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Here is where is all started! This might explain how I “got this
way”…
Christmas 1967 Christmas 1968 I have liked trains since my earliest memory. I have often
asked myself why at various times throughout my life and have never been able
to even come close to an answer. I just DO…The
American Flyer trains shown above were bought for my oldest sister. I know that my parents went to great
lengths to preserve the Christmas morning anticipation for me since I am the
youngest. Keeping Santa Claus “alive” as long as possible was a little
challenge. That ½ hour from when the presents were first discovered until
they were opened was probably one of the happiest moments of the year for my
mom. We went to bed on Christmas Eve with the living room somewhat decorated
for Christmas but still relatively intact. There was no Christmas tree or
train platform. Everything magically appeared on Christmas morning, obviously
set up by Santa Claus. Note the 1968 photo has such a complex track layout
the Christmas tree could not fit on the platform any more. My Pop was not
into trains but liked changing and adding to the set up for me. I distinctly remember that extreme
anticipation for Christmas morning 1967. My Pop ran a rope between my bedroom
doorknob and the bathroom doorknob right across the hall to TIE me in my room
because I kept on getting up while they were setting everything up. Since I was still a little asleep, I was
quickly shuffled back into bed and didn’t think twice about what I thought I
saw. It was not about the new wrapped toys I would be getting. The
completely unbearable anticipation was ALL about getting to run my trains again
after a whole year went by. I stomped on and over all the new unopened toys
in an effort to get the trains running as soon as possible. Again, I very
distinctly remember my mother being forced to unplug the trains to get me to open my presents. I
also remember very clearly that for Christmas 1968 that there was a PATH cleared in the presents for me to
the quickly reach the transformers. I designed and built my first permanent American Flyer layout
with minimal help from my father at age 12. My second larger A F layout was built about 1 year later. That lasted for
about 3 years. Unfortunately there were only a few bad Black &White
photos taken of that layout. Here are 3 of them that I could find so far. The
small structure that is
near the grade crossing at the lower right of the right photo was made by me
when I was 14. It is made from the cigar box from when my oldest nephew was
born in 1975. Now that I look at the
photos again in 2007 I can still see what the photos do not show here. Click on the photos to make them
larger
Here are some other things I made from about age 12 to 14. In a few Father & Son moments I started making
bridges with my father cutting the wood strips on the table saw. One of them
was the famous Scottish Fourth Bridge which I got pretty far along on before
I lost momentum. None of them were used on layouts or survived today. I was
getting Model Railroader at the time and looking at the plans that were S
Scale. I am pretty sure that the Bobber Caboose is from a Canadian plan. The
Stock Car might be freelanced. There was a passenger car that was made from a
solid piece of pine that is currently missing. I AM sure that was made from a
PRR plan – possibly a D85 diner car. I absolutely do remember making them
all.
The Bobber was wood sheets also made by my father at his work
as a Steel Foundry Patternmaker at Westinghouse Electric in Lester Pa. He had
access to every woodworking machine possible so he surface planed top quality
pine down to about 1/8” thick. The roof was soaked overnight in the bathtub
taped to a coffee can to set a curve to it. I cut each slot to simulate the
individual boards with an Exacto hand saw. There are 2 fishing dipseys
screwed inside for added weight. 4 Bobber journal boxes were made from APPLE
wood, but it has yet to roll down a track. I think I got stumped on how to
put American Flyer knuckle couplers on it especially when I probably did not
have any extras. It is what probably led to the permanent work stoppage on
the Bobber. It is possibly the LAST time I tried to scratchbuild something
from wood, but I look back now with some pride and sentimental memories that
I was a modeler even back in the day….
I became interested in HO when I was 16 where I was involved in
what was the only Explorer group in all of the Boy Scouts whose theme was
model railroading. I was at a train show in about 1985 where I saw and bought
an old S Scale boxcar that was not American Flyer that was built up from a
kit. I did not know about any of these kits until I saw this car. It sat on a
shelf for months next to some of my American Flyer I had out for display. I
looked at it daily thinking if only American Flyer were just “bigger HO” with
slow speed DC operation. I did not know it yet but the seed had been planted.
In 1987 a truly life changing event happened. I went to my first Central
Jersey S Scalers Get Together in South Amboy NJ. The church hall was FILLED
with an S Scale modular layout without any American Flyer running. I walked
into that meet an HO modeler and left as an S Scaler. I thought about forming a new S Scale group in my area in 1988.
Many members of the Central Jersey S Scalers are still some of my closest
friends today. I just wanted something more local though. When I met Roy
Hoffman, we co-founded the South Jersey S Scalers in 1989. I was active in that club
for about 12 years. My interests were
modeling S Scale. The main interest of the SJSS membership majority was
almost always Hi Rail and American Flyer. The South Jersey S Scalers became the
South Jersey S Gaugers in about 1995 and they are very
active today. Lives and interests change. I met my wife in 2000. I am just
not active with SJSG anymore. I run my trains at MY
house
now and occasionally a private S Scale layout that is about 20 minutes from
me. Many of the people I see at this layout including the owner were a part
of the SJSS/SJSG club years ago. See the Running Trains page
for more information about that layout. I have been an S Scaler since 1987. I model the Mighty PRR in
1957. I also like PRSL, B&O, C&O, N&W, East Broad Top and most
other Northeastern roads as well. I
have been a member of the PRR T&HS since 1990, and the B&ORRHS since
2005. I restarted the PRSLHS after a 20
year hiatus. It is on line only. I have been accused of being a Slobbering Pennsy
Freak and a Rivet Counter. All I can say is somebody has to do it! I have
been “brass bashing” exclusively for about 6 years now. I don’t remember the
last time I painted or assembled a plastic kit. I enjoy working with brass
most because I believe in the stability of solder more then I do of the
longevity of adhesives or glue. It
is I have had brass parts, like PRR Trust
Plates, PRR Round and Keystone steam engine number plates made (Please see my
Solidworks page) and
functioning draft gear from my master patterns because the parts did not
exist in S Scale. I realized that the ends of a car are usually the most neglected
area. So my standard detailing upgrade includes installing Cut Lever
Brackets, phosphor bronze wire Cut Levers, and Draft Gear where it is
possible. I think many production brass models are a good place to start to make a
complete and correct model. I have not finished a model of my own in the past
7 years without adding a detail or changing something before it was painted.
Even though there may have been 100 pieces of an item made in the production
run, the models are distinctively mine when
I have finished them. It is my way of “making them my own”.
Custom Made Detail Parts
Updated 9-26-10 All photos and content © Lanes Trains 2005-20011 |
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