This winter has been a strange one. Right smack in the middle of February when the snow is usually on the ground and the temperatures convince us to remain indoors along comes a 60-degree day with cloudless skies as clear and blue as Colorado. Grab the gear and off I go headed for southeastern Ohio and OR&W country. No bugs, no snakes, no green plant growth to fight. Excellent rail fanning. Good news. At the Oil well museum East of Caldwell sits OR&W Caboose #33 with a fresh paint job. #33 a product of the Fort Wayne shops in 1917 was in less than stellar shape these last two years after heavy spring rains along Salt Run had deposited mud up to three feet inside and out. All is well now; she is clean and freshly painted from last fall. In Caldwell, I ran into Paul Jones the present owner of Jones Feed and General Store vintage 1910 hometown construction. The general store is located across Spruce Street from the former site of the OR&W train station long since gone. Paul is a third generation owner of the store and like all hard working business owners was working Sunday to complete a grain shipment. Un-fortunately by truck and not narrow gauge rail. Al-though he is too young (in his 50’s) to recall the narrow gauge personally, he related stories from his dad’s days and gave me leads to pursue concerning relatives. I noted the info in my pad and thanked Paul for the conversation. We Mini-Buncher’s tend to wait until spring through fall to rail fan our narrow gauge interests, but do not hesitate when Mother Nature gives us a winter break.

WRLogan