I went to theRailfair Thursday, but I couldn't figure out how to find you, Sean. Sorry I didn't get a chance to meet you. Come to the Sacramento Song circle on the second Friday of any month, and you're likely to meet me and my mirror image, Mark Roffe ("Roffe" is "Offer" in Pig Latin, I think).
I didn't find any music Thursday evening, but it sure was a wonderful show. All those old guys my age, playing with their big steam toys, seemed to be in heaven. The poor photographers were a sorry lot, gathered around the big steam engines of groups of 20, hoping for a moment when there weren't people passing by to block their shot.
The smells and the sounds and the soot and the sights were all wonderful. The high point for me was when they put a Shay locomotive on the turntable and spun it around 360°. It was quite a sight. It reminded me of when I used to ride the Berlin duty train. We'd pass through Madgeburg, East Germany, at midnight, and there would always be half a dozen locomotives in the roundhouse, all steamed up and ready to go.
If you're in Northern California this afternoon or Sunday, come to Sacramento and see the show. It won't happen again for ten years.
-Joe Offer-