Today I had that job that many a modeler dreads... Taking down a departed modeler's railroad. As family members have been putting their lives back in order, the question of what to do with the railroad arose, and they decided that I should be he one to remove it. Built with 3/4" plywood, nailed to 1x4 pine benchwork, and mountians made of plaster coated cloth over cardboard strips, it was determined that the layout could not be salvaged. Much of the track was brass flex, with some aluminum sectional track used also. The switches were all nickel silver Peco, so they were salvaged. The tough part is when the first blow with the hammer rang out. Everyone stood silent, looking like they saw a ghost, remembering the many hours Jack spent creating his railroad. This was not fun, with watery eyed daughters looking on as I disassembled section after section. I saved 2 bridges, to be used in a display for some of Jack's locomotives, but all else was destroyed. My father-in-law, Jack Hutchison reached the end of his journey last fall, and left behind his Southern Pacific Railroad. Jack worked in San Francisco, as did his father, loading freight cars for several years, and later received a Purple Heart in service of our country durring WW2. When he retired from the San Mateo School District he decided to build his dream empire, a Southern Pacific Railroad depicting the freight operaions he remembered from before the war. It was built in a spare room of his Gilroy home, and featured a large freight yard, around the room double track mainline, and lots of switching operations. A few years ago we converted his empire to DCC as Jack was always up on the latest in railroading. His railroad gave him many years of enjoyment. He is missed by all who knew him.
That's really a touching post Robert. Makes me think that perhaps I should leave instructions in my will to whom and how my layout and equipment should be distributed. Hopefully, that would eliminate any additional heartache after I go to the big roundhouse in the sky.
Robert, Thanks for that very touching report. You have many wonderful memories and the display items you have preserved will be pleasant reminders. This just emphasizes that railroads in any scale are not just trains. People give them life. [ 09 April 2002, 15:51: Message edited by: Peirce ]
Wow, that says a lot about you too. I can't imagine being the one chosen for such a task. Whew. That's tough.
Ain't no way I coulda done that!!!!!! I would have sought a way to take it down in sections to put back together at another location and be my own, for a "given gift" of rememberance of the orginal builder.... No way I could have destroyed it..... WHEW is right... Thats some "Chosen one" I'll admit....
All I can say is DAMN! When my grandfather left this earth for better railfan spots in the sky, he had left behind a large collection of tinplate and HO scale. Well before he had passed on, it was being argued by several family members as what to do with his stuff. I knew that he would have given it to me but I always thought that he would get better and thought all the arguing was ridiculous, so my thoughts on the subject were never heard. Needless to say, one of my family members saw the money potential and started to sell things off piece by piece which really upset me. The morning that he died, My uncle and I found one of his favorite locos which had not been sold off yet and we kind of "stole" it. That night at the funeral, the locomotive was placed inside the coffin, unbeknownst to all but a few. I swear that a smile came upon my grandfather's face. Well anyway, the memories that he gave me will always last a lifetime and there is always hommage paid to him on my layout in one shape or another. The first time that I took my wife to the Strasburg RR, I placed 2 coins on the track to get flattened, another tradition that my grandfather and I started when I was very young. As the SRR's 2-10-0 #90 ran them over and I picked up the flattened pieces of coinage, I became very lighthearted and knew that he was still watching over me. Russ
I swear, the day I pass on and the family members fight and argue over my collection and end up selling my trains to people I don't even know I'm comming back and I'm going to haunt the family members homes to who which sold my collection off for the money... If nothing else I'd rather see close friends get them for nothing! I built them, I payed for them.. So... Not for my family to get greedy over and sell to make them pocket money... I can understand my wife at the time selling some for money for bills that I may have left behind... Thats fine... But to sell it all to different people just to have pocket money I don't agree with.... But if anything, and my kids for that time are into it... The entire collection goes to them... And if not them either another family member will get them if not a close friend..Even if it happens to come to that point of friends on the net... I'd rather give them away to someone that I knew to a point then to sell them to someone who I never knew at all.... I took care of them and done all the work... I just want them to be taken care of when I'm gone... Or at least put on display on a shelf or something even if they don't get ran... [ 10 April 2002, 23:19: Message edited by: 7600EM_1 ]
One day when I was working I took my camera along with me. One of the photos was of my engineer as he stared ahead watching the track. One month later that same photo was on his coffin after he was killed in an auto accident. He was about 40 years old with a wife and kids. I could not be at the funeral, but I thought the photo was something the family should have.
So many well said and poignant thoughts. I've just came upstairs from the garage. Where I'd been bolting a vise to the work bench. It had been used for years in the blacksmith shop on the farm of my maternal grandfather. In earlier years, he was a railroader. Doing time on the NP, and several noted NW logging RR's. A man who taught me most of the skills I use today when building model RR benchwork, wiring, and much more. When I received my first Lionel train, used, he'd rushed out and bought lumber so that I could have a layout. And this old shop tool will soon be serving similar purposes for my new empire. My mind had been wandering back many years. It was a tough day when after he passed on, I'd unbolted the vise, as my mother had sold the farm. I'm sure that even today he watches me. I'll bet that he's proud to see his old vise still being used. On the same jobs as he had once labored and taught. BoxcabE50
