Woodsdale Girls Take the Train

Today I was doing some research on the old B & O station which is now Northern Community College. It reminded me of a trip my Girl Scout troop took on the train to Pittsburgh about 1959 or 1960. The trains stopped running in 1960, so it must have been just before that. What a thrill it was for all of us. Our troop leader, Mrs. Greeneltch was so great in recognizing that some of us had never been on a train and this was historical...taking one of the last passenger trips out of Wheeling. I was enthralled. I remember especially going through the station at Elm Grove (now a Garden Shop).
   Since that day, I have had a love affair with trains and have taken the Pacific line up and down the West Coast several times and even one across from Seattle to Chicago and then on to Pittsburgh. Once I took the train from Pittsburgh to New York on crutches...the swaying of the train was a challenge, but worse yet was that I was in a full cast from hip to ankle so couldn't close the bathroom door as my leg stuck out the door...luckily, a friend traveling with me would stand in front of me when nature called. The people one meets on trains can only be described as "characters" and the seats should be described as "torturous"....but the dining cars, bar cars, and viewing cars with glass ceilings are wonderful.

Who Are These People?

Often when I am giving the Woodsdale Kids talk to different organizations, people give me photos of themselves....often without labels. So here are three I can't identify. Can you help?

A Halloween Short Story

One fateful Halloween night when I was around eight or nine, I remember having a great idea to have some “extra” fun after I finished trick-or-treating.

Without telling anyone, I climbed up one of the trees in front of our house armed with a couple of water balloons.  Surely,  someone worthy of a dousing would wander by. Maybe Sammy Heubacher, the neighborhood bully. Nah...Bad idea! He would pound me. Get the little kids! Yeah, that works. Nah, that won't work either. Their parents will be with them.

Well, the next thing I remember… there were flashing red lights and the sounds of a police radio underneath me . I could see and hear my Mother and Father talking with two policemen on our front porch. Strange, I thought, my Mother was describing my costume.

So, I climbed down to see what all the commotion was about. "Well. I'll be a sonofabitch! You get your butt up to your room this minute, Mister” bellowed my Dad as he gave me a swat. “I’ll deal with you shortly!” I scooted into the house while my parents apologized profusely.

As I went up the stairs, the grandfather clock in the hallway began to chime. “GEEZ LOUISE!!” It was Midnight.

It finally donned on me. I had fallen asleep up in that tree. And, the worst part about it was that I still had the water balloons in my pockets.