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Friday, September 09, 2005
Yes, I'm still a kid at heart. And yes, I probably broke some kind of law doing this. Now that that's all out of the way....
Enroute from Eldred to Roulette yesterday, I spotted a train headed toward Port Allegany. It's been years since I put a penny on a train track to have it flattened, so I thought I'd try and beat the train to Port. I made it to the Jubilee crossing about 3 minutes before the train and placed my penny on the track. But this was an interesting looking train....nothing but carnival rides and several passenger cars. The name read: James E. Strates Shows.
Being the avid "googler" that I am, I had to find out more. Yes, they even have their own website (who doesn't anymore?). Here's a little bit about the train:
"Strates Shows,Inc. is the only railroad carnival still traveling in the U.S. today. The Orlando,FL based carnival company uses a 61-car train to transport the show's equipment and employees to various locations throughout their seven month season. In one season the train will visit 16 different locations and cover more than 6,500 miles.
In the early 30's, traveling by railroad was the trend of the carnival industry. It was at that time James E. Strates purchased his first ten railroad cars. As the company grew and prospered, so did the need for additional cars. While other carnivals eventually converted solely to highway transportation, Strates Shows continued to purchase additional railroad cars. This gradual expansion resulted in the unique 61-car train which currently travels the East Coast.
The brightly colored train is over one mile long and consists of 50 flat cars, 10 sleeping cars and a generator car. The sleeping cars are home to over 100 employees. A designated trainmaster and crew can load or unload the train in under 18 hours."
In looking at their itinerary, I saw that they had just been at the NY State Fair in Syracuse and were enroute to Danville,VA for another fair.
Oh, and I did recover my penny....flat as a pancake.
12 Comments:
Awesome find, Josh. I am also a train watcher and I wish I could have caught this one.
PS: destruction of US currency is a felony :)
3:27 PM
actually.. this one was posted by "Zack".. our Roulette Contributing Editor Greg Doane.. and it's GOOD to see him back to posting..
I like trains too, but not as much as my youngest son, who thinks all trains are named Thomas and Percy....
3:50 PM
From the U.S. mint website:
"Is it illegal to damage or deface coins? Section 331 of Title 18 of the United States code provides criminal penalties for anyone who “fraudulently alters, defaces, mutilates impairs, diminishes, falsifies, scales, or lightens any of the coins coined at the Mints of the United States.” This statute means that you may be violating the law if you change the appearance of the coin and fraudulently represent it to be other than the altered coin that it is. As a matter of policy, the Mint does not promote coloring, plating or altering U.S. coinage: however, there are no sanctions against such activity absent fraudulent intent."
4:02 PM
So I don't think I'll be going to jail for this. :-)
4:05 PM
Oops, I should have read the byline.
Ok, Zack, I guess the feds will not be looking for you anytime soon. You DID identify it as a penny, not as something else. :)
4:17 PM
I can remember you doing that over 30 years ago.
12:23 PM
uh oh.. zack.. someone's talking about what you used to do thirty years ago.. anybody else have any "telling" stories about this guy? haha!
9:00 PM
I have all kind of stories about him from 30 years ago..........
12:23 AM
And oh, what stories we could tell of Josh!
For instance.....
1:29 AM
I might also have pictures from 30 years ago ,
1:34 AM
Wow Josh....that would have been a cool train to see. And don't ya worry, I've got a few of those pennies around here too ;-) I dig trains, they're so massive.
Luanne
http://luanne.blogspot.com
3:30 PM
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11:00 PM
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