ƒ/1.68 • 1/50 • 36.9mm • ISO26
October 2, 2026
Cycles on the Line
The clouds hang low, the air is mild,
A corridor of paved-over ground.
Where once a boy, unhurried, wild,
Chased frogs along the creek unbound.
Fifty years have slipped away,
Since iron rail and diesel steam
Held FJ&G in proud display,
Rolling through each childhood dream.
Pennies flattened on the track,
The heavy rumble through the shoes—
Now smooth black asphalt, curving back,
Replaces ties and engine crews.
A curious pup won’t once look back,
With dancing grasshoppers in sight;
She tracks the edge where leaves turn black,
Or maples blaze in autumn light.
One grove of trees, bare, gray, and tall,
Harkens November’s early chill,
While others cling to vibrant fall,
Before the winter takes the hill.
For life is cycles, time in flight,
Old rails reborn for quiet strolls—
The world renewed in mellow light,
As decades gently shape our souls.
Walking the Fonda, Johnstown and Gloversville (FJ&G) Rail Trail on a quiet, mild, overcast afternoon. For over a century, the FJ&G line was an industrial lifeline for our communities, carrying passengers and freight between the Mohawk Valley and the Adirondacks. Fifty years ago, this corridor rumbled with locomotives—leaving behind flat copper pennies and endless childhood adventures catching frogs by the creek.
Today, that historic right-of-way has found a peaceful second life as a paved rail trail. Where steel wheels once rolled, my pup is now utterly fascinated by grasshoppers leaping off the asphalt. Along the path, patches of bare branches already whisper of November, while neighboring trees blaze in early October brilliance. Life is a continuous series of cycles, ever-renewing as time and perspective shift.