If You Could Go Back...

[Michael Knight]

The other day I heard a Eddie Money song that I hadn't heard for years: "I Wanna Go Back and Do it All Over." It made me wonder, if I could go back what time would I go back to.

It didn't take me too long to figure out.

I would go back to the eighties. I would see the Southern in it's final years before the merger and the early NS years (when Southern was still a subsidiary). I would photograph everything in sight SOU, NW, and NS.
I would see matched sets of Southern high hood Geeps, SDs and whispering jets. I would see three and four man crews, cabooses; The new NS power, cab to cab C39-8s and SD60s. If I stuck around for a while, I'd see the first RoadRailers, EOTs, crew reductions, C39-8Es, more SD60s, Dash 8-32Bs, and GP59s - all new! Heck, I don't think I'd come back!

Enough of what I think, lets here what YOU think.
Vote for your favorite time in railroading that you'd like to go back to and post your comments.

[cmherndon]

The other day I heard a Eddie Money song that I hadn't heard for years: "I wanna go back and do it all over". It made me wonder, If I could go back what time would I go back to?

Like you, I would use my two tickets to paradise and probably go back to the 80's.  I was born in 1982, and have vivid memories of seeing trains through Lawrenceburg with high hoods (long hood forward of course), radio trains, and the early days of seeing NS power parked in the House Track.  As an impressionable 5 year old in 1987, I thought it was all pretty cool.

Another memory I have (about the same time frame as the above) is going to the Louisville Redbirds games at Cardinal Stadium and seeing trains pass by on the other side of I-65.  At that point, I'd lose all interest in the baseball game for a few minutes to watch the train go by.

[ccaranna]

I voted for N&W even though I'm a northern "orphan" rail-buff.  

(You guys south of Cincy are gonna have to cut us some slack up here and share the NS, because we don't have a whole lot to get excited about anymore.)  

I'm not a complete stranger to the NS predecessors, though.  We still had the N&W come through here on a regular basis before the early '80's even though they were considered the minority back then.  Maybe I liked 'em because they were always the "unknown" RR to me.  Those long-hood forward lashups were a stark contrast to the preponderance of early Conrail junk and Chessie kittens.

[nssd702502]

Had to vote for the days of Conrail.  Living in Indianapolis is boring since CSX took over.  Wish NS would have taken our line in the merger.  Guess i didn't wish hard enough.  

Even though my greatest railfaning was at the bridge over lake Cumberland in 84 or 85 my parents dropped me off I went up near the tracks and sat and watched trains for hours.

Also later that day my parents took me to the yard in Somerset and spent some time there.  Mom would go into the office and find out when the trains were close so I would be ready to photograph them.  

Andrew D. Brewer

[Norm]

Well I guess you all should get the tar and feathers ready, because while I'm a new NS fan, I voted "Other."  I'd go back to the 70s-80s and watch L&N and Chessie pull coal trains through the mountains back home in Eastern Ky.  Occasionally we'd go over to Norton and Wise Va. to do some shopping and I'd see a N&W train, but that was not often enough to sway my loyalties.

[Michael Knight]

Thinking of more recent times, in the late 1990s, I wish that I focused more on the older units (that are now gone), rather than on the then new Dash 9s.

[NS 2557]

I would go back to the early 70's when you could see three SOU SD40-2's lead a hotshot intermodal through the most seneic parts of southern ohio and northern kentucky

[Michael Knight]

Welcome to the forums NS 2557!

Yes, it would be nice to relive the days when Southern locomotives ruled the rails!

[J484fan]

I was looking through some old posts after a conversation via pm with nsboxcar. One I found very interesting was: If you could go back. I'm a real newbie compared to most of you, as I was only bitten by the railfan bug about five years ago. Since then, my interests in RR's has changed to a degree. Being a Yankee as some of you might say, I grew up around Grand Trunk, Conrail & Chicago & Northwestern. The biggest thing I remember compared to now is all the power pulling those big trains. I remember if I was with my dad asking him to hurry up if we were headed towards the Mayflower bridge. This ran over what is now the CN double track mainline to Chicago. Somewhere after twenty some years my railfan interest got sparked via the internet. Couldn't tell you specifically how to save myself.
Since that time I have had the priveledge to see a lot of the places in S.W. Virginia in the area around Duffield where O. Winston Link took some of his famous photos. In the month I spent with a friend in Dot, VA I went to the Natural Tunnel more times than I could count. I also took a drive up to Williamson, W.V. to see that big marshalling yard full of coal cars (still have a post card of it somewhere).
I think if I could go back it would be to a time when there was still enough steam power on the N&W and go into the Pokey to watch those big 2-6-6-2's pulling those coal drags up grade. Of course over time the Southern grew on me as well, and I have sat and looked at the photos on railpictures.net with 5 diesels on the head longhood forward. Those images grew on me, I'm just curious if those of you who remember that post have had any changes of thought since then and to hear the thoughts of those newer to Jreb like myself.

[CharlesM]

I guess I can share a few memories. I grew up in a small town close to Ashland Ky. Between my house and the Ohio river was the C&O. The Taylor brick yard was across the street from me and I would ride my bike and watch em' switch out box cars and hoppers. I knew an engineer, his last name was Hardin, his first now slips my aging mind tho. He would let me come into the cab every now and then. Also my  school was by the tracks, so here I would be in class, counting cars as they went by. So I guess if I could go back, it would be to South Shore KY and watching the Chessie System, and those loooong coal loads. My what I would give...

       But sitting by MP91 with my son watching the NS is just fine with me now days.

[Michael Knight]

I have decided to merge a recently started topic (concerning this thread) in to this thread since there is still an active poll members can vote in.

Let's here what time you would go back to.

[ORVILLE]

If I could go back I would take the 1960s when Southern had a lot of passenger trains. The first time that I rode the Crescent was great. I fell in love woth the Southern Railway then.

[Michael Knight]

Things have changed so much in the last two or three years; I'm sure many railroaders would like to go back to a time when their terminal didn't have remote control locomotives in operation!