The announcement about the CPR Hudson making an upcoming North American trip has jogged my memory about a previous encounter with a CPR Hudson.
Back in the mid-1970’s, when i was around 30 years old, I was an Engineer on the Santa Fe at San Bernardino. Another Engineer and I drove up into the Tehachapi Mountains to watch the CPR Royal Hudson pass through on a Canada/USA goodwill tour. We hiked up onto a grassy hilltop at the extinct siding of Allard, where the engine would pass by twice, and waited.
Off in the distance, we heard a melodic chime whistle, and presently, the engine burst out of Tunnel No. 2, making about 25 MPH on the 2% ascending grade, working steam, with the air just crisp enough to make a nice vapor cloud from the stack. We shot Kodachrome slides, and then took in the wonderful sounds of a working steam engine as it faded into the distance. Finally we packed up our tripods and cameras and started hiking back to where we had parked our vehicle. Suddenly, my friend — who was pretty long-legged and fast — took off like a rocket. I stopped and turned around to see if a bull or a mad cow was approaching, but didn’t see anything. Finally, he stopped running and I shouted to him, asking what was going on. He shouted back at me, “Snake, snake!” I looked down and there was about a 6-foot bull snake stretched out, trying to get some late winter sun, very lethargic due to the temperature. My friend had stepped right on the snake and it looked like a rattlesnake to him. Anyway, we left the snake alone, which he probably appreciated, and had many good laughs, when recalling the incident through the years.
