I had just slipped into bed when I heard it. I muted the TV and stopped to tune my ears to the sound. There are some noises no one wants to hear at bedtime — a dripping faucet, a beeping smoke alarm or a scream. But on this night, there was nothing scary about the noise. In fact, it was a welcome sound.

I turned to my husband and asked him, “did you hear it?” With a smile, he answered yes.

Now that the trees surrounding our homestead are naked, we could hear the sound of a train lumbering through Martins Ferry. Its whistle reaffirmed what we already surmised. Even though we live miles from those East Ohio tracks, our home high above Ohio County allows us to hear the trains.

My husband’s boyhood home in South Wheeling was located adjacent to train tracks. He and his brother can pretty much identify all the sounds associated with an oncoming train. Their father fueled their interest and love of trains with a yearly holiday train display. That interest remains high today with both of them and several grandchildren.

My dad also had a fascination with toy trains. His youth was spent watching trains roll through Wheeling and later, he rode them to places near and far. It was a train that took a young soldier off to World War II and, thankfully, back home again.

There is something soothing about that rumble of steel wheels connecting to the tracks. It’s an adult train lover’s lullaby. I imagine if you live near a train track it could be annoying, but that’s not how we see or hear it.

I never realized how many train lovers there are in this country until we took a few nostalgic rides in West Virginia and Pennsylvania on some older steam trains. There are usually long lines or sold-out tickets for these kinds of short, day excursions. And you can’t beat the Cass Railroad for some fun and trips back into time.

We have not yet explored the modern train trips available in several parts of this country, but judging by a recent Uniglobe travel show, there are plenty of people interested in those excursions.

Remember that old TV commercial that declared “See the USA in your Chevrolet?” Well I think the USA would look even better from a seat on a train. I can hear that whistle now.

Heather Ziegler can be reached via email at hziegler@theintelligencer.net.