I have a feeling that these Maineiacs are going to heed the "all aboard" call and start a positive trend nationwide to exemplify the anti-Ohio/Wisconsin mindset. I love the reference to the Downeaster as the "people's train."
Posted by DeeCT (Member # 3241) on :
Maineiacs are a different breed.
The next part of the route has a major stop in Freeport (home of L L Bean's Lead Store and many other "shop until you drop outlets" of major retail stores. The sales tax garnered will be quite welcome I am sure.
While there is a bit of grumbling that Lewiston/ Auburn will remain unserved - it appears the initial expansion is keyed to the Tourist trade. Tourism being a large part of the Maine economy.
On a personal note, it is my intention to move to that area in a year or two. A stop off point between pricey retirement in CT and the day that will surely come when they deliver me to "The home for the bewildered". (Have family in Maine). I look forward to the ride.
Dee
Posted by Ocala Mike (Member # 4657) on :
Dee, I too have relatives in the Auburn/Lewiston area, it being my mother's home town. I need to visit some long-lost cousins up there someday, and hope to maybe do so by train all the way.
Posted by mr williams (Member # 1928) on :
quote:Originally posted by DeeCT:
the day that will surely come when they deliver me to "The home for the bewildered"
Dee
This is the test that they use in my district to see if that day has come.
They fill a bath with water, offer you a choice of:
a) a teaspoon b) a coffee-mug c) a bucket
and tell you to empty the bath. Off you go. > > > > > > > > > > > Did you choose the bucket? If so I'm afraid you failed the test because a person with all their faculties would pull the plug.
Would you like a bed by the window? Posted by DeeCT (Member # 3241) on :
Mr W ----
Matters not at all whether by the window.
Not as long as I have access to a computer. That in order to continue tracking my ancestors from Wiltshire and Lancashire (some of whom may well have failed the bathtub test!).
Dee
Posted by mr williams (Member # 1928) on :
Wiltshire is only just down the road from me (in UK terms)- about 40 mins by train! Whereabouts?
Posted by DeeCT (Member # 3241) on :
Mr W --
In Wiltshire ---- Primarily from Corsham, Box (quarry miners who worked the tunnel project)and a few from Bradford on Avon. (KNOTT, SHEPPARD, FIDO, GREEN, AUST surnames).
In Lancashire ---- Mainly from Wigan and Pemberton.(Coal miners, Cotton mill workers and Railway workers). (RIGBY, GREEN, AINSCOUGH, ROBINSON, ALTY,and many others).
Wish I was up to long distance travel -- I would love to visit there. However I am not able to fly. It would be a treat to actually see the places I have spent hours reading about and the places my ancestors lived.
Dee
Posted by mr williams (Member # 1928) on :
Corsham is indeed an appropriate subject for a rail forum! To the fury of its inhabitants passenger trains go through it every half and hour without stopping (the station closed in the 1960s). For the last ten years there has been a plan to reopen the local station but delays and cutbacks have postponed it time and time again and now it's on the back burner for another few years.
(Geoff Mayo might know a bit more about it, he's only about 25 miles further up the line)
Bradford-on-Avon has a train service and I would guesstimate about 80-90 trains a day ie a town of about 20,000 gets as many trains in one day as Houston gets in three months.
As for local surnames, as you probably know Aust is a village (and rest-stop) by the motorway near the Severn Bridge and the best known local Sheppard was David, the England cricket player and later umpire.
Couldn't you do the trip by boat?
Posted by Geoff Mayo (Member # 153) on :
Corsham station was going to be reopened and served by the hourly Bristol-Oxford service. But since that got canned, so did the plans for Corsham. No HST is going to stop there, being only a few miles from both Bath and Chippenham.
Bradford on Avon is where I work twice a week, which involves a trip through Box tunnel and Corsham (at 100mph+), door-to-door 1hr10 on a bus and two trains, compared to 1hr by car, about 40 miles each way. On a good day anyway.
Bradford is a lovely, quaint old town and shouldn't be missed if you're in the area. Not to be confused with the city of Bradford in north England.
Where are you, Mr. W?
Posted by mr williams (Member # 1928) on :
Brizzle!
Posted by Geoff Mayo (Member # 153) on :
Aha! Oo-arrrr!
Posted by mr williams (Member # 1928) on :
OO-arrr indeed!
I'm actually a quarter Brizzle, a quarter Forest of Dean, a quarter Welsh and a quarter genuine Cockney!
So you could say that my old man's a dustman who's got a brand new combine harvester and keeps a welcome in the hillside!
(sorry, that'll be lost on our American readers!)
Posted by ehbowen (Member # 4317) on :
Subtitles, please?
Posted by Geoff Mayo (Member # 153) on :
The south west of England has a particular rural accent, oo-arrr being a kind of affirmative or exclamation expression. Brizzle is the city of Bristol. Cockney is London east end. The last paragraph is three (?) lines from different comedy songs... I think!
Posted by Ocala Mike (Member # 4657) on :
Way back when, this thread was about Maine. I love thread creep!
Posted by Henry Kisor (Member # 4776) on :
Ocala Mike, they talk funny in Maine, too, ayuh?
Posted by DeeCT (Member # 3241) on :
Henry,
According to them, it is us "flatlanders" that talk funny. By the way, it is true --- in Maine very often "you can't get there from here". Really !!!
![[Big Grin]](biggrin.gif)