Just the thing for decorating the front yard

The perfect front yard decoration...

...Or maybe you're partial to a red caboose

A 90-car freight train rolls through Aberdeen

100 yards from where we are staying you can hear the whistle and feel the rumble of a long freight

WEST END, NC - - Things are very quiet in West End where we are staying...except when a freight train rumbles through.  We've seen the 4-car style; the 13 car style and, once in a while, the 80-90 car version.  About a mile away is a siding with 4 locomotives  of a 20 unit fleet for sale.  The Aberdeen, Carolina & Western company was incorporated in 1987, taking over the operations of the former Norfolk, Southern Railway. It runs 150 miles of track from Aberdeen to Star, NC and is the largest privately held short-line / regional freight carrier in NC.  The AC&W connects freight with CSX and other regional freight networks.
     Aberdeen is about 12 miles away. It has more rail traffic and is the headquarters of the Aberdeen & Rockfish RR.  This 47 mile short-line / regional freight does most of its business between Aberdeen and Fayetteville (home of Fort Bragg, army base).  What A&R lacks in length it makes up in a long and colorful history, having been founded in 1892.
     NOTES:  The 'side door' caboose sits in front of the A&R company headquarters.  'Rockfish' comes from the name of a creek the track runs along or maybe from a small town which used to be in the area...nobody's really sure.
     It's raining outside, a nice October shower.  Leaves are falling like a light snowfall.  There are vast forests of pine trees all around as turpentine was big business over 100 years ago.  However, we are surrounded by a good amount of hardwood trees  with lots of leaves.