Great Northern Railway, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
By Bill Stokes
Kickass, the doorstop dog, cautions the keeper not to assume that National Railroad Day is being celebrated this week just because he and Phyllis plan to board a train Sunday in Columbus as the start of a three-week excursion that includes a boat ride up the Inside Passage to Glacier Bay and a scenic railroad loop through the Canadian Rockies.
Under the premise of do-it-while-there-is-still-adequate-steam-in-the-boiler, Phyllis and the keeper have tried to prepare with hiking sticks and backpacks for whatever land and water challenges might arise.
As usual, the circumstances spawn a memory for the keeper, this one about his Soo Line caboose ride from Fond Du Lac up through the north woods to the UP; and a train crew member cautioning the keeper to lie on the floor of the caboose to avoid injury from the rock throwers in Keshena.
There were no rock throwers, and the caboose adventure allowed the keeper to journalistically detail an unusual passenger service the Soo Line was required to maintain for many years. The line has since been converted to a recreational trail.
So nothing stays the same in railroads or ships—think the “troopships” that the keeper rode, and so it is that the keeper and Phyllis eagerly await the “All Aboard” of their outing while they can still board.
