WEBVTT 1 00:00:05.400 --> 00:00:08.039 Every Sunday has its own light. You know, I'm not 2 00:00:08.119 --> 00:00:11.199 just talking about weather, though. The way sunlight wriggles through 3 00:00:11.199 --> 00:00:15.160 the old depot's arched windows, stretching shadows over brick floors 4 00:00:15.560 --> 00:00:18.559 is never quite the same twice. There's a hush to 5 00:00:18.600 --> 00:00:21.600 our Sunday mornings at the Railway Museum, a sense that 6 00:00:21.679 --> 00:00:26.480 what we're about to do, unlocking dusty cabinets, setting the kettle, whistling, 7 00:00:26.760 --> 00:00:30.039 and cracking the front double doors tunes the place into 8 00:00:30.079 --> 00:00:33.960 something outside most people's ticking week. It's the kind of 9 00:00:34.039 --> 00:00:37.000 hush you notice only if you've worked on trains long 10 00:00:37.119 --> 00:00:40.240 enough to recognize the moment when the whole world holds 11 00:00:40.280 --> 00:00:45.079 its breath just before a locomotive shifts into motion. I 12 00:00:45.119 --> 00:00:47.880 worked half my life as an engineer on the Valley Line. 13 00:00:48.079 --> 00:00:50.920 Nothing fancy, but the town was proud of our six 14 00:00:51.000 --> 00:00:55.280 o'clock whistle and Friday runs. When I retired, the Historical 15 00:00:55.320 --> 00:00:57.719 Society wrote me in for Sundays at the old station, 16 00:00:58.119 --> 00:01:01.679 which now houses our Railway Muse. Most of the original 17 00:01:01.719 --> 00:01:04.799 beams still bear the dens from decades of cart wheels. 18 00:01:05.319 --> 00:01:08.799 On cold mornings, the walls release a not unpleasant scent 19 00:01:08.879 --> 00:01:12.359 of coal aged varnish, and a trace of coffee from 20 00:01:12.519 --> 00:01:17.159 endless volunteer pots. I'm hardly the only one drawn back here, 21 00:01:17.439 --> 00:01:19.760 though maybe I'm the only one who finds solace not 22 00:01:19.959 --> 00:01:23.560 just in the displays, but intending to details, the order 23 00:01:23.599 --> 00:01:26.879 of couplings, how many links on a brass chain, whether 24 00:01:26.920 --> 00:01:31.239 the signal lamp is hung correctly. Sunday After Sunday, I 25 00:01:31.359 --> 00:01:34.560 show up, unlock the broad oak doors, and let the 26 00:01:34.640 --> 00:01:38.359 day begin. In the center of our main hall stands 27 00:01:38.400 --> 00:01:41.879 what every one calls our duel, an enormous glass case 28 00:01:42.120 --> 00:01:45.079 holding a dazzling scale model of a four six DW 29 00:01:45.200 --> 00:01:49.640 steam locomotive. Depending which volunteer you ask, it's either an 30 00:01:49.640 --> 00:01:53.879 exact replica or salvaged from an actual engines cab. Though 31 00:01:53.879 --> 00:01:56.799 the way the sunlight pools over it, the thing looks 32 00:01:56.840 --> 00:02:00.680 grander than any of us last week. If you'll forgive 33 00:02:00.719 --> 00:02:03.159 a little pride, I was the first one in early. 34 00:02:03.239 --> 00:02:06.079 As always, the name plate on the model's smoke box 35 00:02:06.120 --> 00:02:09.479 read h r X four hundred one, those bold silver 36 00:02:09.599 --> 00:02:13.199 letters catching the slant of dawn. I remember dusting carefully 37 00:02:13.240 --> 00:02:16.039 around the sand dome, struck by its height and the 38 00:02:16.080 --> 00:02:19.280 perfect curve of the bell. It looked right, the way 39 00:02:19.439 --> 00:02:22.879 certain names or foone numbers stick in an engineer's mind. 40 00:02:23.919 --> 00:02:27.840 This Sunday, I snapped the display's brass latch and paused there. 41 00:02:28.000 --> 00:02:32.280 Right where I'd expected, same black paint, glinting, same white striping, 42 00:02:32.599 --> 00:02:35.840 was a different number h r X four hundred seventeen, 43 00:02:36.120 --> 00:02:39.080 slightly slimmer numerals, almost as if the whole plate had 44 00:02:39.080 --> 00:02:42.719 been swapped out. The sand dome no longer dominated the top, 45 00:02:42.960 --> 00:02:46.840 and a small step shaped ladder, shiny as if newly installed, 46 00:02:47.159 --> 00:02:51.039 leaned from the tender the smoke stack. Well, it was 47 00:02:51.080 --> 00:02:54.479 not the stovepipe version I'd always admired, but a trim 48 00:02:54.719 --> 00:02:58.560 flare topped funnel. These aren't changes you'd overlook if you 49 00:02:58.599 --> 00:03:01.800 spent years making sure fittings aligned with crew logs and 50 00:03:01.879 --> 00:03:05.240 old photos. For a moment, I thought perhaps Paul had 51 00:03:05.240 --> 00:03:08.599 switched out some decorative details for a planned special event, 52 00:03:09.159 --> 00:03:12.639 but nothing was posted in our volunteer log. It nagged 53 00:03:12.639 --> 00:03:14.560 me through the rest of set up, the way a 54 00:03:14.639 --> 00:03:18.520 misaligned signal nags you. In my world, you fix it 55 00:03:18.560 --> 00:03:22.719 before you sleep at night. Museum mornings are more convivial 56 00:03:22.759 --> 00:03:27.039 than confusing, though Clara soon bustled in, swinging her tartan 57 00:03:27.159 --> 00:03:31.000 scarf and carrying a tray of scones. She's our resident 58 00:03:31.120 --> 00:03:35.719 encyclopedia of local history. Nothing sneaks past her, I called 59 00:03:35.719 --> 00:03:39.639 her over, gesturing at the model's new accouterments. What do 60 00:03:39.719 --> 00:03:42.520 you think anything seem off to you about the engine? 61 00:03:42.520 --> 00:03:46.159 To day? Clara frowned, not at the train, but at me, 62 00:03:46.319 --> 00:03:50.080 with mild amusement. Off. No looks as always to me. 63 00:03:50.560 --> 00:03:54.520 That's Hr x four hundred seventeen, right like in the brochure. 64 00:03:54.919 --> 00:03:58.919 Paul said, he polished the brass last night. She squinted 65 00:03:58.919 --> 00:04:01.560 at the number plate, as if reassuring herself of her 66 00:04:01.599 --> 00:04:05.520 own answer. You're not getting museum myopia, are you? She 67 00:04:05.680 --> 00:04:09.280 grinned and snapped the case shut. What does it mean 68 00:04:09.319 --> 00:04:12.759 when you notice something so precisely, only to find the world, 69 00:04:13.000 --> 00:04:17.079 its paperwork, and even its guardians refuses to agree with you. 70 00:04:17.759 --> 00:04:21.199 I suppose most people brush it off, crediting trick, memory 71 00:04:21.360 --> 00:04:24.120 or age. But the more I stared at the lowered 72 00:04:24.160 --> 00:04:26.920 sand dome and polished ladder, the more I wanted to 73 00:04:27.000 --> 00:04:30.680 understand what I just seen change. I made a small 74 00:04:30.720 --> 00:04:33.720 note on my incident pad, not that I expected any 75 00:04:33.720 --> 00:04:37.279 one would ever open the Sunday logs with a magnifying glass. 76 00:04:37.879 --> 00:04:40.920 Yet as soon as the first chatter of visitors echoed 77 00:04:40.959 --> 00:04:44.279 in the big room, I folded the doubt away. The 78 00:04:44.360 --> 00:04:48.000 museum moves briskly toward day to day business, even when 79 00:04:48.040 --> 00:04:51.439 something deep in its corners unsettles your sense of order. 80 00:04:52.399 --> 00:04:55.120 I've often thought the best thing about retirement isn't so 81 00:04:55.240 --> 00:04:57.639 much spare time as the rhythm you carve out for 82 00:04:57.680 --> 00:05:02.040 yourself at the museum. Tick along by their own schedule, 83 00:05:02.360 --> 00:05:06.160 settling the displays, prepping coffee, fussing with the always bauky 84 00:05:06.199 --> 00:05:10.120 lobby heater, we draw a cheerful crowd, a few reat harrees, 85 00:05:10.360 --> 00:05:13.839 young families with stroller bound toddlers, the odd train buff 86 00:05:13.879 --> 00:05:17.319 from out of town seeking some hidden gem. It's the 87 00:05:17.360 --> 00:05:21.519 slow churn of local memory and community pride. Three of 88 00:05:21.600 --> 00:05:25.160 us run most Sundays. Clara keeps the front of house 89 00:05:25.199 --> 00:05:28.360 and gift shop humming. She knows every piece of trivia 90 00:05:28.399 --> 00:05:31.800 ever written about our town's railways, but she only trusts 91 00:05:31.839 --> 00:05:34.920 facts with a footnote and an artifact to back them up. 92 00:05:35.519 --> 00:05:38.240 She'll admit no new version of any story unless the 93 00:05:38.279 --> 00:05:42.920 brochure says so, and the brochures never change. Paul handles 94 00:05:42.959 --> 00:05:47.240 what he calls the guts, all the mechanical exhibits, light repairs, 95 00:05:47.560 --> 00:05:51.079 even the model train layouts. He loves puzzles only if 96 00:05:51.079 --> 00:05:53.439 he can see their parts, not if they're stuck in 97 00:05:53.519 --> 00:05:57.600 paperwork or sepia photos. He'll joke that the function side 98 00:05:57.680 --> 00:06:02.399 is his. The old stories Clara's don't. My official task 99 00:06:02.519 --> 00:06:06.759 is condition logs, tracking the display items, marking paint chips 100 00:06:06.839 --> 00:06:11.000 or loose fittings for future restoration. Most volunteers skip that bit. 101 00:06:11.199 --> 00:06:14.600 Who'll check, they say, But I've maintained it for years, 102 00:06:14.839 --> 00:06:17.800 half out of old habit, half because I believe objects, 103 00:06:17.839 --> 00:06:21.199 remember the hands that tend them. Every Sunday, I note 104 00:06:21.240 --> 00:06:24.800 down plate numbers, small blemishes, all the little traits that 105 00:06:24.879 --> 00:06:29.199 keep an engine's character alive. The building itself anchors us. 106 00:06:29.639 --> 00:06:32.439 Nearly a century old. It used to thrum with mail 107 00:06:32.560 --> 00:06:35.800 bags and ticket chatter. The station clock above the bay 108 00:06:35.839 --> 00:06:39.560 doors always runs five minutes behind, hopelessly outpaced by the 109 00:06:39.600 --> 00:06:43.120 traffic light now blinking at the intersection. Outside in the 110 00:06:43.160 --> 00:06:47.079 main lobby hangs a mural kids drawings of trains winding 111 00:06:47.120 --> 00:06:51.839 through red autumn forests, water towers, and smiling engineers. You'd 112 00:06:51.839 --> 00:06:54.879 never guess that the engine behind glass once pulled real 113 00:06:54.920 --> 00:06:59.519 men and freight across those tracks. Pride isn't just about possession, 114 00:06:59.519 --> 00:07:03.240 but present. In the nineteen eighties, when the engine model 115 00:07:03.279 --> 00:07:06.680 was acquired and displayed for all to see, the town 116 00:07:06.800 --> 00:07:10.079 counted it as a genuine bit of salvation. I remember 117 00:07:10.120 --> 00:07:14.720 the campaign parades, sing songs, hearty men in suspenders hammering 118 00:07:14.839 --> 00:07:17.800 rails for the rebuild. I left a little more energy 119 00:07:17.800 --> 00:07:21.120 than I meant to in those years, chasing donations and 120 00:07:21.160 --> 00:07:23.759 badgering the city for the right to restore. A fragment 121 00:07:23.800 --> 00:07:27.000 of the old h r X line. On a table 122 00:07:27.000 --> 00:07:29.720 in the lobby sits the history of Engine hr X, 123 00:07:30.360 --> 00:07:35.480 a battered blue binder stuffed with diagrams, faded letters, yellowed clippings, 124 00:07:35.759 --> 00:07:38.199 and a log book stretching back to when men wrote 125 00:07:38.199 --> 00:07:42.800 in fountain pen and the war was distant thunder among us. 126 00:07:42.879 --> 00:07:46.399 The engine is a quiet ghost, our pride, Our town's 127 00:07:46.399 --> 00:07:49.959 secret volunteers joke about it changing color in the night, 128 00:07:50.360 --> 00:07:52.560 or its ghost blowing a whistle on the hour for 129 00:07:52.600 --> 00:07:56.920 the lost male trains. It's always good natured, harmless. I 130 00:07:56.959 --> 00:08:00.439 think sometimes that treating the model as half story, half 131 00:08:00.480 --> 00:08:02.920 relic is what binds us as much as any real 132 00:08:03.040 --> 00:08:07.160 time table. But that Sunday, as the sun crept westward 133 00:08:07.279 --> 00:08:10.000 and the last visitor wandered out, I couldn't shrug off 134 00:08:10.000 --> 00:08:13.839 that subtle wrongness. I reopened the logs, checked the binder, 135 00:08:14.160 --> 00:08:17.800 even compared the glass reflection for tricks of light. Yet 136 00:08:18.240 --> 00:08:21.680 h r X four hundred seventeen was lettered on every page, 137 00:08:21.879 --> 00:08:26.000 every sheet. My hands itched, wanting to discover a misfiled 138 00:08:26.040 --> 00:08:30.680 photo or an overlooked label that would explain the shift. Instead, 139 00:08:30.759 --> 00:08:34.000 I pocketed my note and resolved to pay closer attention 140 00:08:34.200 --> 00:08:38.240 next time. Not just for myself, I told myself, but 141 00:08:38.320 --> 00:08:42.480 for the museum's invisible rules. In a place built on memory, 142 00:08:42.799 --> 00:08:46.639 what if remembering wasn't as simple as it seemed. A 143 00:08:46.679 --> 00:08:50.200 week passed, the world outside does what it does, Summer 144 00:08:50.279 --> 00:08:54.000 yawned into routine, grasshoppers rasped by the switch yard, and 145 00:08:54.080 --> 00:08:56.840 not a soul called in with a train question. But 146 00:08:57.000 --> 00:09:00.759 Sunday always returns steady as a schedule, as my wife 147 00:09:00.840 --> 00:09:04.080 used to say. I let myself in and performed the ritual. 148 00:09:04.399 --> 00:09:08.600 Coffee pot bubbling shade lines drawn back, checking the museum 149 00:09:08.639 --> 00:09:12.960 log at the front desk. It wasn't the same. In fact, 150 00:09:13.080 --> 00:09:17.120 it was definitively not the same. The engine's number plate 151 00:09:17.240 --> 00:09:21.080 now read h r X three hundred eighty eight, not 152 00:09:21.240 --> 00:09:24.399 just a mistaken digit or swapped screw. Where there'd been 153 00:09:24.399 --> 00:09:28.000 a slender, modernized funnel last Sunday now was a broad, 154 00:09:28.240 --> 00:09:32.240 old fashioned bell shaped whistle, polished brass warm in the light. 155 00:09:32.840 --> 00:09:36.120 The smokestack had changed yet again, this time matching a 156 00:09:36.159 --> 00:09:40.440 design I vaguely remembered from childhood. Trains fatter at the base, 157 00:09:40.759 --> 00:09:44.840 beveled at the rim. I admit I swallowed hard. I 158 00:09:44.879 --> 00:09:47.679 started to question if I was falling prey to wishful memory, 159 00:09:47.879 --> 00:09:50.759 mixing up details. But when you've spent a career double 160 00:09:50.840 --> 00:09:53.759 checking pressure dials and coupling orders, you learn not to 161 00:09:53.799 --> 00:09:57.799 trust vague impressions. I slid open the blue binder. There, 162 00:09:57.879 --> 00:10:00.960 clear as the noon sun, were engined dies diagrams labeled 163 00:10:01.399 --> 00:10:04.840 hr X three hundred eighty eight. Clippings from the local 164 00:10:04.879 --> 00:10:08.159 paper described the inaugural run of three hundred eighty eight 165 00:10:08.480 --> 00:10:13.480 in nineteen thirteen. Letters from townsfolk thanked the railway for 166 00:10:13.519 --> 00:10:16.679 the service provided by the old three hundred eighty eight. 167 00:10:17.480 --> 00:10:20.279 It was all seamless, as if everyone in the last 168 00:10:20.320 --> 00:10:23.240 fifty years had agreed on this number and none other. 169 00:10:24.320 --> 00:10:28.279 Paul strolled in with his usual irreverent air. Someone finally 170 00:10:28.279 --> 00:10:31.039 gave her a new coat. Eh, he said, thumping the 171 00:10:31.080 --> 00:10:34.679 display glass. Never liked how quickly the green faded on 172 00:10:34.759 --> 00:10:38.440 these old three hundred eighty eight models. He whistled the 173 00:10:38.519 --> 00:10:42.919 real long bell whistle, as if by muscle memory. I 174 00:10:43.000 --> 00:10:46.639 stared at him, trying to betray nothing. Paul, did you 175 00:10:46.720 --> 00:10:50.639 notice when they swapped out the whistle design, he shrugged, 176 00:10:50.720 --> 00:10:53.639 glancing over the trim. That's the kind of thing those 177 00:10:53.679 --> 00:10:57.320 Baldwin shops used. Yours truly can tell a bell whistle 178 00:10:57.360 --> 00:11:00.559 from a mile off. Then, eyeing my fury rowed brow, 179 00:11:01.000 --> 00:11:04.120 you all right, looking like the engineer who missed his mark, 180 00:11:04.720 --> 00:11:09.200 he sauntered away, never noticing my confusion. Within the hour, 181 00:11:09.480 --> 00:11:11.960 a young father in a faded ball cap was leading 182 00:11:12.000 --> 00:11:16.720 his son past the display. Look there, emmit, see that's 183 00:11:16.759 --> 00:11:20.080 engine three hundred eighty eight, the first passenger steamer to 184 00:11:20.200 --> 00:11:24.759 run our valley, the dad said, with unmistakable pride. I 185 00:11:24.840 --> 00:11:28.000 excused myself and met Clara at the coat rack, searching 186 00:11:28.039 --> 00:11:31.960 her eyes for alliance or mischief. Instead, she produced last 187 00:11:32.000 --> 00:11:36.879 week's guest book, Busy Sunday. Wasn't it look my grandpa 188 00:11:37.000 --> 00:11:39.759 drove three hundred eighty eight For twenty years, we get 189 00:11:39.799 --> 00:11:43.879 these family legends every week. Not a single mention of 190 00:11:44.080 --> 00:11:47.919 h r X four hundred seventeen, let alone four hundred one, 191 00:11:48.320 --> 00:11:53.080 appeared anywhere. I flipped through last week's log entries, tracking 192 00:11:53.080 --> 00:11:56.159 the looping pen of my own hand, inspected h r 193 00:11:56.360 --> 00:11:59.919 X three hundred eighty eight, no paint chips, whistle, authentic 194 00:12:00.320 --> 00:12:04.519 guest book family story returned. I shut the binder quietly. 195 00:12:05.000 --> 00:12:07.879 My jaw tightened, my gut knotted up, not with dread 196 00:12:08.039 --> 00:12:11.799 but irritation, the kind engineers feel when a simple coupling 197 00:12:11.879 --> 00:12:16.480 keeps jamming and nobody else seems to care. My certainty wobbled. 198 00:12:16.799 --> 00:12:20.440 Had I truly misremembered? Was I mixing up configuration seen 199 00:12:20.519 --> 00:12:23.840 in old photos, confusing one week's memory with another in 200 00:12:23.840 --> 00:12:28.240 the museum's slow cycles, or was this some elaborate joke? Yet, 201 00:12:28.360 --> 00:12:31.320 as I checked again, old photos on the wall depicted 202 00:12:31.320 --> 00:12:35.519 the same burly shape marked three hundred eighty eight builder's 203 00:12:35.519 --> 00:12:40.360 plate stamped Baldwin nineteen thirteen. I swept the lobby and 204 00:12:40.440 --> 00:12:43.720 caught my own expression mirrored in the glass. I didn't 205 00:12:43.720 --> 00:12:47.399 look sullen, just dogged. What gnawed at me was not fear, 206 00:12:47.799 --> 00:12:51.919 something more beguiling, the necessity to solve whatever was unfurling 207 00:12:52.120 --> 00:12:56.120 just out of reach. I resolved to observe more carefully, 208 00:12:56.440 --> 00:12:59.600 to leave behind the comfort of routine and step toward 209 00:12:59.639 --> 00:13:03.639 the core of this anomaly. Whatever it might cost my complacency. 210 00:13:04.679 --> 00:13:08.519 That commitment colored the next several sundays. Maybe it's the 211 00:13:08.559 --> 00:13:11.159 stubborn streak that made my wife shake her head at 212 00:13:11.159 --> 00:13:14.840 my old log books. But I couldn't let go. After all, 213 00:13:15.120 --> 00:13:18.879 what retired engineer worth his salt passes upper pattern once 214 00:13:18.919 --> 00:13:23.080 he's glimpsed it. I retrieved my little cannon, hardly modern 215 00:13:23.159 --> 00:13:27.279 but reliable, and each Sunday I snapped photos sharp angles 216 00:13:27.279 --> 00:13:29.480 on the plate, the curve of the smoke box, the 217 00:13:29.519 --> 00:13:32.559 pattern of rivets along the boiler, the glare off the cowcatcher. 218 00:13:33.080 --> 00:13:36.600 I annotated a fresh note book, writing every detail. H 219 00:13:36.720 --> 00:13:39.399 r X three hundred eighty eight s builder's badge was square. 220 00:13:39.639 --> 00:13:43.240 Last week's four hundred seventeen had been oval. The cold 221 00:13:43.320 --> 00:13:47.399 tender held different safety signage. The cab window changed shape 222 00:13:47.519 --> 00:13:51.120 wider than narrower from one Sunday to the next. I 223 00:13:51.200 --> 00:13:55.320 tried subtle experiments. One week, I painted a minuscule red 224 00:13:55.360 --> 00:13:58.679 dot on the rear coupler, hidden from prying eyes. The 225 00:13:58.759 --> 00:14:03.039 following Sunday, no dot. The coupler fixture itself was altered, 226 00:14:03.320 --> 00:14:06.600 its bolts weathered differently, and now an oval plate bore 227 00:14:06.639 --> 00:14:12.200 an entirely different manufacturer's crest Alton Works, not Baldwin. I 228 00:14:12.240 --> 00:14:16.440 even started laying traps on a Saturday evening, I wrote 229 00:14:16.440 --> 00:14:19.399 a pencil date behind the side panel of the model's cab. 230 00:14:20.000 --> 00:14:24.039 Every time. By next opening, the panel red clean, sometimes 231 00:14:24.080 --> 00:14:29.039 missing the small groove entirely a different carpentry cut. Each 232 00:14:29.159 --> 00:14:33.159 detail remained consistent within a given Sunday. Blueprints in the 233 00:14:33.200 --> 00:14:38.440 binder matched every external trait, arrangement of piping, sand dome height, 234 00:14:38.840 --> 00:14:43.360 even paint pigments under magnifying glass. But no two sundays 235 00:14:43.399 --> 00:14:46.000 were the same, not even when the number reverted to 236 00:14:46.039 --> 00:14:50.000 a previous pattern. I cross checked signatures in the guest book. 237 00:14:50.440 --> 00:14:54.279 On June's second Sunday, Grampa Larsen drove hr x four 238 00:14:54.320 --> 00:14:57.639 hundred seventeen all through the depression in a scrawl I 239 00:14:57.720 --> 00:15:02.159 recognized from the local grocer's sour uncles. The next Sunday, 240 00:15:02.440 --> 00:15:06.360 a different relation, Uncle Frank worked the HRX three hundred 241 00:15:06.399 --> 00:15:10.840 eighty eight line to Chicago, clearly matching the week's engine. 242 00:15:10.879 --> 00:15:15.759 Snapshots on the walls shifted two frames, slightly rearranged Builders 243 00:15:15.799 --> 00:15:20.600 plates reading Baldwin nineteen thirteen one week, Alton Works nineteen 244 00:15:20.639 --> 00:15:24.919 twenty four the next. Standing there, I experienced the uncanny 245 00:15:24.919 --> 00:15:27.919 feeling of being the only person unlucky enough to sense 246 00:15:27.919 --> 00:15:31.879 the rooms spinning beneath its own cushions. Even when I 247 00:15:31.919 --> 00:15:35.879 consulted the maintenance logs, my own writing sometimes referenced an 248 00:15:35.960 --> 00:15:40.240 engine number that fit the display's configuration, though dated precisely 249 00:15:40.399 --> 00:15:44.559 as I remembered entering the building. Another Sunday, the entry 250 00:15:44.600 --> 00:15:49.720 read HRX four hundred one in my unmistakable handwriting, noting 251 00:15:49.759 --> 00:15:54.279 a different cab, whistle and builders insignia. With each round 252 00:15:54.279 --> 00:15:57.919 of observation, I pressed Clara and Paul for their recollections. 253 00:15:58.519 --> 00:16:02.600 Always they seemed certain of the current engine, unable or 254 00:16:02.720 --> 00:16:08.200 unwilling to recall even one previous detail as different. One Sunday, 255 00:16:08.240 --> 00:16:12.240 the engine sprouted a double stack twin fluted chimneys. Paul, 256 00:16:12.320 --> 00:16:15.840 with cheerful authority, declared always was a double stack on 257 00:16:15.879 --> 00:16:19.759 this type for coal draft. I struggled not to snap down. 258 00:16:19.799 --> 00:16:23.360 In the binders the blueprints cheerfully referenced type double stack 259 00:16:23.639 --> 00:16:26.840 hr X three hundred eighty eight Alton Works, nineteen twenty four. 260 00:16:27.519 --> 00:16:31.200 Next week, single stack again, single builder, and back to 261 00:16:31.240 --> 00:16:35.360 a Baldwin badge. Even the log book, easily the most 262 00:16:35.440 --> 00:16:39.159 humdrum of all records, didn't resist the tide. If my 263 00:16:39.279 --> 00:16:42.159 notes from the week before referenced a number or feature 264 00:16:42.240 --> 00:16:45.240 that was now wrong, the log book, still in my 265 00:16:45.360 --> 00:16:49.080 own looping script, no longer said what I remembered. Recording 266 00:16:50.200 --> 00:16:55.039 visitors meanwhile, never batted an eyelash. Fathers told children about 267 00:16:55.080 --> 00:16:58.600 family connections to whatever engine appeared, as if all local 268 00:16:58.679 --> 00:17:02.679 memory had switched track during the night. Photographs tacked to 269 00:17:02.720 --> 00:17:07.680 the wall depicted whichever locomotive was present, No mismatches, no oddities, 270 00:17:08.160 --> 00:17:12.319 just the same glowing pride as ever. Looking for reassurance, 271 00:17:12.559 --> 00:17:16.279 I asked an elderly woman, missus Aberathy, to recall her memories. 272 00:17:16.720 --> 00:17:19.680 She pursed her lips, fingers, fussing with the old cameo 273 00:17:19.720 --> 00:17:23.000 at her throat. Why it's always been just so, the 274 00:17:23.039 --> 00:17:26.359 big gold plated dome, right, that's how I remember it. 275 00:17:26.799 --> 00:17:29.160 But when pressed, she couldn't recall if it had been 276 00:17:29.200 --> 00:17:32.599 number four hundred seventeen or three hundred eighty eight, or 277 00:17:32.640 --> 00:17:34.839 even if the crew she once waved to had kept 278 00:17:34.880 --> 00:17:40.000 the same schedule. By now, my skepticism was shifting to exasperation. 279 00:17:40.559 --> 00:17:43.559 If I could not trust physical evidence, if even my 280 00:17:43.720 --> 00:17:47.160 own notes proved liquid, how could I prove to myself 281 00:17:47.400 --> 00:17:50.319 that my memories weren't blurring with age, or that I 282 00:17:50.400 --> 00:17:55.559 wasn't simply misremembering the obvious. In quieter moments, I wondered 283 00:17:55.559 --> 00:17:59.079 whether my concern was some local inside joke, the sort 284 00:17:59.160 --> 00:18:03.039 often played on earnest newcomers, or maybe a ritual carried 285 00:18:03.079 --> 00:18:06.720 on over years, never written down. But a joke loses 286 00:18:06.759 --> 00:18:10.480 its target if it erases all record of itself. The 287 00:18:10.559 --> 00:18:13.640 deeper I looked, the more the phenomenon seemed rooted in 288 00:18:13.720 --> 00:18:19.319 something neither malicious nor accidental, but quietly systematic. I began 289 00:18:19.359 --> 00:18:22.319 to ask less about which engine was real, and more 290 00:18:22.359 --> 00:18:26.079 about what precisely an authentic memory or artifact might mean. 291 00:18:26.119 --> 00:18:30.240 When week by week they emerged fully formed plausible, but 292 00:18:30.319 --> 00:18:33.720 with distinct differences. Was I the only one outside the 293 00:18:33.720 --> 00:18:37.039 circle or the only one within it? Marking time while 294 00:18:37.079 --> 00:18:41.680 others drifted content as leaves on a pond. One evening, 295 00:18:41.720 --> 00:18:44.920 I sat on my porch, mug in hand, sun casting 296 00:18:44.960 --> 00:18:49.200 half the yard in gold, half in shadow. The museum's particulars, 297 00:18:49.440 --> 00:18:54.680 plate numbers, bell styles, builders, badges lingered alongside the larger thread. 298 00:18:54.839 --> 00:18:58.559 Every change made sense within local history. Nothing was so 299 00:18:58.680 --> 00:19:02.079 outlandish as to be in possible. Each transformation was a 300 00:19:02.160 --> 00:19:05.880 plausible model from some chapter of the town's railroading past. 301 00:19:06.960 --> 00:19:09.920 I let the doubts circle memory is fallible, that much 302 00:19:09.920 --> 00:19:14.160 I'd grant. But boiler style, badge, position, tender shape. These 303 00:19:14.200 --> 00:19:16.799 are details a career engineer can spot at a glance, 304 00:19:17.039 --> 00:19:19.480 and I'd have bet my pension on them. Yet here 305 00:19:19.519 --> 00:19:22.920 I was questioning not just the objects, but my own certainty. 306 00:19:23.519 --> 00:19:26.279 I thought of the week's cycling first hr X four 307 00:19:26.359 --> 00:19:30.119 hundred one, then four hundred seventeen, then three hundred eighty eight, 308 00:19:30.440 --> 00:19:35.599 each supported by fresh, consistent documentation. A theory crept in, 309 00:19:35.880 --> 00:19:40.039 unsettling but mesmerizing. Was the engine or the museum itself 310 00:19:40.119 --> 00:19:43.559 built on collective memory? Did the act of public display 311 00:19:43.680 --> 00:19:47.079 each Sunday, with all of us performing our familiar rituals, 312 00:19:47.440 --> 00:19:52.680 clattering open doors, pouring coffee, telling stock stories, actually produced 313 00:19:52.680 --> 00:19:56.519 not just consensus, but the very reality we observed. Where 314 00:19:56.559 --> 00:20:00.759 did artifact end an agreement begin? Dug out my old 315 00:20:00.799 --> 00:20:05.319 home journals, resolved to triangulate the oddness. Sketches I'd made 316 00:20:05.319 --> 00:20:09.599 in the evenings noted not one but several plausible engine configurations, 317 00:20:09.960 --> 00:20:13.279 each corresponding to the week's observed state at the museum. 318 00:20:13.920 --> 00:20:16.680 Even in the privacy of my own home, on sheets 319 00:20:16.759 --> 00:20:21.359 untainted by the museum's routines, my records shifted. They fit 320 00:20:21.480 --> 00:20:25.960 whatever the museum displayed that week. Out of curiosity, I 321 00:20:26.039 --> 00:20:29.839 called my sister in Spokane. Childhood rides behind the hr 322 00:20:30.079 --> 00:20:33.200 X were are shared foundational memory, the sharp chuff of 323 00:20:33.240 --> 00:20:35.839 the engine, the way the whistle echoed in the evening. 324 00:20:36.359 --> 00:20:39.960 She answered brightly, laughing at old recollections. But as I 325 00:20:40.000 --> 00:20:43.559 pressed her for details, she recounted the present week's configuration 326 00:20:43.759 --> 00:20:46.480 down to the letter, as if recalling the memory fresh 327 00:20:46.519 --> 00:20:50.240 from that Sunday's display. Of course, it was the three 328 00:20:50.359 --> 00:20:54.720 hundred eighty eight. Always a brass bell whistle, didn't Dad 329 00:20:54.839 --> 00:20:57.359 used to joke about the cold tender not holding enough 330 00:20:57.400 --> 00:21:00.160 for the Chicago run. I tried to jog her on 331 00:21:00.200 --> 00:21:04.079 the changing number, but she simply grew flustered, apologizing that, 332 00:21:04.440 --> 00:21:07.200 as she put it, some days my memory is a 333 00:21:07.200 --> 00:21:11.759 little reedy. Now the question loomed larger. This wasn't just 334 00:21:11.799 --> 00:21:14.920 about me. Whatever was at work seemed to reach everywhere 335 00:21:14.960 --> 00:21:19.880 my memory, notes, or even others recollections could go. No prank, 336 00:21:20.079 --> 00:21:23.799 no simple error, could explain this consistency of plausible but 337 00:21:23.920 --> 00:21:28.079 fluid detail everywhere and always bound to the Sunday ritual 338 00:21:29.000 --> 00:21:33.519 and another pattern Sutler grew clear this transformation never occurred 339 00:21:33.519 --> 00:21:36.880 outside the ritual anchor of Sunday museum opening, not on 340 00:21:36.960 --> 00:21:42.079 weekday walkthroughs, private events, or random afternoons. Only on Sunday, 341 00:21:42.160 --> 00:21:45.319 with the full performance of history did the change arrive. 342 00:21:45.880 --> 00:21:48.839 What was it about this collective performance, not just the 343 00:21:48.920 --> 00:21:53.279 object itself, that set realities? Dial I walked to the 344 00:21:53.279 --> 00:21:57.000 window and gazed out across the railyard. Engines have always 345 00:21:57.039 --> 00:22:00.480 been both steel and story, born to become the backburn 346 00:22:00.519 --> 00:22:03.920 of towns, but remembered the way a child clings to legend. 347 00:22:04.519 --> 00:22:07.200 If what lay at the museum's heart wasn't so much 348 00:22:07.240 --> 00:22:10.960 a preserved artifact as a weekly act of communal remembering, 349 00:22:11.440 --> 00:22:14.920 which itself shaped what we considered fact. How much could 350 00:22:14.920 --> 00:22:18.920 we trust any history we told ourselves. The next steps 351 00:22:18.960 --> 00:22:21.880 I knew would demand more than just careful logging and 352 00:22:21.960 --> 00:22:25.960 photo snapping. There was a shape to this phenomenon, something guided, 353 00:22:26.279 --> 00:22:30.480 not random, a ritual repeated week after week that rewrote 354 00:22:30.559 --> 00:22:34.000 not just our memories but the record itself. And the 355 00:22:34.039 --> 00:22:36.680 only way forward was to test the limits, to see 356 00:22:36.720 --> 00:22:40.200 if the world outside the museum's glass doors held any 357 00:22:40.240 --> 00:22:44.200 resistance to the current of Sunday's tide. I sat in 358 00:22:44.319 --> 00:22:47.920 Paul's workroom, hunched beside a heap of part catalogs and 359 00:22:48.039 --> 00:22:51.319 gasket rings. We both eyed the battered kettle as it 360 00:22:51.400 --> 00:22:55.440 hissed gently, filling the air with the scent of burnt grounds. 361 00:22:56.000 --> 00:22:58.240 I want you to help me run a little experiment. 362 00:22:58.599 --> 00:23:01.680 I began, hedging my tone to draw Paul in without 363 00:23:01.680 --> 00:23:05.839 giving him an escape route. He arched an eyebrow, one 364 00:23:05.880 --> 00:23:10.319 hand already dug into a biscuit tin. An experiment as 365 00:23:10.319 --> 00:23:13.200 in the fun kind, or one that lands us in 366 00:23:13.240 --> 00:23:18.480 the archives doing paperwork, I laughed softly. I promise no 367 00:23:18.680 --> 00:23:23.039 forms required, just need your help double checking something. He 368 00:23:23.119 --> 00:23:27.160 leaned in, wiping biscuit crumbs from his palms. Go on, then, 369 00:23:28.240 --> 00:23:33.359 I explained, I've been seeing inconsistent plate numbers, changing engine traits. 370 00:23:33.680 --> 00:23:36.200 Even my own notes were written from week to week. 371 00:23:36.880 --> 00:23:39.440 I asked if he'd ever notice the whistle style or 372 00:23:39.480 --> 00:23:44.680 builder's plate shifting between sundays. Paul scratched his chin thoughtfully. 373 00:23:45.240 --> 00:23:48.440 Sometimes I suppose the little details run together. But the 374 00:23:48.559 --> 00:23:51.680 number hasn't it always been three hundred eighty eight. That's 375 00:23:51.720 --> 00:23:54.839 the one from my kid days. Besides, the blueprints in 376 00:23:54.880 --> 00:23:57.240 the binder match. You must be mixing it with that 377 00:23:57.319 --> 00:24:01.359 weird tourist engine from a few towns over, he paused, Though, 378 00:24:01.400 --> 00:24:03.720 now you say it. Last month, I could have sworn 379 00:24:03.799 --> 00:24:06.240 we had a single stack. But maybe that was the 380 00:24:06.359 --> 00:24:09.599 festival mock up. I asked him to open up the 381 00:24:09.640 --> 00:24:13.559 engine display with me that Saturday night, before closing. Together, 382 00:24:14.000 --> 00:24:17.000 we took a chalky old carpenter's pencil and marked a 383 00:24:17.039 --> 00:24:21.160 discreet p inside the cab panel behind where only we 384 00:24:21.200 --> 00:24:25.680 could spot it. All right, Paul said, satisfied, Let's see 385 00:24:25.720 --> 00:24:30.079 if your memory survives till the pot runs dry. Next morning, 386 00:24:30.119 --> 00:24:32.960 the museum's air held the crisp, church like quiet of 387 00:24:33.000 --> 00:24:36.400 early Sunday. We waited for the first visitor before opening 388 00:24:36.400 --> 00:24:40.640 the display. The interior was pristine, no chalk mark, the 389 00:24:40.720 --> 00:24:45.480 CAB's interior radically redone window shape levers, even the joinery 390 00:24:45.640 --> 00:24:49.279 now different wood. Paul, for his part, didn't comment. He 391 00:24:49.319 --> 00:24:52.319 simply accepted it as the way it's always been done. 392 00:24:53.240 --> 00:24:57.119 Frustration mingled with intrigue. My own photos from the day 393 00:24:57.160 --> 00:25:00.839 before on a camera kept at home now displayed the 394 00:25:00.880 --> 00:25:05.599 current Sundays configuration. When reviewed on the museum PC. Even 395 00:25:05.640 --> 00:25:09.920 my home laptops synced up showing what the museum presently displayed. 396 00:25:11.000 --> 00:25:14.799 Looking for external anchors, I contacted the city library midweek. 397 00:25:15.319 --> 00:25:18.759 In the local history room, dusty ledger books and laboriously 398 00:25:18.799 --> 00:25:23.119 typed index cards should have offered an unbroken narrative. Instead, 399 00:25:23.440 --> 00:25:27.359 cross referenced files listed different engines by number, matching neither 400 00:25:27.359 --> 00:25:29.519 perfectly to the binder at the museum nor to my 401 00:25:29.599 --> 00:25:34.839