What started out to be a fun day in downtown Cumberland, Maryland on my bicycle turned out to be thrilling! First stop was to see the scenic locomotive off, then some biking. While observing all the gears and iron parts inside the steam engine and the fireman oiling the works, I noticed the engineer climb down from the massive locomotive and walk towards the station with a couple of people. I hung out there beside the chugging steaming beast watching the fireman shovel coal into it’s belly and listening to locomotive enthusiasts pointing out and talking about what does what and observed them taking close-up photos of who knows what within and around the gears and wheels of the engine. It was about 15 minutes to departure time and the engineer returned with the others. It was then I realized the people he was with were members of his family. The younger man, his son or grandson perhaps, gave him a hug and said, “see you later, Pap, I’ll cut your grass for you”. Touched by the exchange, I quickly asked if I could take their photo. After allowing me to photograph them, the young man proudly said, “this is three generations here!” and he and his son departed.
