Wednesday, June 13, 2012

Dinky train

The "Dinky" is the shortest U.S. rail route, but its riders have included giants: Albert Einstein, Woodrow Wilson, and John Nash, the mathematician in A Beautiful Mind, who I've seen still riding it.
(Instagram shot).
***
(Stuff of legends: In 1963, 4 Princeton University students parked a car across the Dinky line and rode up to the blocked train with rented horses, masks, and blank pistols firing -- John Wayne style! They "kidnapped" their "victims" (dates), then galloped off to watch Bo Diddley perform live nearby. The train conductor became the only victim of a railway robbery in the U.S. since 1923). 

10 comments:

Adele said...

What a great story, about a great train. And the Great Train Robbery incident is fascinating. Can't believe you've seen John Nash. How cool is that?

cieldequimper said...

Love this shot and what a story!

Your Dinky looks a bit like some Paris suburbia trains here, the older ones. We call them "petits gris" i.e. small greys!

Dianne said...

Wonderful Great Train Robbery story ... It's sure carried a few Famous Faces. Great post!

Leeds daily photo said...

Thats quits neat being able to ride the shortest train line in the US. Not heard of the dinky trains, always thought it was just toys.

Valladolid Daily Photo said...

I would love to ride on that train.

Tanya Breese said...

wow, that's an interesting story the dinky has!

PerthDailyPhoto said...

So in this case it's definitely not size that counts hey Lulu! Really enjoyed the great train heist story haha!

LONDONLULU said...

Adele - thanks so much, I love your stories :) John Nash sightings cause a small ripple here, still!

cieldequimper - thank you! That's so cool about the petits gris. The Dinky's older & looks a lot like the petits gris!

Dianne - thank you so much!

Paul - so funny, someone else mentioned about toy train when I first moved to Princeton.

Valladolid - :) It's a fun train, almost a toy train.

Tanya - thank you! :)

PerthDailyPhoto - haha, yes, size does not matter in this case! :)

Catherine said...

Wonderful shot!... I'm so amazed about the John Nash sightings... thanks for sharing

LONDONLULU said...

Catherine - thanks so much! And thank you for dropping by!