The Train, The Train...

Today we took Papa for a road trip.  We drove to Stearns, Kentucky to right the Big South Fork Scenic Railway.  Claude and I rode this several years ago and we felt it would be a great destination for Papa.

I researched on-line a couple of weeks ago and picked a date that would work for Claude and me as this trip would take all day.  The only time to ride the railroad today was at 11am. Their information said it was 2 1/2 hours from Lexington.  Papa is about 20 minutes from Lexington.  We are about 20 minutes from Papa.  Allowing for getting us breakfast at McDonald's as we drove in and time to get Papa in the car and get his garbage to the street, we determined we should leave our home at 7am so we didn't have to rush.

All went according to schedule. We took the roads to get there indicated in the directions portion of the website so we would be on their schedule and we would be the 45 minutes early we were told to be there when I called.  With all that thought and planning we arrived way early and could have left Sadieville at 8am and still been okay.  Knowing this would be a hard day on Papa's back, we rolled the car windows down and let him sit in my car where the seat supports him a bit and give a rest to his back.

When the time was right, we left the car and headed to the office to purchase our tickets. They have a group playing old country music 30 minutes before departure time. Papa found a seat at the front and enjoyed the music.

When the people started to move toward the door to board the train, Claude went ahead to find us seats. I stayed with Papa so he could sit in the rocker as long as possible.  Soon all the people were gone except Papa.  He told the group that they had not done the song he expected them to sing.  The song Papa thought he would hear is titled "Kentucky". He and I used to sing it at the nursing home and it is Papa's all time favorite song about Kentucky. They found their key and started to sing.  Papa then took himself to the microphone and joined them. Geez!!  I know he really misses being able to sing and play like he used to. It is very hard for him to lose those skills. The group was surprised but kind and let him sing his high tenor.

After he sang, I told him we needed to get on the train.  He came right along and we found Claude in the car without any windows.  Yeah!  This is so much better for quick picture taking.  The seats swivel so you can face any directions and they leaned back so Papa could get relief for his back.  Papa in place, train ready, off we went.

The trip is a 7 mile ride down into a gorge. Once in the gorge you disembark the train for about 1 1/2 hours.  This is the location of the Blue Heron Coal Mine.  The mine was used in the 1930's and 1940's and no longer is in use.  They have built 'ghost' buildings around. These are steel frames on the spot where a building would have been. They have tin roofs. Inside are buttons you can push for an audio of what the building was used for and displays of what would have been in that building. 

Here are some pictures of the trip down to the gorge.

 

 

 

 

Papa was not capable of walking all the places one can walk while at the mine.  We let him set the pace. We found a loop up to the old mine entrance and followed it. It was up a hill so we went part way, entered a ghost building and sat on a bench for a break until he was ready to go a little further. 

At 12:35 they had a special little program.  A park ranger came and talked to us about how the town and mine would have operated when it was active. The program was at the entrance to the mine.

The ranger had two types of head protection and a lunch pail. One of the head protections was simply a canvas cap with a light on the front.  The light was one Papa had been telling me about when we took our last drive a few weeks ago.  He explained that there was a container and you put a rock of some material in the container. Then you put water on it and struck a flint.  This ignited and caused a flame to come in a reflector which projected light. It is the precursor to a lighted helmet of today.  Papa says they wore them at night when they went hunting.  The park ranger said they were really a torch on the head of a miner in a place that could send gas and explode. Hmmmm...

The lunch pail was a very efficient item. The pail the ranger is holding in the picture would have boiling water put in the bottom. The piece on the top rail of the fence at the right would go in next and it would contain the lunch item that needed to be kept warm. On top of this the tray in the middle on the top rail of the fence would be place with a piece of cornbread in it and utensils needed to eat.  The lid would go on top.  As the day of work wore on, the water would cool and would them be used for drinking water. Very handy and important item for a miner.

The park ranger then asked a young boy to come to help him.  He asked us to imagine the vein of coal was the height of the top rail on the fence.  He had the young man crouch down as far as he could and stay there.  It didn't take long for the young man to get very uncomfortable.  The point was the miners had to work like that to clear the dirt from under the vein of coal so the vein would fall and they would pick at it and get it ready to go in the coal car.  They would be paid 35 cents per ton of coal. The car would hold about 2 tons of coal. All this was done by hand. Sometimes the veins were so low a miner had to lay on his stomach to work.

After our tour of the mine, we went back to the station and listened to the musical group again. Then we boarded the train and the engine pushed us up out of the gorge and back to the train station.  Claude drove us back to Whitley City where we enjoyed a nice lunch before heading home for the day.

It was a beautiful day and very nice to be out in the fresh air.  We wore Papa out.  He was happy to be home.