Since my dad and grandad were mainstays with the Missouri Pacific Railroad, I've always had a soft spot in my heart for everything trains, much more so than the average boy who loves trains.

When I was young and living in Brigham City, Utah, I used to skip school and go out to the gravel pits to watch the Union Pacific trains go by, often letting the big wheels of the train smash a penny or nickel as they went by with the engineer yelling and shaking his fist at me. I guess he knew what I was doing -- LOL.

Now that I'm a big boy -- physically, at least -- I still love trains, and with my new Canon Rebel XSi camera, I can now trespass on railroad property without trespassing on railroad property. Recently I decided to trespass on the property for the San Diego Trolley:

I've been mesmerized by the Trolley since I came to San Diego in 1993 because it runs not on diesel fuel like the engines I grew up with, but on electricity that it acquires from overhead wires called "catenary."

In some areas of the country, commuter trains use a third rail, which is electrified, quite common for underground subway systems like Washington, D.C., and New York City. In other areas trains run on diesel gasoline outside of city limits and then switch to catenary electric power inside the city limits. In a certain since that makes sense because diesel fuel contributes to pollution. However, in another sense it's kind of ironic because the catenary is considered visual pollution by many, which already is a significant problem in many cities.

Where do you get your energy? Do you have a source for morning energy, afternoon energy, and evening energy, or do you rely on the same energy to get you through each day, seven days a week?

NOTE ***** NOTE

Remember to join the "Inspired By Nature" Group.
We'll be having a contest momentarily.

Helpful blog posts for ActiveRain newbies (I guess you know they'll open in a new window)

1. How the system works and working the system, or Active Rain point values that I know about
2. How to get 500 points with your ActiveRain success story
3. Do you have some commercials for your business?
4. Free help for Active Rain newbies
5. 10 ways to get a featured post at ActiveRain
6. How to keep people from reading your Active Rain blog
7. How do you get people to comment on your blog?
8. Using Active Rain more effectively by finding Power Partners
9. Quit putting huge, gigantic, monster pictures in your blog. Now! (Help on resizing them)
10. Using YouTube videos without slowing down page loading
11. Don't forget to remember how Active Rain supports you indirectly
12. How to use the Active Rain system more efficiently
13. How do you choose a subject for your blog posts?

Need help with marketing? Join the Guerrilla Marketing Tactics Group.

Inspired by nature? Join the Inspired By Nature Group.

Classical music lover? Join the Classical Music Group.

Want to share a good book? Join the Active Rain Book Club