Monday, January 26, 2015
We were on the last passenger train in Panama, a courtesy for the trip I was leading in 1997, before the Panama Rail Road was turned over to Hutchinson Ports for freight service. Fred and I stood on the very front of the engine, me waving to people who stood at grade crossings with puzzled looks on their faces. Maybe there was nothing special about riding up there to him, but it was really spectacular to me. Back home, when I mentioned it to a friend at the Smithsonian, he asked, rather incredulously, “You mean right above the cowcatcher?” Yup. That was Fred.
