(Engine 999)JOE: Good morning Calliope.
CALLIOPE: Good morning Joe. I missed you Saturday.
JOE: Sorry. I was out the door early and never got back to my computer.
CALLIOPE: Where were you off to?
JOE: I took my son and grandson to a model train show in Rochester.
CALLIOPE: How did you decide on that?
JOE: Trains have always been important to me.
CALLIOPE: Tell me about it.
JOE: My first life memory is of changing trains in Washington in the middle of the night on the way to Miami with my mother when I was about two so we could be with my father in the navy.
CALLIOPE: Any others?
JOE: My favorite memory of my grandfather is hearing the whistle as a train entered Dunkirk. We piled in the car and drove to the end of Park Avenue to watch a freight train stop, let off steam and cargo and then chug to a slow start on its way to the next stop.
CALLIOPE: Any other memories?
JOE: When I was writing my dissertation at the University of Illinois, I was assigned to the sixth floor of the library stacks where they also kept their collection of train books. They kept me sane when I felt overwhelmed with my research.
CALLIOPE: Did you share all of this with you son and grandson?
JOE: No. I kept the memories to myself but did share my enthusiasm for trains and what I had learned about them over the years. Talk with you tomorrow.
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