My first train ride was on the scenic route between Bellingham and Seattle with my dad in 1969. I recall the tracks were still made up of short pieces and generated the signature clickety-clack once emblematic of travel by rail.

Though very far from a Paul Theroux-level of railroad fanatic, I’ve since made many train trips — the ones to Machu Picchu will always stick in my mind. But the most memorable of all was hopping a freight train with a college friend, a magnificently ridiculous stunt that I do not recommend to anyone.

Like many before and since, I formed something of a crush on the Ilwaco Railway & Navigation Company when I moved here in 1991. There’s just something so cool about the idea of little narrow-gauge locomotives puffing along through the sand dunes and scrub pines here on farthest westward edge of the continent. Although I’ve never laid hands on an IR&N locomotive nameplate, annual pass or early stock certificate, my collection of related objects isn’t too bad, ranging from a passenger car seat to the original survey of the proposed route extension between Nahcotta and Oysterville.

But enough bragging. It always make me happy to run a story about any steam engine — including the steam donkeys used by pioneer loggers and the little gasoline-powered ones nursed along by Columbia River fishermen around the turn of the last century. One of our features in this upcoming issue is about the locomotive restoration project in Astoria. It’s by Ron Baldwin of Chinook. (Coincidentally — or maybe not? — the Baldwin company was a major manufacturer of steam locomotives, including for IR&N.)

Since the Observer is printed at around 2 p.m. on Tuesdays, we won’t have preliminary election results in this week’s print edition — and of course with mail voting, definitive results probably won’t be available until much later in the week anyway. But we will have updated ballot counts online starting around 8:30 p.m. Tuesday and continuing in following days as more votes are tallied. Look for them at chinookobserver.com or at www.facebook.com/ChinookObserver.

However the election turns out, let’s all remain united in our love of old railroad trains and everything else that makes Pacific County so special and unique. As always, the Chinook Observer is on the side of local people, and we greatly appreciate your support.