When I was a kid (I start off alot of stories like that…), in addition to driving my E-Type and working at the Jag shop, my father and I got into 1920’s antique cars pretty heavy for a while. We were both very interested in Pre-16 cars, but really just couldn’t afford the ones we really wanted – Lozier, Stearns-Knight, etc.
What we COULD afford – and what seemed ridiculously cheap to us – were “orphan” cars of the 20’s. It seemed like anything POST-1916 was unwanted by anyone. In keeping with the holiday theme of this post, cars from 1917 to about 1927 were most likely to be found on the island of misfit toys…
And so in about 1991, we had a 1927 Paige-Detroit 2-door sedan that we cut down and restored as a 2-man board-track racer, and then my father bought and restored – and heavily improved – a 1923 American LaFrance speedster.
We drove these cars around quite a bit, and one of our favorite adventures was “chasing the train…”
The Wilmington & Western railroad is an excursion railroad in Delaware that runs a steam train on the weekends along the Red Clay Creek. In it’s short stretch of remaining track (10 miles?…), the railroad tracks, creek, and nearby roads criss-cross each other about a dozen times, and so you can wait for the train at a crossing, and then “race” it to the next crossing. Which of course sounds exciting, but since the train goes about 10 miles an hour – if that – it’s not much of a race and you ALWAYS win!
A couple of weekends ago, I was looking for something to do with the kids and I decided to take them out for their first “train-racing” adventure to race the Santa train. The steam train is always a MUCH bigger deal during the holidays.
To set the mood, I drove down to the station and showed the kids the train while they were loading up. Unfortunately, the steam engine was not running today for some problem or another, although the DID have it out and fired up – to pump steam into the cars for the heating system! Instead, they were pulling the train with a small diesel yard switcher engine – which is all you need for this train, really…
But I knew they would still love it, and to get them juiced up, I then drove out along the route, and we “practiced” racing from crossing to crossing. The practice session was VERY exciting – much more so than the real thing – as I blasted along in the Jag as fast as I dared with the kids in the car, all the time yelling about how we are not going to beat the imaginary train, and bellowing out “chugga-chugga” sound effects! They were loving it and laughing hysterically at my antics – as usual…
Then we went back to the first crossing out in the country, and laid in wait while we set up the perfect camera shot. Enjoy!
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- The happy holiday couple! We left Mom home for this one – she needed a break and had a mountain of Christmas “work” to do. We are all laughing because I have been accused of striking my standard “I’m a little tea pot!” pose…
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- Cruising along in the E-Type on a warm December afternoon! My two life-long gripes about E-Types have been open headlamps, and the 2+2 window not going all the way into the door. 30 years later, I ended up falling in love with a car that has both…
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- Here is one of the “prep” shots – the train should come right around this bend any minute!
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- After the very spirited “test run”, Mindy and Cooper were convinced they needed to be in the car already when the train came by – they didn’t want to waste any time getting back into the car so we would make it to the next crossing before the train! They soon learned that we could have made the trip about 5 or 6 times and STILL beaten the train!
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- Here is the best shot – I was thinking this would be a Merry Christmas shot for the cover page of the website or something – maybe even a Christmas card, but time just got away from me – as usual… That’s why I’m wearing my Christmas sweater and my one pair of nice jeans!
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- Waving to the train – I forgot how much the passengers love seeing an antique car along the route!
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- Here we are at one of the other crossing down the line. Cooper knows the drill be now and is showing no fear…
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- …until the train showed up! He was a little freaked out by the INSANE noise level!
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- Two cabooses filled with young kids in the cupola finished off the train, and our adventure – but we did see Santa at one crossing – who stood on the steps of one car and yelled out “nice car!”
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- This is one of two engines that the Wimington & Western railroad owns. This is #58 – it is currently “down” for an estimated 2 years to complete the required “1472” inspection due after 15 years of service.
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- This is their other engine – #98 – currently also out of service, though much more temporarily I think…
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- Speaking of engine #98… Check this out! I just had my father send me these photos – this is a shot of the 1923 American LaFrance speedster parked alongside the track at a crossing. In this shot, the train DWARFS the LaFrance (as we called it..), and makes the car look small – let me assure you, it wasn’t! It was HUGE – easily 3-4 times the size of a Model T speedster! For example, 2 men couldn’t lift one of those tires and wheels… This was taken to look like an antique photo, but this is the Summer of 1992 – I remember the day very well…
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- These rides were so much fun! And let me tell you, that car was a BEAST! The chassis was 1923 – and CHAIN DRIVE – but the engine was a MONSTER American LaFrance V-12 from a 1949 hook and ladder truck! This car would probably have easily done 100 MPH, but we wouldn’t know – the front end starting to get REAL squirrelly at about 70, and you had to have some SERIOUS stones to go any faster – it was a SCARY ride up there!
