White River Junction
The first was the rhythm of people engaged in familiar fair activities, scoping out vendors’ tables, munching on kettle corn, and the like. The second, of course, marked the arrival of a train, whether it was Green Mountain Railroad’s pine green cars or, as happened mid-morning, Amtrak rolling along on its regular route.
“Here comes the stampede,” joked Grafton resident Gator Truman. As he spoke, a few dozen people, cameras and tripods in hand, rushed to line up along the tracks, angling for a good shot of the silver passenger train.
“It’s addictive,” said Truman, a member of the Wolfeboro, N.H.,-based Cotton Valley Rail Trail Club.
Bob Popovac, who runs operations for Vermont Rail System, moved right along with them, dispensing advice designed to keep them safe. “Don’t cross when he starts moving,” Popovac cautioned the photographers.
As the train pulled away, bound for Springfield, Mass., and eventually Washington, D.C., the horn sounded jauntily. In the crowd were Louise and Raymond Hood, of Berlin, N.H., who waved as the cars passed.
The couple are regulars at the festival. Raymond Hood, 85, retired recently after 62 years with various railroads, including the Conway Scenic Railroad. It was a difficult decision, Louise Hood said.
Railroading is his life, she said, recalling a time he got up at 2 a.m. to track down a particular train. “He’s a train nut.”
While the majority of those snapping pictures were senior citizens, some younger train fans also documented the event, which celebrates the town’s history as a bustling railroad hub.
Elliot St. Peter, 15, and his friend, Matt Hopps, 17, of Whitefield, N.H., videotaped the trains from the platform.
The footage would give them something to put up on their YouTube channels, said St. Peter, a Rutland, Vt., resident who’s been coming to Glory Days since he was 5.
He sees a lot of familiar faces at the event, and it’s also a good opportunity to meet new people and take pictures of equipment he hasn’t seen before, St. Peter said. “It’s sort of a tradition for all of us.”
The teenagers relied on Yahoo groups and other websites to keep track of which trains were expected that weekend, and like several people Saturday, St. Peter expressed disappointment that certain units couldn’t make it.
He’d hoped to see the freshly painted locomotive slated to travel down from Montreal, but a delay on the manufacturing end resulted in a cancellation. Yet he admired the Vermont Rail System locomotive proudly bearing the 50th anniversary logo and the dates “1964-2014” that pulled the excursion train. The cherry red engine with white lettering, a new one for St. Peter, is “something special.”
This year’s festival also features several navy blue Pan Am engines, two newly painted boxcars, and Providence and Worcester units painted chocolate brown with a narrow white stripe and broad red one.
“That’s very pretty,” Louise Hood said, admiring the P&W’s paint scheme. “It’s nice and clean.”
Now in its 24th year, the annual festival has seen big changes over time. The event had taken on the feeling of a street fair, but in the past several years, the focus has shifted back to trains. That’s involved looking outside of Hartford for trains.
Kevin Burkholder, a White River Junction resident and professional railroad photographer, became involved with Glory Days several years ago. Since then, he’s taken the lead in bringing in trains from other parts of the country.
“The paint on units here is not that exciting anymore for people,” Burkholder said in a telephone interview on Friday. “That’s part of the reason we bring in equipment from outside … so people have a reason to come see it.”
Organizers have also narrowed the field for vendors and displays, focusing on those offering train-related items. This weekend they include historical displays, railroad organizations and special exhibits, such as a Lego train show, model railroad and a miniature Disney monorail setup. In addition to such goodies as fudge, ice cream and fresh corn, model trains, train memorabilia and classic blue-and-white striped engineer hats were among the items for sale on Saturday.
Tim Larson, of Chelsea, was selling framed photographs of trains and related stock certificates. The hobby provides him with “a little fishing money,” said Larson, who is retired.
By noon on Saturday, he had sold 30 items, half his stock, and a certain genre was wiped out entirely. “People have this morbid fascination with train wrecks,” he said.
Tad Nunez, director of Hartford’s parks and recreation department, which produces the event, said the Legos, monorail and model railroad are big draws, as is the excursion train offered by Green Mountain Railroad.
“It’s like touch-a-truck,” Nunez said in a telephone interview on Friday. He expected about 3,000 people to attend the two-day festival. “People are in awe of these big pieces of machinery.”
And, he added, people come because it’s about the town’s railroad heritage, “and you celebrate that day.”
Glory Days also features live music, clowns, tractors, bouncy houses, a trackless train ride and a mini coal-powered steam ride. Admission is free, but some activities carry a fee. Proceeds help fund the following year’s festival.
The festival continues today, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., with 90-minute excursions departing at 10 a.m. and noon. Tickets for the train are $15; kids 2 and younger ride for free.
Aimee Caruso can be reached at acaruso@vnews.com or 603-727-3210.