How did you come to choose your particular railroad or era?

[Deleted]

I thought we could start this topic rather than have other threads like the poll about which model one would prefer to buy stray too far.

I won't get offended at all if this particular thread strays a little bit; maybe this way the others could remain cleaner.

How did you come to choose your particular railroad or era?

In my own personal case there are so many different railroads, time periods, and models that I like such that I sometimes struggle to discipline myself to stick to any one particular railroad or era, except that I know I'm really a southwestern railroad fan at heart who has occasionally strayed into the northeast (where I actually live).  I'm just trying to buy what I like now and be happy.

There are no wrong responses here, and I won't judge anybody.  Thank you all.

[Frank]

Grew up watching a shortline in action, saw that plenty in real time. Was always curious about what it was like before they took over, thus 1970’s era Seaboard Coast Line it was as the era and railroad. Of course, I love SCL dearly but the bumblebee scheme doesn’t allow a whole lot of variety so there’s a bit of wiggle into the late 1960’s split image schemes, ACL stuff, and a dash of Seaboard System. Late 1960’s allows for some Frisco and Union Pacific intrusions for mainline trains. Alabama is nearly a black hole for SCL outside the Birmingham area so the challenge of finding materials from the southeast portion of the state is half the fun.

[NYSW3614]

I was born (in 1979) in (and raised in) Central New York and model the Lackawanna that ran through the area where I grew up at it was in the mid/late 1950s.

Chose that era because because there's more activity, period rolling stock is generally easily found, and most of the rolling stock works well on smaller layouts. I would have considered steam era or at least transition but brass is beyond my budget and major kitbashing is beyond my skills. I have a few pieces that don't fit the period but the line still- some EL and NYSW for example.

Joshua

[riogrande]

Due to the Air Force stationing my father to Travis Air Force Base in northern California in 1969, I was raised there and in Davis to the north. So I got to watch the SP with lots of SD45's and tunnel motors, of which I am a fan of. However I made some trips to Colorado in my college years and became fascinated with the D&RGW - early 1980's. I liked that the RR was small enough to understand the roster of loco's and rolling stock and the scenery is great for layout building. I also like the variety of the late 70's and early 80's. Of course cabooses were still in use, piggy back was prominent, and there were the colorful per diem boxcars in trains. Lumber traffic, coal and passenger service - Rio Grande Zephyr. I can also run the Amtrak California Zephyr starting in summer of 1983.

As for HO rolling stock, D&RGW was an all EMD roster after the mid 1960's and pretty much everthing they used is available in HO for my period of interest (F9's, SW1000, SW1200, GP7/9's, GP30, GP35, GP40, GP40-2, SD7/9's, SD40T-2, SD45, SD50)

[crblue]

So I grew up in Pennsylvania, and then I found out that there's a railroad called the Pennsylvania Railroad. And they had steam engines!!! I was probably in the single digits when I made the connection, and decided that they were the best railroad ever!!!

I've since expanded - The SPSF had a really neat color scheme, and the Powhatan Arrow looks pretty cool but mostly I've dabbled in what I can see, which is some form of Conrail, NS, NEC Amtrak, and (when I get in my time machine) the PRR with their fancy GG1's and K4's and whatnot.

So while I tend to jump between NS and Conrail (less Conrail because it's wasn't as common in models until a few years ago), I've found I have a reliable roster of transition era PRR and late 90's/early 2000's era Amtrak stuff that sticks around.

[cemr5396]

I think the majority of people model what they knew growing up, or what was around them in their early days of railfanning, if they are into that kind of thing.

I know that I fit that to a "t", at the very least.

Based on the impression I get from the rest of the members, I think it is probably a fairly safe bet to say I am one of the youngest people here. I model Western Canada, mostly CN and CP (with just a smidge of BNSF) from 2010-20, with the real sweet spot being the latter half of that. I've always loved trains (growing up across the street from the tracks will do that) but that is when I got my first car and was able to start going railfanning on a regular basis. It was a cool time to be trackside, SD40-2s and SD60s were still common on mainline trains but the newer power was starting to come in and slowly take over. Plus, there were still more older (70s-80s) freight cars around then there are now.

If it wasn't for the fact that I want to model some of that newer power, like CN and CP Heritage units and CP's SD70ACUs and AC4400CWMs, I would move my time period back by 5 years, and that would open the door to all kinds of older stuff that was not around any more in my current era. But I can't have it both ways, as it is keeping disciplined about my era/location and what I buy is the only thing keeping me from blowing way over my modeling budget. I can't really afford to add another 5 years on to what I am already doing.

[Christian]

May 12, 2023 7:38:17 GMT -8 cemr5396 said:

Based on the impression I get from the rest of the members, I think it is probably a fairly safe bet to say I am one of the youngest people here.

Conversely, I'm one of the oldest. Running contrary to conventional wisdom I'm not modeling what I saw growing up. A kid with asthma isn't particularly fond of steam locomotives! But, from the get go when I started this hobby in Cub Scouts I have been modeling the same area—the stretch of western Illinois between the Illinois River on the east and the Mississippi on the West. Billiard table flat but with sudden drops off the bluffs of the rivers. But I'm not prototype modeling. Just using the idea of the area. And I've stuck to the same location since Cub Scouts!

The era has changed. I started with a WWII concept which didn't last long. I discovered narrow gauge in high school. I set my Illinois Transfer Company in the summer of 1940. I used concepts from the Wabash, EBT, and The Bellevue & Cascade. In 1984 I was overwhelmed by all the SD40-2 modeling articles and the idea of modeling present-day railroads. I experimented with a couple of construction articles from Model Railroader. I boxed up my narrow gauge and have been modeling 1984 railroads since. Of course, 1984 is now much farther back in history than was that pre-WWII narrow gauge!

[rockfan]

Rock Island ran through our town so that's how I decided to model RI.

And when we moved a few years later, we moved 10 miles away and Rock Island ran through our new town.

[Deleted]

I have only very vague memories of one time passing by Allentown and/or Bethlehem during the mid 70's to visit relatives in Quakertown. I had a several second long glimpse of Reading C630's alive and in the flesh. Upon college graduation in 1992, I took a road trip with a friend and actually got to see CP Rail MLW M-636's alive and running (and rows of former BCR dead Alco/MLW's outside GE's plant)...Otherwise most of my childhood/teen/college years memories are of Altoona from Spring 1988 to Spring 1989, where I saw a whole lot of ex-EL SD45-2 helper units, and walked through the deadlines at East Juniata...only the freight car deadlines--we avoided the locos due to not wanting to excite the RR police. 

With only limited railfanning of Juniata/Altoona/Cresson and Newberry Junction (where in the 1980's one could just drive in and they really didn't hassle you if you didn't stay too long), it was easy for me to like the far-flung western roads far away from here.

My crazy friend from Altoona had actually walked the whole way through one of the Gallitzen tunnels.  I do not recall having done that myself, maybe entered the entrance...but we did have a way of getting around to the back side of the tunnels that I just do not remember now.

[grahamline]

It was contemporary modeling when I started in the 1970s. Southeast Idaho had a good blend of mainline, secondary main and branchline operations and it was easy to get to know some of the railroaders. I grew up around the DT&I and New York Central, went to school with railroaders' kids, but it was living along the UP that lit the lamp.

[jonklein611]

I model mainly passenger trains. Most of those are ones I've ridden on or that I found interesting.

For future layout modeling, I foresee a V&O type freelance based on a few locations I've lived in with a branch line based on the Montour Railroad (near my hometown).

[timvanmersbergen]

Once I got a car and some freedom to explore, the Northwest corner of Illinois along the Mississippi River became a favorite destination. Not just for railfanning but also for camping, hiking, and general exploring.

In 1988 I hired out for a time on the Chicago and NorthWestern. One would think this experience would've sent me into that camp but I became almost too familiar with the prototype to consider it, especially with the material available to work with back then.

What that experience did do was to get my imagination going. While working, I preferred the newest equipment we had but I enjoyed the history of the old stuff we still had running around. It had character. The idea germinated while waiting at signals; why not model when those were new, in my favorite location? Some digging into history and sealed the deal for modeling the CB&Q, IC, and CGW along the Mississippi.

I still visit my prototype and take inspiration from what is still there as well as what used to be.

Tim VanMersbergen

[ambluco]

1987. Alcos, EMDs, and GEs still plugging around NYS on the Class 1s. Although the D&H C420 were on their way out.

[ictom]

I grew up just north of Memphis, a half-mile from the Illinois Central double-track mainline.  I've modeled Illinois Central ever since.

[Deleted]

Partly as a result of some of you-alls comments I just repatriated a Bowser NYSW C-430 from consignment in a local store, where it had not generated much interest and had not sold.

[edwardsutorik]

Chapter One:

Back in the early sixties, I developed a hankering for a big steam engine. So I thumbed through the PFM catalog, and found two candidates. One was a Santa Fe 2-10-2, the other a Great Northern 4-8-4. Same price--$55. The tie breaker was that the GN engine came painted and lettered.

And that's how I came to be a GN modeler. For about 15 years. Until Chapter Two.



Ed

[drsvelte]

I just repatriated a Bowser NYSW C-430 from consignment in a local store

Well, you made a pretty astute decision.  These are just great looking (and running) models:

[oldmuley]

I grew up in Green Bay in the 70's and 80's, so I got to watch a lot of GBW and FRVR action. By the time I really got interested in modeling trains from a prototypical perspective, the Wisconsin Central was in its heyday. It's what I saw and had easy access to, so those roads kinda stuck.

[fr8kar]

The men in my mom's side of the family chose one of three professions: run the family farm, join the military or work for the railroad. So that's how it came to be that my military brat parents met and moved to Texas. On vacations my brother and I would find ourselves close to the BN anytime we visited relatives up north, whether that was riding in a speeder, putting around in a switch engine or seeing the big shops in Havre up close (SD40-2s, SD45s and F45s, oh my!).

Back home in Texas my dad and his dad were willing to take us to any of the various railroad hot spots around town. We got cab rides and saw the view from the yardmaster's tower and climbed on the cabooses and took lots of bad photos. Incidentally that view from the tower looked pretty familiar when I was a student conductor since I'd been in that same seat 20-something years earlier.

But in those lazy days of summer I'd ride my bike to either the Cotton Belt or Mopac-Katy joint line (which crossed each other a few miles away from my house) and catch my fill of trains headed out of town or lining up to get through Tower 55. If it wasn't too hot I'd ride to Saginaw where the FW&D met and crossed the Santa Fe and Oklahoma-Kansas-Texas' former Rock Island line in the shadows of some giant elevators. There was always lots of action there, and still is (the 24 hours of Saginaw is an annual railfan event), though it will change since the diamonds are being replaced by turnouts at the moment.

Mom lived in Fort Worth, dad lived in Dallas, and grandpa lived in Arlington so I got to see all the colors of the 70s and 80s as many railroads merged into a few. Intermodal was coming into its own and we had piggyback ramps in Fort Worth and Dallas. It seemed like you could throw a rock and hit three Trinity plants so there were always new railcars being built and riding the rails in numerical order and sparkling clean. Grain and coal trains were moving from points north to the port or to power plants around Houston, San Antonio, Corpus Christi or Austin.

All of this to say that period when the big UP-WP-MP and NS* mergers had happened but not much had been repainted, SP and Rio Grande hadn't come together yet and Katy was still hanging on for life while KCS took over anything Santa Fe was willing to give them -- that time period -- that's what I remember as the best time for running to the tracks to see what was going to come by next. Because you never knew. It really could be anything.

I think Tim mentioned liking running the latest and greatest even though that might not be what he liked to model. Same here! Most of the stuff I like to model I turn my nose up to when I've had to operate it. Give me a 70MAC or a GEVO to run any day, but I wouldn't have a model of one. I can't explain it. I'm just not interested.

But what I do love is that I get to run trains in my modeled area even if it isn't the best era. Having some kind of reverence for it and knowledge that it can be better because it has been better is what gets me through the PSR nightmare that is my job.

* NS, Conrail and what would become CSX power found its way here by way of Houston, Texarkana, New Orleans and Kansas City regularly, so it really was possible to see anything.

[el3625]

I grew up very close to Cambridge Springs Pennsylvania (halfway point between Chicago and New York) as a kid and young adult and always watched the Erie Lackawanna blow through town on one of the main tracks. I still live in the area yet. I had relatives that lived between Union City and Corry and the main line went right through the back of their property, so I always was watching EL trains. They had the best, colorful paint on their locomotives and those huge SD45's, SD45-2's and SDP45's were awesome. I just fell in love with the EL and have been modeling it since 1970. Nothing looked more beautiful than a set of EL locomotives going through the countryside in NW PA and the Southern Tier of NY with all of the fall colors, just breathtaking. I was hooked! I still think the Erie Lackawanna had the best paint ever, even if it came from the Lackawanna RR. And thank you Athearn for doing those huge locomotives in EL, they look great on my layout so I can relive my youth!

Bruce

[Baikal]

May 12, 2023 6:49:53 GMT -8 @atsf5398 said:

How did you come to choose your particular railroad or era?

I grew up near the SP,  UP, and ATSF near Los Angeles but modeled Milwaukee Road for the most part.  The electrifed operations were a big draw.  Also modeled a variety of unrelated locos just because they looked cool. Always within an approx 1968-1974 period though.

Over the last 20 years I've settled on the SP (old hometown favorite) and back-dated to 1961-65, having gotten rid of almost everything that doesn't conform.  For now, I have an urban switching layout that allows my to avoid comiting to a specific locale. I lean towrn the LA area because that's where I grew up, but modeling a ficticious Texas small town served by TNO, ATSF, and FW&D is tempting.

For 10 years I've had an itch to model SAL/SCL and L&N (Birmingham area?) but have always resisted.  I'm a L&N Historical Society member, probably as far as it will go.

If conifers could be modeled convincingly en masse, I might be modeling the SP&S and SP in Portland suburban-Wilammette Valley late-60s. But thay can't...

[edwardsutorik]

May 12, 2023 18:06:03 GMT -8 Baikal said:

If

[/b] conifers could be modeled convincingly en masse, I might be modeling the SP&S and SP in Portland suburban-Wilammette Valley late-60s. But thay can't...
[/quote]

They can. I visited a layout in a museum in Wenatchee back around 1980. It was COVERED with them conifers. They were based on some weed-like thing that our tour guide took pains not to reveal.

Might be the wrong type, I suppose.

Whole hillsides of the damn things, though.......







Ed

[Baikal]

May 12, 2023 19:29:42 GMT -8 edwardsutorik said:

May 12, 2023 18:06:03 GMT -8 Baikal said:

If conifers could be modeled convincingly en masse, I might be modeling the SP&S and SP in Portland suburban-Wilammette Valley late-60s. But thay can't...

They can. I visited a layout in a museum in Wenatchee back around 1980. It was COVERED with them conifers. They were based on some weed-like thing that our tour guide took pains not to reveal.

Might be the wrong type, I suppose.

Whole hillsides of the damn things, though.......

Ed

[/quote][/div]

-----------------------------------

The trees in the photo don't look good.  There are models out there that look much better, but even those aren't realistic compared to most deciduous model trees. The scene doesn't look like anywhere in the Pacific NW, which has a dozen or so different ecosystems, with different types of conifers & associated undergrowth & other plants.  And the more "open" types of conifirs, often 80' tall or taller, as foreground trees are very hard and time-consuming to model.  Even then, most look fake.

I think this is also a reason you don't see many people modeling the Southeastern or Southern Plains (aka vast flat parts of the southeast), which are covered with tall pines and other conifers.

Massed canopy deciduous forest (like northern Appalachians, as seen on many layouts) is easier to model.

[lars]

May 12, 2023 9:09:43 GMT -8 @atsf5398 said:

My crazy friend from Altoona had actually walked the whole way through one of the Gallitzen tunnels.  I do not recall having done that myself, maybe entered the entrance...but we did have a way of getting around to the back side of the tunnels that I just do not remember now.

The eastern portals are adjacent to state game lands and are relatively easy to access from some dirt roads, with a couple of paths leading to the portals.  I was stopped by NS police on said gamelands a couple years ago; evidently I went through NS property to get on some other trails.

[lars]

May 12, 2023 17:07:24 GMT -8 el3625 said:

I grew up very close to Cambridge Springs Pennsylvania (halfway point between Chicago and New York) as a kid and young adult and always watched the Erie Lackawanna blow through town on one of the main tracks. I still live in the area yet. I had relatives that lived between Union City and Corry and the main line went right through the back of their property, so I always was watching EL trains. They had the best, colorful paint on their locomotives and those huge SD45's, SD45-2's and SDP45's were awesome. I just fell in love with the EL and have been modeling it since 1970. Nothing looked more beautiful than a set of EL locomotives going through the countryside in NW PA and the Southern Tier of NY with all of the fall colors, just breathtaking. I was hooked! I still think the Erie Lackawanna had the best paint ever, even if it came from the Lackawanna RR. And thank you Athearn for doing those huge locomotives in EL, they look great on my layout so I can relive my youth!

Bruce

I’ve watched a ton of YouTube videos from Don Rohauer - a lot from the 80’s in western NY.  I’m totally blown away by what you could see back then.  Chessie, D&H Alcos on big trains, NYSW (with more Alcos) on Sea Land stack trains, Conrail, NW.  It’s easy to see why that area is so interesting.

[lars]

I grew up within eyesight of Conrail’s ex-PRR mainline from the 80’s til the end, so I have always been a fan of Conrail and the PRR.

However, I’ve had many influences outside of what I saw everyday. Annual trips to the Midwest made me a fan of CNW and grain elevators; biking the Great Allegheny Passage and visiting the Western PA Model Railroad Museum has always piqued an interest in the B&O; articles in Trains and Model Railroader generated an interest in Vermont railroads.

Time-wise, my major interests lie from roughly 1970-95. I really love the technicolor era of the 70’s for its paint and graphics. I really like the 80’s intermodal era of 45’ railroad-lettered trailers on 89’ flats and my interest in intermodal drops off with 53’ trailers and stack trains. I put 1995 at the other end of the spectrum as I feel it’s a starting point for the “modern” era. UP-CNW kicked off the last big round of mergers, AC started taking it’s hold, pushing out 2nd generation units and 1st generation stragglers, 286k cars brought bigger boxcars and covered hoppers, operating interlocking towers and legacy signals could be found, and graffiti was rarely seen.

What I’ve decided to model is based on Conrail’s Cove Secondary, now the Everett RR in the early 90’s. For a long time I was looking for inspiration from the Midwest, but hadn’t found anything to closely model. Once I started working in the area and learning the line, I really started to develop a fondness for it. Instead of grain elevators, there are 3-4 feed mills to model. There was also a paper mill, which is another favorite source of traffic. If you look at everything I mentioned the Cove really connects all the dots of what I grew up with (Conrail), grain traffic, and Vermont-style small-time railroading in a time that’s rather interesting to me.

If I ever went big, it would be Chessie or early CSX era B&O. I really like geeps and nothing says technicolor more than Chessie. Match that with 89’ TOFC, auto racks and 60’ auto parts boxes and I would be in heaven (and broke)!

[kentuckysouthernrwy]

Grew up in the 50s in small industrial Albion, MI. Still small. It is located on the once two track Michigan Central/New York Central. Steam, Lightning bolts and cigar bands. A former Lake Shore and Michigan Southern branch bisected the town, NYC but somehow seperated, on paper, kept a SW1 and little wood low rider caboose to work the industrial area. Travel in those days was made up of quick, as fast as Fred could drive, trips before the Interstate System to South GA where the maternal grands lived on super rural back in the sticks, no central plumbing zip zero nada to do but relearn Southern English, y'all and to eat grits. The first night out we'd stay at a motel in Corbin, KY within earshot of the L&N yard, listening to the 5 note mellow horns and galumping idle of Alco FA and RS locomotives. Off at first light along US25W(?) included a 20-30 mile stretch that included views of the L&N mountain rail line toward Jelico, TN. If lucky we'd see a train, if not we'd just listen to our mother grumble...once recall seeing a head on crash between two trains I've never seen or heard any mention of anywhere. Later life drew me as far from childhood parental influence as possible. I took vacations to the Corbin and east to Harlan, Hazard, Loyall, etc. I became enamored of photos by Ron Flanary of Eastern KY. Liked Southern Green, so decided to model a Eastern Ky coal hauler based on the area, Alcos, and Rule 1 allows me to flex my 1950s like to 1960s like or what ever the heck I want. Had an aunt in Jacksonville, FL that had the ACL run behind her house and loved "Purple Trains" and a spell of learning economics bought 4 shares of Union Pacific stock and enjoyed their terrific calenders and annual reports full of great photos, 'splains the GTEL Big Blow and long string of yellow/silver box cars like the staged pix in the stockholder packets. Oh, and quarterly checks for $0.24

So my interest has a fleet of Alco FAs, RS-3s, PAs, RSD-15 'gators, and RS-32s in various iterations of Green. A NYC branch with a couple FAs, cigar band and lightning bolt and small branch line the Big Creek and Ebeneezer named for the two burial grounds within a walk of the maternal farm in deep S Gawgah...y'all. A pair of Alco 4-6-6-4 Challengers, NYC pax and various Rule one just because I want to.

Oh, yeah, ex and I took a trip to LA on the newly minted Amtrak, still 100% ATSF equiped, "downgraded" to Warbonnet F units, Super Chief, combined with the El Capitan tagging along behind. So I have a set of the El Cap train and a pair of, of course, PA units for that. Never did get the Super Chief cars or any Fs.

Also am an L&N Historical Member. Ron Flanery still rules with great photos he's now posted to the big railroad website that's name slips my senior mind at the moment...the main yard on my layout is Royal Yard and the W end is the Carbon, KY yard.

Thats my tale...

[Christian]

May 13, 2023 5:17:46 GMT -8 kentuckysouthernrwy said:

y'all and to eat grits.

A big dish of buttered grits is just like heaven. Particularly with a side of biscuits, country ham, and gravy.

Hummm. I wonder if there is a Waffle House near me? You'd think I could smell one from here.


Footnote for the youngins on the list - My wife's parents installed indoor plumbing for our wedding. 1970. They were neither rural nor Southern.

[wagnersteve]

My earliest rail-related memory, dating probably to before I was a year old, is of riding an "old fashioned" (non-PCC) Philadelphia Transportation Company streetcar through a cemetery to get to Wyoming Avenue with my parents to get to my third set of grandparents -- our family history was very complicated. I lived in part of northeastern Philadelphia until we moved to a suburb just west of the city in 1953. My Dad didn't learn to drive or buy a car until 1960, so all in my immediate family rode various kinds of public transportation regularly, and I in particular also did a great deal of walking. The railroad I encountered most often was the PRR. Saw quite a bit of the Reading. My first long solo trip, mostly by rail as far as St. Louis, was mostly on the B&O, in 1963. Also have ridden on the NH, Milwaukee Road, Illinois Central, Canadian National, Grand Trunk Western, and several interurban lines, plus various tourist roads. However, nearly every summer in the 1950s my family used public transit to Philly's 30th Street Station, then rode the PRR to Penn Station in NYC, rode two subway lines to Grand Central Terminal, then the New York Central along the Hudson to Albany, then continuing on the D&H to Whitehall, NY, where one of my uncles who'd driven up there earlier would meet us and take us over a mountain road to Hulett's Landing on Lake George. We stayed in a rented cottage for a few summers and then camped for more on one of several islands. My early impression was that the PRR ran fast, the Central had nice coaches with big windows and great views of the Hudson, and the D&H had cold water.

I and a younger brother had a 027 layout with a cheap Marx set and a cheap Lionel one until we switched to HO about 1958. By 1962 I was seriously interested in modeling the D&H. I did my undergraduate work at Oberlin College 32 miles southwest of Cleveland, regularly seeing an NYC local freight and on rather rare visits to Cleveland developing a liking for the Nickel Plate, whose diesel switchers wore a livery similar to those on the D&H. In 1968 started graduate studies in Cambridge, MA and have lived in the Bay State since then, also becoming interested in the Boston & Maine. Have spent much time in northern New England and considerable time in Canada (every province except Newfoundland & Labrador, though neither of the territories, let alone Nunavut). I haven't been south of North Carolina on the East Coast or Tennessee in the middle of the US. I've been in most of the US Midwest, plus Texas, California, Nevada, Oregon and Washington State. I don't like deserts (though I love desserts). Places I'd like to visit but haven't include Monticello in Virginia, Asheville in North Carolina and New Orleans.

My small layout is supposedly set in upstate New York north of Albany; my fictional railroad connects with the D&H, B&M, Rutland and its successors, CN and CP. Most of my locos are D&H or B&M; I have some others. Have numerous express cars and sleepers from distant roads whose paint schemes I admire. Nearly all my freight cars represent cars in use from the 1940s into the early 1980s, with some exceptions from earlier or later times. My only time outside North America was the summer of 1966, when I was in Oberlin's summer German-language program based in Vienna. Landed in Belgium, traveled through Germany (including stops in West and East Berlin) to get there, with the group back to Munich for a weekend and several other parts of Austria; went with a couple of others by train to Prague for a weekend, and back but was on my own there, and spent ten days at the end of the summer visiting relatives and "relatives" in Hungary and Yugoslavia before two nights in Amsterdam.

One of my favorite places to eat -- though I haven't been there in years -- is the cafeteria on one of the US Senate's office buildings in DC; it's probably the most southerly place where I've been able to eat scrapple and the most northerly one where I could get grits.

[loco8107]

Getting to grow up in and still residing in an area of a cluster of Conrail (ex PRSL) branch lines in NJ. Some has been sold off to short lines over the years but the majority is still Conrail Shared Assets today. So I got to see plenty of smaller GP and SW power then which is what I choose to model as I prefer modeling a branch line over the main lines. Especially since the 80’s when the 6 axles locos began to take over the main lines. It was always a treat back then to see the coal trains that no longer exist around here being pulled by 3 or 4 GP’s. That along with dad putting up a 4X8 HO layout every Christmas season growing up won me over with the smaller trains. I always liked having a small town with a few industries on the layout anyway. Plus there was more traffic in this small area in past years too compared to today which seems to be the case in most places. The SW’s, GP10’s and the GP15-1’s are long gone on Conrail leaving just the GP38-2/40-2’s left. To me, getting to see the trains up close in this type of setting is what railroads are all about. Unit trains in general bore me at times, especially the intermodals. I am grateful that a lot of my childhood trains did not disappear forever unlike a lot of places across the US. I do have interest in anything from the 60’s though 2003 or so as I will eventually have locos and cars from that time period.