I have had several people come up to me at the New Hope & Ivyland asking me if the trains go to New York/when is the next train to New York/I need X-number of tickets to New York. I usually direct these people to Princeton Junction or Trenton.

I've never seen this first hand, but I've been told it's happened. . .

In Martinsburg, W.Va., there are two railroad stations. One is on the former Baltimore & Ohio, across the tracks from a post-Civil War roundhouse, a former hotel that became a station after the real station was burned down by Stonewall Jackson in 1861. It has MARC commuter trains and Amtrak's Capitol Limited. It's at the end of Martin Street.

The other station is the former Pennsylvania Railroad, former Cumberland Valley building from the 1890s, on King Street. It's on what is now the Winchester & Western, and sees up to eight freight trains or train movements per day, way up from the service of three days per week in the Conrail era.

The B&O station was restored and expanded by the City of Martinsburg as a transportation facility. The PRR station was later restored and renovated by a local architectural firm, and they even did a good job on the platform.

Just after this second station was restored, some people at the architectural firm noticed people on the platform, fairly well dressed, with luggage. The architectural employees went outside to ask about this.

"Oh, we're waiting for the train to Chicago. It's supposed to be here in ten minutes."

They found they had to hurry over to that other station.

"But isn't this a station?"

"It's not the right one."

You would think the somewhat second-class track would have given them a clue, but even if it still had passenger service, they would have been going to Hagerstown, not Chicago.

J3a-614:

That's OK. We welcome visitors here in Hagerstown. The passenger station is now the police station, and there's a decent restaurant across the street. But I don't think the WW train will take them past Vardo Yard.

Tom

You know I have heard about some dumbass getting on a Day out with Thomas trying to get to New York

Parents always asking if their kids can "ring the whistle".

I thought that even the most basic "Choo-choo train" storybooks would teach people the correct verb to use; apparently I have too much faith in humanity.

Ever notice parents who encourage their parents to shout "CHOOOOOOOOOO CHOOO", to mimic the whistle? They don't seem to know that "Choo Choo" is supposed to sound like the sound of a steam loco exhaust, and "Woo Woo" is the sound of the whistle.

Conversation between my father and a member of the Strasburg (Pa.) Railroad train crew sometime about 1963, after I fell off when the train started suddenly while I was trying to board it at Cherry Valley station (Pop. 19, more or less). It seems that it had only stopped to flag the Cherry Hill Rd. grade crossing, and it started immediately on a signal from the flagman on the other side of the train.
"But the timetables you give to the public and the schedule you publish in the Official Guide of the Railways show that the 5 p.m. train from East Strasburg stops at Cherry Valley at 5:05 p.m. with no restrictions or reference marks. And the Tariff that you file with the Pennsylvania Public Utilities Commission lists fares at that place!"
"Those are only for show, we are a Tourist Railroad, and don't really carry local passengers."
They may have even stopped handling freight cars at that time, although they do have a freight business nowadays. Back then, Strasburg was listed as a station, but for Freight Only.
Daddy had been driving us West from Philadelphia and saw that we were just going to miss the last train of the day from East Strasburg, so he headed to the next station East of there.

Back in 2011 we had been working on Union Pacific 833, the FEF-3 on display at the Utah State Railroad Museum in Ogden, Utah. An older gentleman came up to me and asked when we would be leaving the station, a suggestion that would have been impossible considering the 833 is trapped at the tail end of a rather full display yard. I explained that it doesn't run and will probably never be in any shape to.
Upset at that thought, he said "What did you do to it then? I've seen it running with a nice long train of yellow cars several times!"
He didn't believe that there could possible be two FEF-class locomotives and stormed away angry that I would dare suggest that the operating locomotive was actually the 844, visiting from Cheyenne.

Imagine his reaction had you told him there are FOUR!

Ross Rowland was the butt of this one while he was standing on the open platform of his Private Observation Car at a Hoboken (N.J.) Terminal Festival about 1983. From a young railfan who liked to ride First Class, "Mr. Rowland, do you ever sell tickets to ride on trips in your car?"

Having read many of the posts here and experiencing many similar situations it is with great debate and much consternation that I can no longer hold back my all-time "great quote" and I even have a picture of the offending parties-I hope the moderators permit this to stay.
The last day of the 1991 NRHS convention 765 and 1225 doubleheaded to Hinton, WVa. As usual when we arrived at Meadow Creek the locos were cut off, turned on the wye, and the train proceeded to Hinton behind diesels. We always service in the yard there and back the last few miles into Hinton to couple to the train. My job was usually shooting the rods with one or two other crew members. This service started out as many others with the usual crowd of railfans gathering to watch and the typical "back when I worked at the railroad I did it this way....." We are cruising along when up walked three guys (picture attached) whom I'm sure many of you recognize. One looked at the other two and said "wouldn't that make a great enema device?" I immediately dropped the alemite gun, never wanting to touch it again, and walked to the backside of the 765 to regain my composure. Right behind me were my companions and a CSX official who asked "are those guys for real". We answered OOOOHHHHH YEAHHHHH. There was probably as many pictures taken of this trio as was the 765 that day. It is my understanding atleast two of the parties are no longer with us.

So who's the bloke on the left of the trio? Are there any stories involving him?

I have no idea. No one else on our crew seemed to know who he was either. I was hoping someone here might have an idea. I think he was traveling separate from Superheater and his buddy. Those two just happened to be passing through on their way to Colorado. You know....Meadow Creek is right on the interstate to go west.

Are you sure about the date? I'm looking at the humungus peace sign around one guy's neck, and the "establishment look" of the blond guy on the left, and it looks more like 1971 to me!!

It's after Peace Boy started bleaching his hair and lost an eye, so 1991 sounds about right.........

I'm a bit chagrined that I know this.