Train
Well, I don't know much about trains, other than they're big, loud, and powerful! But an important thing to know about a train is how far it travels after applying the brakes..... And in case you're wondering, it's a little more than a mile..... For most people, this is insignificant knowledge, because we never get close to trains, other than waiting for them to clear the road at a railroad crossing!
With that said, about 20 miles south of Neillsville, Wisconsin, there is the small resort town of Hatfield. It sits on the shore of beautiful Lake Arbutus, which is a reservoir of the Black River. At the south end of Lake Arbutus, there is a dam, which is spanned by a train truss bridge....
Now, this was (and still is, although rebuilt now) a long bridge, with railroad ties as it's main rail support across the bridge. Between the ties, there was only air. If you stood on the bridge, you could see the Black River far below through each tie. No handrails, no guard rails..... Hey, this is a train bridge!!!
So, of course, if you're a young, stupid kid, the first thing you want to do is walk all the way across the bridge, which to do so, you would have to proceed one tie at a time, until you were all the way across. A bit harrowing, to say the least! And if you made it across to the other side, the eastern shore of the Black River awaited you to explore! But then, to return home, you had to traverse the bridge again....
My friends and I did this occasionally in the summers, until one day, we started to walk back across the bridge to return home after a day of exploring the Black River. Then, suddenly, about halfway across the bridge, we heard it........ clack, clack, clack, clack........ Yup, around the corner, down the corridor of tall trees, came a train..... You can't run on the ties, so all you could do was keep moving ----- clack, clack, clack ---- step by step we moved closer to the end -- clack, clack, clack -- Then, the train blew it's whistle, and we could hear it's breaks squealing....
Well, we all made it back, but just barely! And I remember the conductor peering out the window at us in disgust as he cruised on by.... Yup, it was clear that by the time he saw us, he couldn't stop.... clack, clack, clack......
So I had to do a little song for that train and it's conductor, because I'm sure that in his world, the sound of the wheels clacking over each split in the rails lives on forever in his head...... clack, clack, clack!!! And in my world, I can still hear that train, with the breaks squealing, rolling up behind me on that bridge...... clack, clack, clack......