MICHELE NORRIS, Host:
Now, another sound of summer from one of our listeners. This one takes us back to hot days in Michigan.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
KELLY MORGAN: My name is Kelly Morgan. I'm a physician living in Lansing, Michigan, not far from Battle Creek, also known as the Cereal Capital of the World. I grew up there and the sounds of summer I remember were those of a locomotive-burdened town.
(SOUNDBITE OF TRAINS)
MORGAN: Long trains crossing dozens of intersections, as they would weave through our city, feeding the town with nutrients for cereal production.
(SOUNDBITE OF TRAINS)
MORGAN: For the drivers stuck at the passages, the clang, clang, clang of the numerous crossing gates would give way to children arguing in the back seats of waiting cars, dogs barking at other dogs, and grandmothers swearing at the locomotive moving slower than a snail's pace.
(SOUNDBITE OF TRAINS AND BELLS)
MORGAN: On a bad day, a 262-car train would stop in front of our vehicle and my siblings and I would have only counted 131 cars. The train would back up to car 62, move inches and halt in front of our station wagon where it would remain at a dead stop for 30 minutes.
(SOUNDBITE OF A TRAIN)
MORGAN: With summer now here, the complex sounds of a slow-moving locomotive take me back to the wondrous time where music and voices flowed from waiting cars, factories buzzed and a city sat patiently with the air smelling of cereal sweetness.
MORGAN: Listener Kelly Morgan with her memories of summer sounds in Battle Creek, Michigan. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.