When I was a kid, my father and I were in a local hobby shop and saw an AIM (?) HO Cab-Forward that had just come in. My father (who never talked much, much less revealed anything personal about himself) just stared at the big engine. I think I actually saw some nostalgia in his eyes! Next thing I knew, he had bought it for me! Those must have been the locos he had seen when he was a kid! That gesture said more to me than any words he ever spoke! ...Fast forward to the present day... It was just January of this year that I saw one of the Rivarossi Cab-Forwards and of course had to have it! To make a long story short, I was bit by the model railroad bug again, and now have built 2 small layouts, HO and N, both DCC. The SP lives and the Cab-Forwards (I have 3 now) rule the grades! I can't believe how great this hobby has become! Anyone else out there like me who feels like a kid again? Sincerely, Pete
During the late 50's When I worked as a Telegrapher for the SP I hopped a ride to my next work station on a cab forward. That was the thrill of my life. It was working as a helper between klamath Falls, Or. and Alturas Ca.. Have you ever seen a helper enging gaining on a moving caboose and then made connection without even feeling it. That old Hog Head handled that big Engine like a mother handling a baby. That ride was the best I have had on a enging.
Welcome to the TrainBoard Pete, and no you are not alone. There are some "kids" here of all ages from 13 to 70. We will probably never grow up! I never wanted to, and would go back to 1937 in a heartbeat if it was possible.
<blockquote>quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by watash: We will probably never grow up! I never wanted to, and would go back to 1937 in a heartbeat if it was possible. <hr></blockquote> For a person who has spent most of his life looking forward to the fantastic things that the future can bring, I find myself looking backward more and more to the days when crack passenger trains ruled the mainlines of America (includes Canada) and rail lines crisscrossed the states and provinces connecting towns both large and small. Those lines are gone now, but the memory of the locomotives, trains and the men and women that made them run linger on in my memory and, more and more, on my HO scale railroad. We gave away the rail systems that we once had and let the traction and interurban companies die with the ever-increasing pressure from the car, truck and aircraft. Yes, the government oversaw the dismemberment of the rails, but they live on in memory. Indeed, I believe that much of our discarded passenger rail system will eventually be rebuilt out of necessity, but I won’t see it except where I can capture the feel of what went before on my 1:87.1 rails. Perhaps it is those memories that drive us to create or re-create that world in memory. Roger Roger Hensley - rhensley@anderson.cioe.com == http://cid.railfan.net/eci_new.html == == East Central Indiana HO Scale Railroad ==
Waxing nostalgic today, I posted the reasons I model the PRR. Someof those memories include seeing steam engines pulling WWII surplus vehicles past my Grandmother's house, seeing GG-1's pulling the tuscan colored (not aluminum) passenger cars, watching my first switching operation from an over the track walkway, catching a train from Philly to Washington DC with the Cub Scouts, putting pennies on the track to be flattened by a local switcher, crossing a plate girder bridge (age 5) on the outside so we wouldn't have to step on the ties and see the traffic below. Lots of fond train memories, and a few dangerous ones, not mentioned here (or to my dad)
