Last evening my wife and I were visiting some friends of ours, Chuck Namroom and his wife Jayrun. We've been friends with Chuck and Jay for over twenty years. Chuck is currently one of the higher-ups in marketing at NS and has his hands in a lot of projects right now, not the least of which is the new NS steam program. He's been my inside scoop on the development of the steam program, and has given me the skinny on stuff at least a few weeks before it became public. After dinner the ladies usually stay out in the kitchen and talk about the latest gossip in their world, and we usually head to the den to talk trains and enjoy a good Maduro. I was there for a while and we started in with the news on 630, and how the F-Units are running, etc... Then we got to talking about National Train Day. He wanted to know if I had heard anything about what NS was doing to celebrate. I answered “not really” and he just asked me if I wanted a beer. I said sure.... and he left the room to get them. As he left he, I think, deliberately left the screen up on his computer. Whether it was deliberate or not I could see the reflection in the window behind his chair and had to investigate. He came back a few minutes later looking disgusted and said “..were out...”. I said don't worry about it, but he did bring us some sweet tea's. When he sat back down I couldn't help but mention what I had seen. He just said “ ahhh you saw that huh?”, “well, just be looking for a big announcement at the Train Day festivities”. “We were going to make the announcement at the opening of the Thoroughbreds of Steam attraction at VMT, but my superiors and I thought we could maximize our press coverage at the National Train Day event”. “Keep in mind next year is our 30th anniversary and we are planning some very special things”.

Included below is a snapshot of what his screen looked like when he left the room. I cropped out the rest of his den for privacy's sake. I had to move quick with my phone camera......When it says “Rebuilt May 2011”, do you think it means the new steam program or something else? Your guess is as good as mine especially on the first of April.

"And his wife Jayrun"? You almost had me until that point. Good one.

Nice. More than one will take the hook and run ...

It's probably the "rumour-de-jour" at Train-Odors by now...........

Looks like it's rumor of the day somewhere, it has nearly 500 views!

Hmmm, It has a J on it. I'm sorry, but could this be reference to the 611 being rebuilt for the program?

Not a bad April Fool joke but realistically someone in a position to get advanced word of something like that via friendship well before corporate was ready to announce it would not compromise their friendship taking surreptitious photos and posting them for all the world to see. So I can only give it a B-.

Steve

Would like to extend belated kudos for this one. April Fools Day is my favorite day to be online. And the best part is when I FORGOT what day it was and started to believe your post. Well done!

C'mon, Steve. Your average fan with a juicy piece of gossip would sell his mother to break the news, let alone derail a friend ... This fit the genre perfectly, IMHO.

Now i get the joke. Proves how smart I think i am....
Oh well, as the Brits would say, "jolly good show".