Great read. I also believe in those old ghosts.

Years ago I was deer hunting in Pennsylvania and came across what I thought was an old log skidder trail. I walked along it for a way. There had been a light snow and it was melting off. I came to a spot where the snow had melted off high areas and was still lying in the low areas. It was then that I realized I was walking on an old logging railroad grade from the late 1800's.

Here is a photo of an abandoned rail line on Sunset Beach in Cape May, NJ.

Barry Rosier

An old engineer I worked with years ago told a "ghost story" that caused me to howl. He was working a freight job up the B&O Old Main Line. Somewhere up around Henryton, the air went into emergency...the head brakie grabbed an air hose and wrench, and started walking with two lanterns and a revolver. This fellow was a bit nervous by himself at night, so he came prepared. A few car lengths from the engine, he started carrying on a loud conversation with himself...from a distance, you'd swear it was two men walking.
Well my storyteller, Steve N., said he got the bright idea to put one over on the brakeman. He slipped off the engine on the opposite side and quietly made his way back past the "two" brakemen and took up position near the end of a boxcar, and out of the line of fire. As the nervous brakie walked past, engineer Steve said in a low but audible tone, "Give me your money!"
The poor fellow dropped both lanterns and let out a yell as he fired several shots and hauled it for the engine. It was all Steve could do to run back to the engine ahead of him on the  other side.
"Steve, Steve, someone from the hospital [i.e., Henryton State Hospital] tried to rob me! I think I winged him!" It was all Steve could do to keep from falling out of the seat laughing, as he tried to catch his breath and look concerned at the same time.
No, Steve never told the guy about his "assailant", and he had to escort the man back to find the burst air hose. After all the extra work for all involved, Steve never tried that again. (But it does make for a funny story to me some 60 years later. Of course, all of Steve N.'s stories were true. Ask him.)
[BTW Chris, I love what you're doing with that New Haven layout...very well thought out and coming along nicely.]
 

I started something a long time ago, intended as a bit of a short story, but never went further with it.

The moonlight gave the clouds a faint glow that dimly lit the prairie with a soft, even light.  The light rolling mist seemed to mute the sounds of the early fall evening, and turned distant lights into fuzzy glows, as a soft, gentle, rhythmic beat echoed in the distance.  It almost might be a ghost, as sounds like that hadn’t been heard in over a half-century in these areas.  A low, moaning whistle in the distance added to the eerily regular beat—some sort of animal, perhaps?  Whatever it was, it was slowly growing louder—but too far away to be seen in the foggy evening.

Another eerie moan—louder this time…drifted across the prairie as the strange rhythmic beat grew louder—a very loud animal’s breath?  But what could be so loud?

As the beat grew even stronger, a single light gleamed through the mist—and another howling moan commanded the night—this one loud enough to wake the dead, as quieter metalic clanks and grinding was added to the mix

That yellow glow down the tracks suggested that it could be a train—but where was the roar of the diesel engine, the paired ditch lights lower down, and why would it be moving this slowly? 

One more ear-piercing howl, and the dull yellow glow grew brighter with the flickering of an old kerosene lantern, and a dark mass could be seen.  Coming along the tracks, it could only be a train, and the eerie moan, its horn…but narry a sound matched the familiar noises of Amtrak’s fast passenger trains, or the rhythm of the diesel freights.

As the lurking bulk grew closer, details began to show forth; it was indeed a train—but a train the likes of which hadn’t been seen for a century and more along these tracks.  A shiny locomotive steamed into sight, her black paint glistening in what light there was, coming through the clouds.  The only color to be seen was a bit of shiny brass.  As she steamed past, there was nary a mark on her—no road name, no number, from her pilot to her wood tender.  From the wooden cab gleamed a dull red—a roaring wood fire creating the steam the ancient locomotive needed to move.  In profile, two normal sized wheels  could be seen—then two huge wheels, driven by a convoluted arrangement of rods, the rhythmic sounds matched with the pumping steel rods, as smoke billowed from her.  As she passed, a loud clang echoed from the machine, and the red glow vanished as the fire door swung shut.  Perhaps it was the dim light, but no crew could be seen running the train.

Behind the mysterious locomotive, and her gold trimmed wood tender, was a single old wooden coach—likewise dead black, with perfectly gilded trim—and once again, no name or number on the immaculate coach.  The observation platform’s rail shone in what little light there was—the red marker lights gleaming in the darkness, giving a red-gold glow to the brass—or gold—railing.  On the platform stood one single cloaked figure holding onto a pole—perhaps for stability, although the train was moving without the slightest trace of any bouncing—smoother than the finest car on a perfect road.  Then, the figure turned, the hood falling free.  The pole was no pole, but a scythe… and beneath the hood gleamed a white skull.

Tonight, Death rode the rails…

It does work with these pics...

This was taken long ago, in the earliest days of color film--check out the passengers...

This was taken near the old mine.  A priority CSX intermodal sits in the hole to let the unscheduled extra run through; apparently the gentleman on the rear platform has some influence in the world.  Amtrack's express was also put in the hole and had to wait...

First off, I am a skeptic's skeptic. I don't believe in ghosts AT ALL. That being said, I'd think it was neat if there were ghosts. Still, I have heard two stories that were very odd.

A guy I served with in the Army swore to me that he saw a ghost train along the Rhine river in Germany when he was stationed there in the mid 90s. He said he was stopped at a level crossing and saw a train blast through with a large steam engine on point and dozens of box cars trailing. All of them had barbed wire in the windows and arms were clawing their way through. It made no noise at all, he even rolled down the car windows and heard nothing. Normally, I'd think that was BS, but this guy was a rock and not prone to making stuff up.

I heard a disturbing story on the radio several years ago (on NPR if I recall) about a siding that used to be a main line somewhere in the Midwest. Sometime in the 70s, dozens of folks living along the siding one night called the police saying a steam engine had just roared by and that it was going way too fast to be able to stop at the end of the track. The police went out expecting to respond to a wreck, but didn't find anything. It was at night and nobody saw it but lots of folks heard it. The police even checked with anyone who might have a running steam engine, they supposedly even called the Southern to see if one of their excursion engines was in the area but nothing was ever found. It never happened again. One thing that I thought it might have been was someone with some kind of vehicle on flanged wheels and a audio tape of a train. The fact that lots of folks called it in does seem really odd. I wish I'd caught more of the details but I didn't get where or exactly what year this was. Maybe someone here knows about this. If they do, please sound off...

You can never have too much detail or too many trees on a layout.

A local suburb of Milwaukee has just added a light and sound show to the side of the old "route of the 400" railroad bridge. The route was from Chicago to Minneapolis, 400 miles in 400 minutes. This video is on it's premiere run, so the street was blocked to allow viewers see the show. The show will run twice a night and is synchronized with the traffic lights. A very impressive sound and light show.  

Hi all,

Sometimes the ghosts still live and breathe fire and smoke...leaving brief traces of where they've been

A steam locomotive nudging 60 years old, hauling passenger carriages certainly older than the locomotive in the colours of the NSWGR (New South Wales Government Railways), an organisation that hasn't existed for over 40 years, has just passed by.

Sometimes the ghosts are still around and the memories live on, just like the traces of where they've been, 

Hi all,

now for little local narrow-gauge - a 3-year old photo of the remains of a cutting for a steam-worked 2' gauge colliery tramway that operated 400' up along the side of a mountain between the mine and the self-acting incline that lowered individual coal skips 300' to the screens for sizing and transhipment to larger standard-gauge wagons. The incline closed in 1955, but steam locomotive haulage lived on until the mid-1960's using part of this old line for materials storage for the mine. The tracks were lifted in the 1970's to give a start to a local preservation group.

Two of the four steam locomotives that worked this line still live on as operational locomotives at local museums. These are the exceptions - these steamy ghosts still move..