After leaving upstate for the last time, I headed over to Scranton, PA, for Rail camp. We honestly didn’t know what to expect. But when we got there, it was awesome. I stayed in the University of Scranton Dorm and they had awesome food there (Better than Adelphi food, they didn’t put laxatives in their food). Two mornings that I was there, they had fresh Krispy Kreme donuts. I was sitting with my friends when one of them comes up. I look and I see a donuts that looked kind of familiar, but I was not sure where I saw it before, so I asked “Where’d ya get that?” to which they replied “Over There” pointing at the donuts. So I got up and waltzed on over, grabbed a glazed one, and walked back. When I took a bite, this is what my friends told me, my face lit up with joy and I like “Flipped a shit over a donuts”. I just remember getting up, walking over and grabbing 7 more, walking back and eating them. They were awesome.

    I remember we went to Amtrak’s Wilmington Locomotive shops, Bear Car shops, and an old Anthracite Coal mine. On the way to and from the shops, we would annoy Barry, the head counselor constantly, he would always sleep, what he was best known for doing, so when we got really bored, we would make sure he was sleeping. We would call for him, he would wake up, look at us and Scott would say “are we there yet?” and he would just roll his eyes and doze off again. For most of the week though, we were at the museum. During lunch we would eat in the staff cafeteria. I just ate skittles and soda, but everyone else ate sandwiches. They gave us a tour of the place and one day we learned how to weld and we made our own silhouettes.

    On another day, we went to the trolley museum. We went inside and I hung out with my fellow campers Davis and Nick. We went on one of the restored trolleys and Nick went crazy. Stomping on the bell petal and screwing with the windshield wiper, while yelling “TROLLAY TO MEXICOE!!!” and there was this little kitty trolley for four-year-olds and the three of us and another friend, Matt all fit in and took a pictures of us inside it. It was hilarious. And when I was in the mini trolley, Nick said “Ok I’m going in the big trolley to mess around more, let me know if Janice is coming…” Janice was a very strict counselor, who gave everyone the evil eye at least once. So, I’m sitting in the mini trolley, while Nick was ringing the bell, and using the windshield wiper and I see Janice coming into the room, so I gave the signal, I waved my hand up and down. I was still laughing as she walked in and she just looked at me and rolled her eyes and shook her head. She was walking up to the trolley, when Nick rang the bell. She stopped, looked around, turned around, looked at me, and left. I never laughed so hard in my life. Nick and Davis got up and were laughing too. Nick would later come up to me later and ask “Dude what did she do when I hit the bell?” When I told him, he just laughed.

    There was a counselor named Mike. I’m not too sure how this started, but at some point, Barry called Mike, and everyone started going “MIKE! MIKE! MIKE! MIKE!” Like the seagulls on Finding Nemo, except replace the “Mine!” with “Mike!”                    


Above: Nick having too much fun on the trolley. “Trollay to Mexicoe” (Photo courtesy of Nick Gagliardi) Above: (From left to right) Matt, Davis, me, and Nick in the trolley for four years old. (Photo courtesy of Nick Gagliardi)

    We also rode the trolley from in front of the museum to the end of the line. We got to see the shops and on the way back, in the Mile long tunnel, some kids were burning sticks. When we saw them, the conductor, Who, Kira said looked like Willy Wonka, got off and proceeded to walk towards the kids. The kids turned and ran. Just as they started running Willy Wonka shouted “HEY!” The kids stopped, turned around and walked back. So he started talking to the kids as the fire was still burning. “Why isn’t Willy Wonka putting out the fire, it’s getting bigger…” said Kira. To which me and another one of our friends started laughing. Later, while recalling the incident Kira would state “Where are the Oompa Loompas when you need them”.

    In Rail camp, I got to see and climb on my first “F-Unit”, the diesels that replace steam for most railroads in the 1950’s. It was awesome. Seeing such an old machine still in operation was definitely an experience. I also got to climb aboard my first steam locomotive and see inside the cab. Seeing the inside of some old Erie Lackawanna Commuter coaches was interesting also, but I really liked those F-Units.  

        My Final Memory of Rail camp was the last day. The first thing we did was learn how to couple cars together and use hand signals. While we were watching her do everything, these rare locomotives called Alco’s (Alco stands for American Locomotive Company, who shut their doors in 1970) were switching around in the yard on the local railroad. Now I’ve never seen, or heard an Alco before. Where I live, on Long Island, We used to have Alco’s, but the Main engine, or “Prime Mover” was taken out so I never heard a true Alco before. I must say, it is defiantly an experience. Hearing that Putt Putt Putt sound and when they throttle up, that burbling sound, it’s quite an experience. Everyone would glace over every once in a while to see if they were coming. After like ten minutes, they started heading towards us. I turned to Nick and said “Dude, Dude, Dude” Pointing at the Alco’s. He looked, “Oh Shit” took out his camera and we filmed them go by. After, the conductor seemed a little annoyed, but not too bad. After that though was the best part of rail camp. I got to be the conductor of a light engine move across the yard. I used hand signals, Stop, Go, slow down, etc. It was awesome. The only problem with being conductor is the bell. You stand right underneath it. And eventually I was tapping my foot to the sound of it. I still hear it when it gets really quiet in a room. The best part had yet to come. I got to operate the locomotive afterward! Before operating the locomotive, the engineer said “Do you have any prior experience to operating a locomotive?” I replied no and he said “You’re the first person to say no, everyone else said yes so I ask them where and they said” His tone changing from real to stupid “On That train simulator on the computer, and I said” His voice changing back to a serious tone “That doesn’t count.” We both laughed and we got to talk a bit. He said that he enjoys being an engineer for the museum, even though “I have to deal with a lot of crap from kids. They can be so annoying. One kid, a couple of days ago, was taking pictures and had his flash on. That pisses me off. Think about it. You already have a hard job. Making sure nothing happens to the people and equipment your hauling and some dickhead is taking pictures, keep in mind we are in daylight, with his flash on. How stupid is that? You know that blinds you, a lot can happen in that couple of seconds, you can miss a signal, you can hit something and won’t know it, etc…” We both laughed at that one. But all I was thinking about was the fact that my life-long dream had been complete, and I’m only 18. It was the best day of my life so far. During Lunch I wandered around the yard and looked at all the locomotives and cars in the storage yard. They had a shay, some old wooden cars, some coaches, even a wooden snow plow. After lunch we went over to a Hi-Rail vehicle, and learned about it. How to put down the flanged wheels, how to drive it, we even got to ride in it a few hundred feet. After that though, we learned how to operate a live steam locomotive. That was awesome. I played some little tunes on the whistle and the engineer showing us how to operate it got a little chuckle. But even then I was still amazed that I got to operate a real locomotive. When I left Rail camp to head home I was very depressed. The whole ride I was tearing. It was only a week long and yet, most of the campers and staff was like family to me. After one week at Rail camp, most of the kids there were like family. Every night, we would go out in the court yard and play Frisbee tag. My closest friends, Jared Steele, Kira Hunter, Drew Kieser, and Scott Bauer, I still talk to them. In fact, Kira was, and still is, one of my closest friends. I hope to see them soon, but I don’t think that will happen for a while. We did so many funny things. Kira had a stalker for most of the time there but we took care of it best we can. I remember on the last morning meeting, I sat on the couch and Kira sat next to me but Jason came in and sat between us. I threw my wallet on the ground pretending to drop it. I got up, got it and went to go sit between Jason and Kira. As I went to sit down in the small space between Kira and Jason, Jason slammed his hand where I was going to sit, and shouted “I’m sitting next to her!” as loud as he can. I stopped, turned around, looked at him, then at Kira, then back at him. I then said “What the fuck is wrong with you?” and walked away, and sat on the other side of the room. After I sat, Kira moved away from him, and I started laughing at him and he just glared at me. I’ll never forget the people I met at rail camp.

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