I found this picture tucked inside one of my old high school yearbooks.
.
UNBELIEVABLE!
I actually have a picture of the first STRATTON & GILLETTE railroad. I don't know who took the picture, but that is definitely me in the picture.
This picture was taken after I added the mountain and Nn3 mine trackage, but I had not completed the bridges. I am going to guess this was November, 1984. Probably at the annual Scale Rails of Southwest Florida train show. We used to have them in November back then.
That would be 16 year old me in the picture wearing my Scale Rails vest. I am glad we don't have railroad club vests anymore.
There is a STRATTON & GILLETTE passenger car near the engine facility. I don't see any other SGRR equipment in the picture.
I wish I had a picture either before or after this one when the scenery was complete. Either way, I am happy just to have a picture of SGRR #1.
-Kevin
Living the dream.
Excellent photo. It's amazing how much the hobby has changed since then. That's the beauty of these old photographs.
That's cool, Kevin! I wish, at 16 years old, that I had that kind of exposure to such inspiration, having grown up in the "sticks" of rural New York state, along the tracks of the Delaware Division of the Erie-Erie Lackawanna. Every now and again, I would run across an issue of MR or RMC, and if I had the money, I would pick one up. I would longingly leaf through the pages and wonder what kind of world there is out there in this scale model railroad hobby. I had no access to any hobby stores. (I did order some PRR decals from Champ, via mailorder, for a Lionel GP7 that I repainted); there certainly were no other modelers in my area. I was a "closet model railroader" back then. Now, I am grateful to be in the world of this great hobby.
Thanks for sharing.
Very cool. This brings back memories. I started in middle school in 1976. I remember the year because my parents bought me the Tyco Spirit of '76 train set for Christmas that year. I noticed last week that I still have some of the rolling stock from that old set.
Modeling the B&M Railroad during the transition era in Lowell, MA
Lonnie UtahIt's amazing how much the hobby has changed since then
Yes. It was so muich easier to enjoy things when I was full of blissful ignorance. I look back on models I built then that were terrible, but I loved them.
E-L man tomThat's cool, Kevin! I wish, at 16 years old, that I had that kind of exposure to such inspiration,
This was an amazing benefit of being a teenager in a retirement community. There was an endless supply of people that were willing to teach me all kinds of things. Not just about trains, but cars, girls, money, and the world too.
WilmJuncThis brings back memories.
Yes, the memories really came back with this picture. I had not thought about any of those buildings in years, but all of a sudden I can remember building every one of them. That layout sure was a lot of fun.