Me, Mom and Dad at Osier having lunch.

My Mom, me, my brother, and Mr Hatch the engineer on the White Mountain Scenic Railroad.

My brother and I on the #476. A K-28 on the Durango & Silverton line.

Here we are boarding a GP-38 I believe. This is also on the White Mountain Scenic RR. I think the diesel was being used to move some passenger cars from one location to another. I remember the horn was very loud.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I remember my first glimpse of a model train when I was about 3 or 4. In the back room of our house my Dad had a layout. I don't remember what it looked like, except that the benchwork was very tall and I couldn't see without being held up. But, I remember thinking that it was really neat, and I was very curious about it.

Over the years we had several different layouts. Even if there was not much room for one my Dad always found some inventive way to set one up. The first was the one we had for our Lionel trains that was on a 4x8 sheet of particle board. It was on rollers so that it could be rolled out from under my bed. It also had a patchwork fix to the board. It broke in half when Dad was getting it out of the old, red Ford pick-up. I remember him being none to happy about that. But, I was thrilled to be able to run my very own trains around an oval track. Some years later we built an HO layout on another 4x8 sheet. This one was really cool. It was located on the wall next to my bed. It folded down out of the wall and was supported by posts inserted in pockets under the board. Also in the wall mounting were shelves for tools, rolling stock, etc...

While we lived in Tucson my Dad was a member of SASME (Southern Arizona Society of Model Engineers). They had what I recall to be a huge layout in the old Tucson Train Depot. I can remember watching in wonder at the trains going around that layout. My Dad's best friend was also a member of that club. Somehow he and my Dad became good friends with Bob Echols the conductor of the Arizona White Mountain Scenic Railroad that ran out of McNary, AZ. That was my first introduction to real live steam engines. And, I was hooked. They were amazing iron beasts. With a fire in their bellies and belching smoke and steam. You could feel their presence. Not just a machine, but a living, breathing beast of power and might. We went up there several times that I recall. On one trip I got to ride in the cab of one of the steam engines. What an amazing thing that was to a boy of 4 or 5. And, I can still feel the heat from the fire and steam. Then, on another trip up there my Dad painted both steam engines and the caboose in one weekend. I can still remember the smell of the black paint mixed with odors of the oil, grease and steam of the engines.

In the Summer of 1971 the family took a long vacation up to Colorado. During that trip we rode both the Cumbres and Toltec Scenic Railway and the Durango Silverton Narrowgauge . That is when I fell in love with narrowgauge steam engines. They were small and compact. Yet they were filled with a presence of immense strength and courage. They are the true little engines that could. And, today they still do.

I never would have been able to experience such wonderful places and events if it weren't for my Dad. So, thanks Dad for always answering my questions, for always taking the time to help and encourage me, and for always being my train buddy. And now, even though we are miles apart we can still share our railroading experiences through the magic of Trainz.