Life-long railfan having grown up on Long Island (NY) and seen the end of steam and Tuscan Red coaches in regular service. Lived there through the Tichy color scheme era which included FM, Alco and a few Baldwin engines. Saw the transition to an all-Alco roster with passenger C-420's replacing FM's and departed soon after MTA took over and painted everything including 2nd order of C-420's light blue and yellow. Worked for LIRR as a parlor car attendant during summers between college/army/career years.

Vacations while growing up meant visiting family in Richmond, VA (within walking distance of Broad Street Station) and occasionally traveling to north Georgia and Florida. College years at Va Tech as a cadet (graduated with a BS in Management, 1971) included exposure to pre-Amtrak N&W, Southern, C&O and SCL. Brief stint with US Army in Fort Benning GA permitted railfan trips along CofG and various lines in Alabama. First career position was as a Management Apprentice with SCL and led to work as a yardmaster at Portsmouth, VA and Tampa (Uceta), FL. Worked on time-and-motion studios and computerized inventory and operation control project for yards prior to being laid off - forever - upon the merger of Family Lines and Chessie System to eventually form CSX. Alas, those were the days when railroads were anything but a 'growth industry'.

Since then I worked for a juvenile clothing manufacturer, 3 trucks lines and have lived in north FL and western and piedmont NC. Earned a 2nd BS in Civil Engineering at UNC-Charlotte and currently work for NCDOT in Charlotte. Duties include some oversight of North Carolina-funded re-installation of double track on former Southern Railway main line near Charlotte. Currently live along CSX line west of Hamlet NC.