#TRAINS LEAVING #JASPER

If you have never been to Australia, North America or Canada you won’t have seen one of their goods trains, which carry freight across their vast landscapes. These trains are enormous and if you have to stop at a crossing whilst one of them passes by, then be warned; you maybe there for a very long time.
Sometimes you can wait up to twenty minutes before these huge trains trundle past. In Canada, apparently, these trains can be up to 14,000 feet in length, which is 4km long!!
They are very often filled with containers carrying all sorts of freight and are often carry double-decker loads. These gigantic beasts are really important to the economy of these countries and when we were in Jasper, we saw one such train.
It was carrying such things as; foodstuffs, grain, coal, ore, lumber, machinery and as we sat at a table in the patio area of the small station, I took out my note book and began to write.

The Behemoth
Thunder roar of the train,
As it leaves the station.
Squeals of wheels
As they gain traction,
And the huge locomotive
Takes up the strain
And begins to pull.
Steadily, slowly
Wagon upon wagon
Of double topped containers
Filled with countless commodities,
Judder and shudder
Into life.
When momentum is reached
It rolls past
Like a twisted metal snake
Elongated, stretching
Along parallel tracks.
Minute after many minute
Until it finally
Disappears over the horizon
Like a modern day
Wagon train
Reminiscent of the first settlers
From time gone by.

​Sue Westcott (C.) 2017