01-27-2009, 11:38 PM
I had a number of influences that propelled me into model railroading. One was the fact that trains were much more a part of everyday life than they are for most people nowadays. The TH&B's elevated right-of-way was right across the street from our front porch, and a CNR line was only a couple of blocks away. There were summer excursions on the train, too, usually to Niagara Falls or Crystal Beach.
But one of the major influences was the older brother of a kid I went to school with. I don't remember the kid's name, or how it came to be that his brother came to my house to set up his HO scale trains in my living room. The trains were definitely better than my parents could afford - they may have been Marklin - somewhat strange in retrospect so soon after the war that a Japanese kid would be setting up German trains in my living room.
No matter: I remember that the track was on its own roadbed, and the coaches seemed very well-detailed and very well put-together. And that's about all I remember - oh, and that the older brother's name was Shiggy. This would've be in 1952 or '53.
A couple of years later, I got a Marx O-27 set for Christmas, and while I was glad to have received it, I don't recall much of it at all.
By 1957, after a couple of moves, we finally moved into our own house. One day, my Dad brought home an HO scale loco and a piece of brass flex track (on fibre ties), supposedly just to look over. While I don't recall the loco, I do remember the track, and how the ties were reflected in the shiny sides of the rail. This, for me, was the Daisy Official Red Rider Lever-Action BB Gun, with little or no chance of putting out my eye.
For Christmas that year, an A-B-B-A set of Globe AT&SF diesels, and a handful of freight cars, some flex track, and the beginning of my first layout. While I no longer have those diesels, most of the freight cars are still in my possession, and most are still in use on my current layout.
Thanks, Shiggy, wherever you are.
Wayne
But one of the major influences was the older brother of a kid I went to school with. I don't remember the kid's name, or how it came to be that his brother came to my house to set up his HO scale trains in my living room. The trains were definitely better than my parents could afford - they may have been Marklin - somewhat strange in retrospect so soon after the war that a Japanese kid would be setting up German trains in my living room.
No matter: I remember that the track was on its own roadbed, and the coaches seemed very well-detailed and very well put-together. And that's about all I remember - oh, and that the older brother's name was Shiggy. This would've be in 1952 or '53.A couple of years later, I got a Marx O-27 set for Christmas, and while I was glad to have received it, I don't recall much of it at all.
By 1957, after a couple of moves, we finally moved into our own house. One day, my Dad brought home an HO scale loco and a piece of brass flex track (on fibre ties), supposedly just to look over. While I don't recall the loco, I do remember the track, and how the ties were reflected in the shiny sides of the rail. This, for me, was the Daisy Official Red Rider Lever-Action BB Gun, with little or no chance of putting out my eye.
For Christmas that year, an A-B-B-A set of Globe AT&SF diesels, and a handful of freight cars, some flex track, and the beginning of my first layout. While I no longer have those diesels, most of the freight cars are still in my possession, and most are still in use on my current layout.
Thanks, Shiggy, wherever you are.
Wayne