  Read about it here.

Today, the views in the valley are markedly less pretty than they were in our youth.  Why is that?  Because of the decline in agriculture in this region, many fields have been overgrown by trees.  Trees are nice, but they block views, and they reduce the diversity of the shades of green.

We've already stocked up on one local delicacy; salt potatoes.  Salt potatoes are grown only in the Mohawk Valley, mostly near lock 22.   Boy are they good.  One cooks them in salted water and serves them with melted butter.  Yummy.   When we return by this route we'll enjoy the other local specialty -- sweet corn on the cob.   Sweet corn in this region is very much tastier than from any other place we've been to.  I asked a farmer once why.  She said, "It's the soil."  True enough, in the valley just east of Syracuse there is a band of so-called muck farms.   The muck is very black, very wet and very fertile soil.

I've said how we like the sound of railroads.  It's true.  At lock 11 we encountered a bunch of train buffs who like them even more.  The buffs sit in their lawn chairs all day and all night up to 2200 just to watch the trains up close and to photograph them.  It's a very busy spot with the interval between trains only 15 minutes or so, 24 hours per day, all traveling at 40-65 mph.   Because there is a road crossing, the engines are required to blast their horns.  Boy are they loud up close.  

Recently in Saugerties, Libby and I went out for a night at the movies.  First evening in a movie theater in two or three years.  We saw the new film called Super 8.  The climax of that film is a spectacular railroad crash.  The movie protagonists stood next to the tracks when the crash started.   Of course it was all digital special effects, but it appeared very real and scary.   Today I stood only 3 meters from the tracks as a train rushed by at 60 mph (100 kph).   I got uneasy as I read the labels on the tank cars.  Anhydrous ammonia, phosphoric acid, liquefied petroleum, hydrochloric acid, chlorine, and sodium hydroxide.   Need I say that I felt very uneasy at that moment.