Upon The Road Of Anthracite

Friday. Today is the day that I visit my priest friend, Father Thorne, at the Price Chopper. As always, he asks me for the latest news about me. I was telling him about this blog and how I was telling its readers about the train Phoebe Snow. He thought for about a minute and said "I remember that train...my brother and I would watch it pull into Hoboken". He was telling me how it was the Queen Mary of the train world. Very posh!

I included the image of Miss Phoebe Snow for all to enjoy. I don't know how much longer I will write about trains and my hometown? I have had such positive comments about it that I feel I must tell the stories. Let me know if you become bored!!

Since today is Friday, I am meant to be playing chess at The Chess Club. I usually try to catch the lesson and play a few off-hand games. Yes, nothing serious to spoil my night. I wonder if Ken has a job opening?

Today was busier than normal. First, I had the breakfast meeting I described above. After that it was off to the Veteran's Affairs Medical Center here in Leavenworth, Kansas. It has a big fancy name, like the Eisenhower Medical Center, but most just call it the VA MC. I had to update my VA identification card, so it includes the words: service connected. I then made an appointment to get a hearing aid and went to Human Resources to ask about a job. I don't need much money, but some more would make home improvements and auto repairs comfortable. Later, I had to take my pretty blue Mustang GT over to the Ford Dealer. I hate doing that. Just as soon as you get there the problem disappears and you can't make anyone believe that it ever existed. The good part about the this dealer is they have free Star bucks coffee. I really like good coffee!

It is almost amusement park time. Soon I will write about the Roller-Coasters in this area. I can hardly wait to get aboard the Mamba at Worlds of Fun in Kansas City, Missouri. Oh, just as a preview...the first drop is 205 feet!

A Train called Phoebe Snow

I can hear the train coming up the main line of the Lackawanna Railroad, East bound, from Buffalo, New York. That's right, Dansville, New York, was a stop along the main line. The train that carried passenger from Buffalo to Hoboken, New Jersey, in 8 hours and 39 minutes was named the Phoebe Snow. She can be seen in the photograph wearing the Lackawanna banner. She was not only fast, but beautifully trimmed in bright colors and luxurious. She had an observation car, a gourmet dining car, a tavern car, and a sleeper car. People would put their lives on hold just to watch her flash past. On the engine was a painted portrait of Phoebe Snow, a character that the Lackawanna had invented to promote how clean their coal burned. Miss Phoebe is gloriously dress in all white and she is breathe taking. No wonder people just stopped and stared! All aboard!

I spent most of my day doing my appeal to the Veteran's Affairs folks. It is a lengthy process that requires me to find evidence to support how a disability is connected to my service. I was told that the VA had already considered my Service Medical Record and that I would not be allowed to use it again to support my claim. Well, it is the evidence and I need to use it because somebody missed a lot of entries that support my claim. I'll update you all once I see the VA man.

The Depot

The other day I was telling my faithful readers about my home town of Dansville, New York. I had mentioned the Lackawanna Railroad had a depot on the East Hill. Now some folks called it Lackawanna Hill because the railroad owned the wye that ran for miles along the hill. The depot was atop a road called...Depot Road of course. My Mother, Freda, was telling me all about the great trains of yesteryear. She says that the building was black, but it looks blue to me. Now I am not one to say much about the woman that gave me life, but..."Mother, you may be color blind and in need of glasses!" Actually, she sees fine. I understand these events took place over 50 years ago. So she tells me that the grade was steep up Dansville Hill (that is what the Railroad called the grade between Groveland Station and Perkinsville) and each East-bound train needed a helper Engine to pull the load up this 12.6 mile stretch. I wish I could have seen, heard, and remembered those behemoths chugging up the grade. Wow, what a sight to see. My Mother and my Aunt Colleen are a great source of information about things past. Enjoy the photo! If anyone is a rail buff let me know.

Today is bill paying day. The U.S. Government giveth and then taketh away. Since I get paid once a month I have to pay all the living expenses at the first of the month and have loads of fiscal discipline to make it to the next payday.

Yesterday I spent about 3 hours with my chess openings. My little data base of openings is improving and soon I will be training myself to be an expert at what I have prepared. This system is much better than the old school way I was doing it. Now I have the means of trimming those bad, inaccurate, and wasted moves from my repertoire. I was looking at adding the Stonewall Attack and with a few clicks of the mouse I now have it in my opening book and I am learning it. Next I will invest about $50 in a tactical trainer and I'll be on my way to a good showing in the club championship!

Money Grows on Trees

I was born in a small town in up-state New York. If you went there today I suspect you wouldn't think much of it. Last time I visited it seemed just a shadow of what it had been during my youth. Maybe my view of it changed because I had during my service in the Navy. After all, I had been away for so many years. Had it really changed? Had the golden town of Dansville been just a figment of my imagination? Some sort of brainwashing that the community did unconsciously to make you think that your home town was paved in golden bricks and that money continuously grew on trees? Funny...money growing on trees!

Dansville, New York 14437, was such a town where money grew on trees. Actually, on lots of trees. My great Grandpa, William Buck, started a family business of William Buck & Son, Tree Growers. Most people today might think of this as a garden center, but it was a nursery. Dansville was full of them. My Grandpa, Stanley Buck, knew more about tree growing, tree grafting, tree selling, and all things trees...more than anyone I have met in my life thus far. The whole town was like that and most worked for the "Nursery Men". My first paycheck came from William Buck & Son, earned at my Grandpa side as a bud tie-er, and the check was signed by my Uncle Charles Buck. So money did grow on the trees in Dansville!

Once upon a time Dansville had two railroad services. The first was the Dansville & Mt. Morris line. This line would run for over 100 years and made money for most of it. The second rail service was provided by the Lackawanna line (later Erie-Lackawanna). Steam locomotives (as pictured above) still chugged up the East Hill when I was born. Passengers would disembark at the depot near the Castle on the Hill, a resort hotel of some fame started in the 1800's by Dr. James Caleb Jackson. See the hotel brochure here.

Speaking of the Castle on the Hill ...I bet you can't tell me what one thing that was invented in Dansville that most Americans have in their kitchens? Would you believe breakfast cereal? Most Americans have at least one box of Kellogg's breakfast cereal in the cupboard at home. Here is the story.

Since we are on health and well being I might just as well state that Dansville, New York, is the home of the first American Red Cross. Its founder, Clara Barton, lived in Dansville for some time and her home became Chapter number one. See story here.

Yes, Dansville has lost some, if not all, of its former glory. The railroads, the castle, and the nurseries are gone. People here now work in service related jobs, with a few exceptions for the limit factory jobs available, and are near poverty. However, the town is quiet and peaceful resting amongst the hills of the Genessee Valley; same has it has been since 1790.