When I was much younger, the Pennsylvania Railroad was just moving from steam to diesel. From my home on Vineyard Street in Anderson Indiana, you could still hear the mournful cry of the steamer as it passed through town in the early hours of the morning. At that time, you could stand outside our garage where I was working, and watch the southbound train crossing the road at the DOW at two in the morning and the northbound at four in the morning carrying travelers from Chicago to Cincinnati and reverse as they passed the DOW Tower. When the trains passed through Anderson, the passenger cars were dimly lit allowing those who were awake to see but dimly enough not to disturb those who were sleeping.
Roger Hensley= ECI Railroad - http://madisonrails.railfan.net/eci/eci_new.html == Railroads of Madison County - http://madisonrails.railfan.net/ =
Thanks for sharing that story, Brakeman.
A large part of the enjoyment of my layout is being able to "re-enact" some of the fond memories of my youth when I was travelling or visiting railroad events and facilities.
Sound adds a whole new dimension to aid in rekindling these memories and I'm enjoying every minute of it.
Thanks again, Ed
Where I grew up I heard trains going back and forth throughout my city all the time. My neighborhood was surrounded on at least three sides by railroad tracks. Some of these tracks went straight by my Elementary school. I learned rail safety early on, mostly self taught. Naturally this interest in trains moved over to where I would play with the Brio train stuff. Then when I was 8 years old I got my first train Set for Christmas. I really enjoyed that train set.
As the years went by I became interested in other things, typical stuff as a teenager such as video games, movies, girls, and so on. Before serving a mission for my church, I spent some time and some money working on a model railroad. That was taken apart and boxed up for another day. After coming home after 2 years, I spent some time volunteering and later working for a tourist railroad in Heber City. I enjoyed my time immensely.
It wasn't until after getting married and moving to Idaho that I was able to start working on a model railroad again. As time and money allowed of course. It was a simple matter of using what I had available and using some spare plywood at the time. Eventually it led up to what I have today which is now 10 feet by 10 feet with digital command control and a sound equipped locomotive.
Speaking of sound, as the layout is in the garage, most of my sounds come from everyday life. I don't have to add birds chirping or kids playing or cars going by. We live on a busy enough street that these things happen naturally. Which is a big money saver if you think about it.
Now with my kids getting older, they are also interested in the train layout which is fun.