As mentioned before, I lived about a ½ mile from the C&O tracks in Renwick. At the crossing was Roy Getty’s store and a couple of houses, one on each side of the Campbell Side Road, right at the tracks. To the east were open fields and, of course, the Renwick Co-op. To the west, the tracks split a large wood lot, so you wouldn’t see the approaching eastbounds until they emerged from the trees. If the wind was blowing in the right direction, you would hear the eastbounds rumbling through the trees, but quite often they snuck up on you.
One day, while playing in the front yard, I remember hearing an odd ‘putt-putt’ sound coming from the area of the woodlots. The sound kept getting louder and louder until finally, emerging from the trees, was a small C&O ‘putt-putt’ cruising along the main. I had seen these before, but usually sitting with a MOW crew, but had not ever noticed one running solo before. Whomever was running it rolled up to the crossing and stopped. As was the norm for the train crews, the operators of the putt-putt got off and walked over to Roy’s store.
After a few minutes, they walked back to their idling Fairmont and took off heading east. I thought that was so cool, and how it would be so much fun to be able to ride one of those someday.
Well, come 2003, I ended up purchasing and restoring a CP M19 (CR7 to Canadian fans) and have been running it on various lines in Canada and the U.S., including the Algoma Central, the Ontario Northland, and even the Port Stanley Terminal. Eventually I was able to find and acquire a C&O M9 (presumably the one from the Pelton motorcar shed) but it still needs to be restored.
Sadly I’ve never had the chance to run on C&O rails yet and imagine what those track maintenance guys were seeing, but who knows, maybe someday I’ll get on what remains of the C&O here in Canada – and even run a car that rolled those very rails years ago.
Geoff Elliot’s M19 sitting at Canyon on the Algoma Central Railway.
HO C&O CANADIAN DISTRICT BLOG 