Like a lot of
small boys, I was fascinated by railroads,
unlike most, I never outgrew it.  It's the sounds and
smells that appeal as much as the images: the whistle,
the rumbles of the diesel, the bell sounding at the crossing. 

The
appeal is also the combination of near and far, local and cosmic that
the track evokes.  I tried to describe that in thisessay.