Clang! Clang! Here comes #9 down the track!

Scott and I drove to a very well-attended train show in Richboro, straight down Route 232, which deadends in New Hope, or, if you're former anchor woman Jessica Savitch, deadends by your date driving into the Delaware Canal.

I know New Hope and Route 232 quite well as it's where my dad had his famous head shop - the Now and Then Shop - and it's where I met my ex-husband who is singing hosannas in the afterlife.

The Abington Lines Clubhouse, as it's called, is owned by the train club. They bought it when it was a run down "biker's bar," said the woman who greeted us at the door.

In fact, the place had a funny smell to it - I'm sure Scott didn't notice - but it smelled like something greasy was cooking.

All different sorts of people were there. I tried to get a shot of a man w/a long ponytail who brot his two kids, but he moved at the last moment.

The tiny quarters were absolutely filled up w/trains, small ones, small gauges they're called. Scott's absolutely awesome train set takes up most of his basement and is the larger gauge Lionel.

Volunteers manned different posts around the tracks. Most of the volunteers were 60-yo or older, except for Connor, below.
Hi Connor of Wrightstown, PA, home of the Grange Fair. At 13, Connor wasn't allowed in the club - 14 is the minimum age - but he wrote them a letter and got in. Victor, who I believe is 8, also got in.

I commended him on his interest in trains and told him Scotty works on trains at SEPTA.

At Fern Rock? he asked.

I explained that Scott works in the "carhouse" in Upper Darby. When they fix a train they pull it over a "pit" and then get underneath to fix the wires.

I asked a couple of volunteers what these lights were for and no one knew. That's when Connor piped up and told me.

Here's a night-time scene right out of a film noir movie.

Last night Scott and I watched a Disney classic cartoon from his huge assortment of videos and DVDs.

Made in 1937 for a lil over $1 million, it brought in $184 million for Disney studios. It was the first full-length feature cartoon made in America.

Tonite we're gonna watch Cinderella. Fairy tales such as these introduce children to the harsh realities of life but also show that goodness, perseverance and luck win out in the end. The same cannot necessarily be said for real life. Just ask Jessica.

Carnival. Connor was in charge of this beautiful circus and carnival.

What I like about this is that it's an action picture. The man is hauling stuff into the garage and something is going on upstairs. Connor? What's happenin' upstairs? Look like kids in school.

Another action shot. Train passing in background. This looks like some sort of quarry, doesn't it?

Here's a great shot of a kid whose dad took him to see the trains.

"Dyou have trains at home?" I asked.

"No, but Pop-Pop does."

Couldn't resist taking this shot of a junkyard. One time a guy at Biello's let me wander around his junkyard looking at the graveyard of all the old deceased cars. Is it a stretch comparing organ donation - of which I'm a lucky recipient - to getting a slightly used car part?

Not on the life of your holy kidney it ain't!

Look at this old Fox Theater. The movie is "Maru Maru" starring Errol Flynn and Ruth Roman. Bosley Crowther of the Times dismissed it back in 1952.

Sorry, these stunning shoes are no longer available from the NYC-based Franklin Simon women's clothing store (1902-1979).

Skyscrapers, artfully lit.