The next stop was a few miles south in the town of Richburg. In the little park of the town sits Engine #5 from the Edgemoor to Manetta Railroad.
Engine #5 was known as “The Dummy”. It only had two axles and had a saddle tank for water. According to Kaleb this was the last commercially operating steam engine in the US.
The engine was surrounded by fencing a barbed wire, so we couldn’t get very close to it.
The engine still had a wreath and Christmas lights. Kaleb told us that these had been there since LAST year, not just the previous Christmas.
Kaleb’s opinion was that the engine would be more appropriately displayed at Edgemoor, north of Lando. The engine really has no relationship to Richburg, but ran between Lando and Edgemoor.
It was time for us to say goodbye to our new friend. Kaleb works second shift, and we wanted him to get some rest before he had to go in. Alan and I also had other places we wanted to visit. That next stop would be lunch.
We’re both fans of “adventure dining”, finding those out-of-the-way gems with good local food. We’ll do fast food if there’s nothing else available, but give us a diner or a BBQ hut any day. This time we found the Country Omelet near the I-77 interchange. There was a high pick-up truck density, so we knew it had to be good.
We both ordered the BBQ plate with a couple of veggie sides (no photos). As we waited for our meals an older gentleman came in. He was wearing mismatched shoes and a multi-colored ball cap with a propeller on top.
He was greeted like a regular. He waited for his take-out order, walked back out to his car, and headed on his way. Later I found out that this was Mr. Bo Kee, who ran a service station nearby. My thought was that when (if) I reach Bo’s age, I hope I have enough of a sense of humor to wear a propeller hat.
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Very interesting, as always.