We had two railroads running through our County.
The Southern Pacific passed through our town coming from Los Angeles on its way to San Francisco and back. It had a whistle and a Bell and a cow catcher in front. Each one of these locomotive engines had its own distinct sound.
After a while I was able to tell them apart as easily as I could identify my friends and neighbors in town. I could tell which locomotive it was without even looking. I even knew who the engineer and the conductors were on each train.
The local railroad was called the Ventura County Railroad. They carried passengers to Port Hueneme and back. They also ran lines to the sugar the factory and to some of the other farms and orchards. There were many citrus orchards and they ran lines to the packing houses.
I was also able to tell the time by the sounds of the trains. Who needs a watch?
