I was down at my dad's for the holiday to celebrate his 92nd birthday on the 4th. He was an early Zheader. Well I decided to take pictures of some of his builds to share with you. The locos are either kit bashed, scratch build or masters created for casting. My favorite is the Hudson. Scott
John and Joe, My dad made these, I think, in the nineties. The 0-8-0 is a modified Marklin shell. The 2-8-0 is a casting made by a machinist in Chicago my dad was working with. The 2-8-2 and the 4-6-0 are masters for casting that my dad created. The Hudson is scratch built from casting rejects, scratch parts, Marklin parts and other parts. Scott
Happy Birthday to your Dad, 92 years young AND born on the 4th of July?! Those guys from back in the early day's of Z are what got me into this scale! Just like the pioneers in N-scale back in the 70's. You want it, you gotta' make it! Hat's off to them!
I'm still collecting odd's and end's for the little GN 4-6-0 I got from you. One of these days I'll get that project going....
When did your dad stop modeling? Did he go to the 2005 Z Scale Convention in Columbus OH? Or any of the MTL Z Scale Conventions? What is his name, and was he on the Z Scale Yahoo Groups back in the day?
Rob, It is hard for me to say. I think he stopped in the late nineties. He was still doing work in HO and N scales up until 20teens. I don't know what shows he attended, but I doubt he attended any after 1996. His name is George, and he wasn't on the Yahoo group. He does know Rob K., and Hans R. He was in the group that started Rogue Locomotive Works. Scott
That's too bad i never got to meet him. I wasn't fully out of N Scale until late 2003, at which time I had started building Z-Bend Track modules.
Could this be George Johnstone from NJ. ? I knew George back in the day he was a shaker and mover for Z scale especially with the Rogue Loco. Before I moved to Minneapolis my time was devoted to taking care of my mother and could not travel too far so I missed contact with George and many of our Z scale friends. Please wish him Happy Birthday for me and I send my best to George and remember when we were the few and the proud Z scalers.Paul Lipiarski
George was quite skilled , he made a PRR G5a boiler shell and extra fitting for my Marklin 4-6-0 when I lived in NJ and could visit. George never found a scale he did not like from Z to Buddy L RR ride 'em trains and everything, and I mean every scale in between. A graduate of the Merchant Marine Academy he was a machinists dream, even working on testing carrier catapults for the Navy at Lakehurst NJ. But for Z folks George kept the flame alive in the early years when it was merely a spark. His abilities to discern what could be possible in Z led to the Rogue GP 38-2 before Micro-Trains produced their line of GP's and when AZL was just a dream for Hans. George could be guaranteed to present his educated opinion on any Z related topic, at any time and any place but especially when the Eastern ZEDHEDS got together. He can truly claim to be a pioneer to the Z scale we have today.
Paul, Thanks for the kind praise for my dad's involvement in Z scale and trains in general. He will appreciate it. Scott
A late Happy Birthday to George from Hans R. Will not forget a visit about 20 years ago in Toms River. Truly amazing shells and a good inspiration.
Thanks guys for all the birthday wishes. I sent my dad a letter with all of your replies in it. I had been meaning to add an article in this thread, that I found in my fathers collection of ZTrack magazine. I am posting here with permission from Rob Kluz. It was an article in the Vol.3, No. 5 Sept/Oct, 1997 issue. Scott
Wow, the Founding Fathers of Z-scale! Amazing what they accomplished back then, and then look at what we have now!
It is very interesting - many of those pioneers have Polish or some other Slavic country family roots. The names like Slivinski, Brzuszkiewicz and Lipiarski are proof of that.