Ghost on the Tracks

On my way towards Pueblo on U.S. 50 I took a 15 mile detour to Tampas, Colorado.

Tampas is the site of the "Ghost on the Tracks," a short story in Spooky Southwest, a young adults book published by Globe Pequot Press.

But my interest is really owing to the fact that Paul Hoffman -- who has done the Planning Commissioners Journal's cover illustrations since our very first issue in 1991 -- is the illustrator for the Spooky series of books (i.e., Spooky Pennsylvania, Spooky California, etc).

And I love his illustration of this tale.

So there you have it, a detour off U.S. 50 so I could see if there's really a rail line running through Tampas. And, yes, there is.

What's more, I could almost imagine that it's a place where ghosts might roam the tracks (though it's actually fairly flat terrain).

"The train rumbled around Jake as he adjusted the throttle. ... Then he gasped as the lights picked up the figure of a beautiful woman with long red-gold hair and wonderful blue eyes. She was standing near the tracks. Too near! He sounded the horn to warn her away. She would be killed! Why didn't she run."

Paul Hoffman illustration, from Spooky Southwest: Tales of Hauntings, Strange Happenings, and Other Local Lore, retold by S. E. Schlosser. Globe Pequot Press, 2004. Illustration reprinted with permission.

p.s., you can see some of Paul's illustrations for the Planning Commissioners Journal by browsing through our web site.

photos in Tampas, Colorado, taken on Sunday, June 24th

Comments

[Bob Eichenberg]

Wayne,
I've been keeping up when I can and thoroughly enjoy your postings. It reminds me what a diverse planning community exists in our country and yet we are all working on similar issues and bring along our planning exptertise to hopefully insure that big-picture perspective gets included in the analysis. Keep up the good work!!
Bob Eichenberg