You asked http://www.trainweb.org/dhvm/about-web_master.htm :rolleyes2::rolleyes2::rolleyes2::rolleyes2:
Well shake the cobwebs off the old brain cells here. Funny I should run into this question, A question I was asked a few days ago. Not to sound like a Jerry Springer guest, It all started when I was a young child at the age of nine. My Uncle took me over to Roanoke Yards where he worked. And put me up in the cab of a GP-9 in yard service. Sat on his lap and drove the train, In a word WOW! as I got older I had heard stories of some of my family in the railroad bussiness. One stood out above the others Henry G. Davis and trips to Davis W.VA to see family. I had always liked the rugged scenery of that part of the state and the battle the Western Maryland fought with it every day. Well didn't do much about it for several years into music. Time laps twenty years, I stop at a train show meet and fall in with some guys in a model RR club out of Rockville, MD There I meet some guys who are into the WM and invited to join there outfit the Western Maryland Historical Society, I did. Then I came across the Hagerstown Round House Museum in 1991 and the National Railway Historical Society and I have been involved with them to this day. I really don't know why I love and have a deep passion for the Western Maryland, It's just something that is. Maybe it's because I am a ALCO hual ick...lol... I like other railroads The N&W, Great Northern, Western Pacific, and Santa Fe yet there is this special feeling for the Westerm Maryland.
Funny you should ask. I currently model the Boston & Maine because I grew up just a mile from the B&M NH mainline. Visiting the Hannah Dustin park to watch rebuilt GP9's was part of my childhood. As a modeler however, I could not find any B&M in HO, my scale of choice back then. As a result I chose the Santa Fe because who doesn't like a red and silver warbonnet? As I got older and switched to N I learned how to paint and did some B&M but continued my intrest in the Santa Fe, specifically the 1968 - 1972 era. When I met Tina in 1997, she had a keen intrest in the BN, so it was only logical to model the modern day BNSF after we were married in 1998. Technically I paint up BNSF stuff for her and I paint up B&M and CB&Q stuff for my layouts. Besides I can justify short B&M trains on my layout and long modern BNSF trains in an N-Trak setting. I have become interested in CB&Q thanks to Harry Grossman and the Galesburg connection and the fact I railfan the C&I. Someday when I model the C&I in N, I will try to convince the Mrs. That 1972 BN would be a lot more fun to model than modern BNSF!
When I was very young, 12 or so I got a Lionel set for Christmas. I lived all my life with my grandparents and my grand father was retired from the Burlington. Naturally I got a CB&Q geep 7 set. End of story? No. In 1965 I moved to San Antonio and there started the romance with the espee. I lived for a time in Converse, TX on the East edge of SA and right across the espee main line. During the ensuing 13 years I drove for Continental Trailways and in 1971 the only regular run I could hold was Del Rio to Van Horn, TX. all on US 90 which follows the espee main line for most of the 306 miles. I transported train crews between Del Rio and Sanderson, TX, Snaderson and Valentine, TX and Valentine to El Paso, TX. I even considered working for the railroad at one point when they were hiring fireman in 1972. The rest is history as they say. When I build my first layout 1n 1989 in Kansas City it was espee. I could see my dirty gray beauties in KC then. Now back in Texas and building my forth layout and having more espee rolling stock that the law should allow, well, Southern Pacific is still the road, I have toyed with the prospect of patching and creating a private road with used espee equipment. This possibly will happen in 2007. Doc
We used to ride the North Shore Line(C.N.S.& M)interurban frequently to Waukegan IL to visit family friends. I always liked the ride. I always like riding Chicago streetcars & the "L". We used to ride the Milwaukee Rd. to Wisconsin Dells on our family vacation(we didn't own a car) and that was in the days before Tommy Bartlett was there(mid 40's early 5o's). I lived,and still do, near the (former)Grand Trunk Western , MOF the Hayford siding(formerly the main line)is a couple hundred feet from my door. I always liked the C.B.&Q. too and eventually I worked for the BNSF. CT
Problem is, I grew up with several favorites Growing up in the Hudson Valley of NY I remember PC, then Conrail. Still like Conrail, but PC was still running the Wallkill and Catskill branches. Perfect scenery, light traffic, ideal for a model railroad. But I also spent my summers at our house in the Adirondacks near Tupper Lake, and the Adirondack division crossed our driveway to our place. Barely remember that, it was used sporadically. On the way up and back, we went through North Creek, so the D&H was a presence, too. Every time we went to my mom's family, we were along the Mohawk River, and to see my dad's side we were along the Hudson down to Cold Spring. So, I'm a big PC fan, Conrail, D&H, but also NH (Maybrook and the Poughkeepsie bridge nearby), B&M (rotterdam Junction), and later on in high school and college developed a love for the Rutland and Green Mountain?Vermont Railways. I alos recall MEC when we were on a trip to Maine in 77. I guess I like the Northeast. As a postscript, the NYOW ran to my hometown, and near an Aunt's house.
Growing up in Hackensack,N.J. with my bedroom window overlooking the Passack Valley line of EL.We moved to the that APT in 1968 & moved out in1974 to a house 2 towns over.
Visiting my father reguarly by rail since the age of about 13 was what got me started. This meant travelling via the East Coast Mainline. My interest in the UK railways has grown over the years and I've even managed to snare someone who has a love for all things rail related. (Stickymonk) This is very fortunate for me as I have him and Alan who I can share this with. Unlike others in the near vicinity who think a 26 year old woman who has an interest in railways must have a sandwich short :teeth:
I grew up sitting on the Laramie Avenue Bridge in Cicero Ill with my grandfather watching the freight cars go over the hump. When he worked, I would sit in his attic and watch switching on the Illinois Central yard just north of the Hawthorne race course. He would take me on train rides to Aurora and back on the old CB&Q E-units or L-train rides to the loop. Those were some of the greatest days of my life. So needless to say, the CB&Q is my favorite. One morning while visiting my in laws, my teenage daughter and I went for coffee and decided to watch the trains. While the number of trains was no where near what I saw with my grandfather, sitting by the tracks with her made me understand why my grandfather spent all the time he did watching with me. She enjoyed the trains and joins me on trips to railroad museums. So on Saturdays while visiting the in laws in Virginia , we have our coffee, watch the trains and get the chance to really talk about the things affecting her life. Therefore, I have developed a liking for the Norfolk Southern also.
I worked in Hackensack from 1977 to 1981. The last two years of that period I lived in an apt in Garfield. It was during that period that I became a Giants fan. Great pizza (and food in general) in that area. Ed (who misses his favorite pizza parlor......)
Seeing it so much in youth. Family (employee) ties. Knowing many who worked for it. Uniqueness. Yet, we lived by a branch line of another RR. (NPRY) Which also interests me.... Boxcab E50
I started with CSX because I saw CSX in action when I was just a little guy. I vaguely recall B&O and Chessie units (this would be 1987/88). I remained a CSX fan until the spring of 1997 when I spotted a B&O GP30 in the starburst scheme paired with a CSX GP40-2 while working the local jobs in my hometown. I was instantly hooked onto B&O. Since then I have learned to dislike CSX and have developed an interest in the New York Central, Western Maryland and the Seaboard Coast Line. The New York Central for the flashy passenger trains....i.e.20th Century Limited and Streamlined and two-tone grey passenger cars. Western Maryland for the raw coal-hauling routes of steep grades and spectacular scenery...and local history. Seaboard Coast Line and N&W...Railroading in the deep south. Influential interms of paint schemes and motive power...N&W had the Pittsburgh connection. I like a lot of the regional carriers of Past: Pittsburgh & Lake Erie Monongahela Davis Coal & Coke WATCO Appalachian & Ohio Pittsburgh & West Virginia West Virginia Northern And Present: West Virginia Central Wheeling & Lake Erie Union Railroad
My Great Grand Father worked for the Santa Fe, and used to take me to the station in Stockton, (a couple blocks from his home), to watch the passenger trains stop. The rest is history.
Hmm, Well, I fell in love with the Santa Fe when I first saw the Museum and Santa Fe layout at MSI and David Barrow's old Cat Mountain and Santa Fe Layout in Model Railroader. I grew up about a mile and a half from C&NW's 3 track main from Chicago to Proviso and points west. And a couple blocks from the Former WC/Soo/WC now CN line that connected to the B&o Chicago Terminal RR at Forest Park. Ironically, over Christmas, I only saw UP Diesels on the line. Anyway, the preceeding paragraph was intended to illustrate a fondness for the C&NW, Soo and WC. The Portland and Western was about a mile from my place in Beaverton Or and I'm not becoming interested in the SP just by osmosis.
Born and raised crossing the main line of the BNSF going to school here. I now live just a few blocks away from the tracks. Then when I was working at a farm service unloading rail cars. Now I drive to and from work on a road that runs along side serval miles of track I get to see a train about every other day or so.
My Mother's uncle was a civil engineer with the New York Central, so she had a love of trains from the git-go. She would "drag" me to the bluff overlooking the Harmon, NY Engine Terminal at least once a month to watch engines being changed between the Electric and Hudson Divisions. After WW-II I lived in Hoosick, NY for six years next to the B&M Fitchburg Division. Heavy freight traffic behind Maroon & Gold FT's and F2's every few hours, and the daily Minute Man round-trip between Boston and Troy. I even got to ride on the Minute Man when the equipment was #6000, B&M's equivalent to the Q's Pioneer Zephyr. Three times a week, a local freight came out of Mechanicsville, NY behind a teakettle, probably a Mogul, in which I often got cab rides. Once I got to "drive" it on the passing siding near town. My avatar says it all........:shade:
