meet people, having fun on more train trips

Retired PD staffer Tom Gaumer


My latest gig is proving to be a lot of fun...and a learning experience...the train..the park and the people.
I've met folks from all-over, all ages that are out for a few hours of fun, savoring the Cuyahoga Valley Scenic Railroad...and what the park has to offer.
A volunteers' duties aboard to train, is to help the riders and promote the advantages of the park facilities. We pass out maps and literature and have a coyote and beaver pelt to pass around for folks to fondle and speculated on..
“where were they killed?” “Where did they come from.”
on one run with a bunch of elderly citizens, many of the women looked at the beaver and said: 'Oh, yes, I have a coat like that.”
My reply: “So that's why we don't have as many beaver in the park these days.”
And that brought a laugh or two.
You also find yourself helping with the GPS units that are used to hear about the park. As you pass certain points, a voice will cut with telling you all about what makes that point so special.
And you help the train folks gather up the used units to plug them back into a charger for the next group of riders.
That, you'll find, can really be a chore at times. The earphone cords and the cord from the GPS unit can become so tangled it”ll take you 10 minutes to figure out how to get it untangled.
On once such occasion, the conductor came by while I was fooling with a real mess and said “that looks like a two-man job.”
After a couple of minutes he gave up and said: “I've got a pair of scissors.” And he left.
But, finally I solved the puzzle...with the scissors.
Of course, a highlight of the trip is passing the Heron rookery and catching a glimpse of the bald eagle nest, and, if lucky, an eagle perched on it.
And then there's the other volunteer rail runners you meet. They make the 3 hour trip a bit easier by sharing the chores.
My latest turned out to be a fellow journalist...retired from the Cleveland Plain Dealer, so we had a lot of talk about since so many Beacon Journal folks wind up working there.
So after tending to the passengers, we passed the rest of the trip talking “shop”.
Tom Gaumer had started his run at Rockside and had been on the train all day....that's the way he likes it...staying on for the three runs,
We discussed the various folks who had left the BJ for the PD...Stuart Warner, Debbie Van Tassel and Terry Pluto.
Actually it was the mention of Terry that got our discussion started. Another passenger brought up his name and said he thought
Terry was a real nice guy.
That when I chimed in with the fact I had worked with him for years. And I agreed.
I cited the times his writing wound up on Page one. He was one of the only writers who would come up to me and say that he liked the way the story was displayed. And would add: “good job.”
Since Tom was an Ohio State journalist grad , I asked him if it knew retired BJ staffer David Boerner.
He said yes...Seems when Dave worked at the paper in Marysville, Dave worked for Tom”s dad!
What a small world!
So we check the cars once more for GPS units that needed charging and got ready for the end of the trip.
Unfortunately for Tom, just before we arrived in Akron, his eyeglass frame broke, so he was going to have a drive home with one good eye.
He rode back to Rockside where he had started. And he must of made it home OK, cause I didn't hear otherwise
So I'm looking forward to my next trip.

The scenery stays almost the same, but the passengers change and I'll meet a whole new bunch of folks.