About seven years ago, Corey Ward '26 stumbled across a worn box in a closet that had belonged to his late grandfather. When Ward looked inside, he found an old passion that for too long had been collecting dust. Not anymore...
The Saratoga Corinth & Hudson Railway (SC&H) transports passengers through the gorgeous Southern Adirondacks countryside and blissfully through time. As the vintage railcars chug along the steel tracks, passengers – who can choose from a variety of themed rides – can't help but feel nostalgic for the era just before Henry Ford's Model T. There's even a "passenger conductor" (think Tom Hanks in the Polar Express) who collects tickets and entertains the travelers. On the SC&H, his name is Corey – and this is his dream job.
"I bring the good vibes. I gather the tickets; I tell stores about the train line. It's amazing. I do feel like I'm living in my dreamland."
Or, if you get the reference, living on the Island of Sodor. Ward grew up, like so many kids, with Thomas the Tank Engine (& his many friends). At the same time, his grandfather was stoking the coal burning fire of Ward's budding train obsession. Ward's grandfather ran Lionel model trains in his home and Ward was often an imaginary passenger on a grand adventure. But over time, other hobbies and other interests competed for his attention, and trains were scarcely a part of Ward's life when his grandfather passed away in 2017. A year later, though, he found that box in the closet.
"It was full of my grandfather's old Lionel trains. At the time, I really enjoyed making YouTube videos, so I decided to set up some tracks and post a video."
That video led to a YouTube channel, R's Trains! (the 'R' is for Robert, Ward's grandfather), which now has more than 6,000 subscribers. And with the success of the channel and the nostalgia of running his grandfather's trains, Ward's rekindled passion was full-steam ahead.
A few years later, right after his high school graduation, Ward traveled with his parents through seven different states and visited 11 railroads. Months later, Ward discovered (by piecing together clues) that a new scenic train ride business was planning to launch out of Corinth, NY. Ward tracked down the SC&H owner just days before their grand opening and talked himself into a job as a passenger conductor on the spot.
"I had to get the whole uniform together in about two days. It's so fun getting to share my love of trains with other people, and each day, you never know what passengers you're going to meet. It's been a dream job come true."
For the past four years, he's also been working on his future job/career while commuting to Siena from Ballston Lake. Ward is a visual art design major with minors in marketing and multi-media design. When his boss at SC&H found out Ward's skillset extends far beyond trains and hospitality, he put him to work in a different way. Ward now does graphic design work for SC&H, and that's led to design work for other railways.
"I've always considered myself a creative person. It's fun to blend my passion for trains with my graphic design and photography. I made a rail yard sign for Finger Lakes Railway and I designed a hoodie for the Berkshire and Eastern Railroad."
Siena's visual art design program has given Ward the chance to sharpen his skills with projects close to his heart. Last year, for his capstone, Ward completed a coffee table photo book, Rails and Reflections, that's more than 100 pages. He'd like to publish it and sell it, and when he graduates, he'll look for full-time graphic design work, if not for a railway (that seems unlikely), then for a major car manufacturer or something automobile related (Ward doesn't hold a grudge against the mode of transportation that drove scenic rail travel in this country into novelty).
In the meantime, he'll continue to collect tickets and mingle with passengers on the SC&H, while following his and his grandfather's passion on train lines near and far (last summer, he visited heritage railroads in Europe). If you're wondering, Ward's favorite train is the Norfolk and Western 611. It's one of the last mainline passenger steam locomotives built in the U.S. As Ward points out, "It looks like a big, sleek, black bullet." His grandfather had a model of the "Queen of Steam" and Ward took that model with him to see the real thing. It's too bad Ward's grandfather never saw the YouTube channel or got to take a ride on the SC&H. But there's also beauty in that. The people who matter never really leave us, sometimes a reminder (like a model train hidden in a box) is all we need.