© 1999, 2000 & 2006 by George Irwin, Ellison Park, NY || First Posted: Oct 1999 and Jan 2000 || Reposted 23 Feb 2006
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"Look, grandpa, there's a train coming!" Yes, there is an NJ Transit commuter train behind him, but Kieran is not wrong when he's pointing the other way! There are two other trains rushing "westbound" toward him on the Northeast Corridor. We would see 26 trains in 63 minutes at the station in Rahway, New Jersey, during the evening rush hour of May 27, 1999. History repeats itself, as this was a favorite stop for the Irwin family during the 1970's and 1980's. There were freights on the Corridor then!
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"It's a big globe!" It's the UnisphereŽ, symbol of the 1964-65 World's Fair in Flushing Meadow Park, Queens, New York.
Kieran is picking dandelions where his father once walked during the Fair! Kieran was able to do one better-- the water fountains weren't running on the day of our visit and he walked right up to the "big globe" and touched it! His dad could never do that!
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Is he handsome or what?!? April, 1999 at our humble Ellison Park abode, dressed up for Easter services. Talent scouts, please take a number!
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Hello, is this Micro-Trains? I'd like to place an order... Actually, Kieran is talking to the person that would eventually become Thalia's godfather, although that was still some months away at the time of this photo. Note to self: Have wallpaper removed. (We did.)
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Blowing out the three birthday candles... November 20, 1999.
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An attentive pose, waiting for the PATH Train (a.k.a. "The Tubes") at Exchange Place, Jersey City, New Jersey, just across the Hudson from Lower Manhattan. Less than a year later things would be very different in this part of the world.
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Play is kid's work... and Kieran is working hard on a puzzle he received as a gift,
Christmas, 1999.
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And as for Christmas Dinner? Well, what's wrong with ice cream?
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Two views from the last few hours of the Millenium, at a local family oriented celebration, December 31, 1999. You can read all about it, and our story of the "last day," in Irwin's Journal Online elsewhere on this site. Look for "My Millenium".
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"It's a long way to climb into the cab!" says Kieran, taking the throttle on
his very own HO Scale layout. Yes, that's an ATSF locomotive on the main line--
"Santa Fe" was the first railroad name he could say, despite his living in New
York Central / Penn Central / Conrail / CSX country! Photo taken April 3, 2000.
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Speaking of trains, who's that Junior Brakeman on that Santa Fe gondola? Kieran's father, that's who! The scene is the Harismus Cove yard of the Pennsylvania Railroad (or perhaps Penn Central by then), in downtown Jersey City, New Jersey, circa 1968. Except for the Junior Brakeman, this is all long gone. The area where the gondola is parked is where cars park now.
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