DEDICATION: To Believe the Impossible Dream/Man of La Mancha To Dreamers Who Turn Youthful Fantasy into Reality

To all those children throughout the generations going back to the very beginning in the 1830’s in Charleston, S.C. that have gawked and squealed and exclaimed at the first sight of:

Long sinuous freight trains with the signature red caboose safeguarding the rear and flanks of the train.

To the noisy street cars plying the major thoroughfares of all the great cities brake pedaled to the steel rail metal causing an awful squeaking sound.

To the visitors to the famed San Francisco by the sea with trolley cars over 100 years still grinding up and screeching down their original routes.

To those of a bygone era riding in the upper deck glass enclosed observation cars of the Zephyrs out to the West Coast

This is a story about the glory of the rails.

For rail fans, the first site is like an inoculation opening up a transformed world.  The reaction is visceral: comprised of awe, beauty and beast. Once inoculated, the rail fan never ever loses his love; it only grows through the years—partially through nostalgia but mainly because it is the connection from youth to adulthood; from reality to fantasy and back.

This is a true story.  It is a story of a dedicated railroad fanatic that made his childhood dreams come true. 

This is the story of the HSWVA:  The Railroad to the Sky/The Railroad that Never Was.

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