Hello, I'm Steve Wolcott
I've been lurking here for a few months. I, too, started with an AF set
for Christmas at an early age and eventually would up with a pretty good
size AF plywood pike in the attic by high school. Then the predictable,
girls and cars, distracted me, then work and family. So the trains were
packed away for over 30 years. They came out a few years ago and now
decorate a wall in the guest bedroom.
I have been reading this thread and wondering how so many of you
continued to run trains and model through the years. Then I realized
(duh), there are real benefits to self-employment, but 8 hr days and
weekends off are not among them. I raise hay and livestock, run
welding/fabrication/design business, built my house and barns, and so
on. But, I now consider myself a recovering workaholic. The kids are
out of the house and they have been given notice to clear their stuff
out of the train room (15'X35').
When the trains came out of the boxes, I wondered if I could find those
engines and cars I couldn't afford back in high school. My sons showed
me how to use ebay. What an eye opener. Not only was all the old AF
stuff there, there was way better, AM, SHS, and more. Wow. Then I
found the NASG, S websites, S forums, and dozens of S manufacturers.
Just like the feeling when I was a kid and took the bus downtown with my
allowance and lawn mowing $ to see what AF stuff I could get. Only the
stuff is way better.
So now I Gotta run the stuff. Gotta build a layout. Been lurking on
ldsig, absorbing books and magazines. I was this close to posting my
first stab at a layout design last April when farming interrupted. I'll
have time next month. Guess this is going to be mostly October to
April for a while. We've got some ideas on how to free up some more
time, Linda wants to travel more, and I'd be glad to go with her.
I live near the North Fork branch of the UP, which ate the SP which ate
the D&RGW. I'm still ticked off about that, after all the Colorado
Constitution forbids the consolidation of railroads in the State, but
what's a minor detail like the Constitution. Oh well, guess I can't
really blame the UP. And they did try to make it up to me by letting me
ride in the vista dome of their heritage train, E9's and coaches from
the '40s and '50s from Delta to Paonia and back, and it was free. Guess
it just proves everyone can be bought. At least I still get to hear the
rumble and the horns of several coal trains every day across the valley.
So I'll have to settle for bringing the Rio Grande back to life in my
layout. The trainwatching I remember as a kid was sitting on a motel
balcony next to the Glenwood Springs hot springs pool. Just across the
Colorado River was the beautiful brick and stone station, big black
Geeps pulling freights and silver and yellow F's pulling the stainless
California Zephyrs. Obviously this has to be the center of my layout.
Now everytime I visit family in Denver where I grew up, I drive the ROW
of the Crystal River RR, a standard gauge short line that served the
marble quarry that built the Lincoln Memorial and the Tomb of the
Unknown Soldier. One or two runs a day with 1912 Moguls until WWII.
I'm part way through my first modeling project backdating a Putt Mogul
with a wood cab and other details.
Thanks to all of you who have kept the S torch burning all these years.
Can't tell you how grateful I am to come back to all the wonderful stuff
that is now available. And thanks for this forum and the others, rough
edges and all. It's a great education for someone just coming out of
S-hibernation. By the way, Paonia and the North Fork valley is one of
the most beautiful places on earth, and in the general neighborhood of
Durango-Silverton, Georgetown loop, Royal Gorge and Cumbres-Toltec (not
to mention the California Zephyr). So if you find yourself in the
neighborhood, drop a line and come by for a visit.
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