How did your love of railroads start.

[UpNorthBob]

My family never worked for the railroad, and never travelled by train during my lifetime, but when my mother worked at the dime store in Rochester, MI in the early 1950's, my Grandfather would take me for a walk every day. It was about three blocks down to the NYC station to see either the late morning BD-2 freight or the mid afternoon Beeliner. I became a steadfast NYC "man", despite the fact that on the other side of town, the GTW was still running steam. My parents and grandparents all said that they were going to let me ride the Beeliner up to Lake Orion or Lapeer and back "some day." Unfortunately, that "some day" never came. For years the only train ride I took (other than at the Detroit Zoo) was a ride in a rail motor car from the Rochester depot to main street - about 200 yards. I've never ridden that many trains - a couple Algoma Central trips and and Amtrak from Jackson to Chicago, but my love of trains has remained strong. My only regret is that I wasted my high school years chasing girls instead of buying a good camera and photographing those things that are now gone. Every time I catch that wonderful aroma of creosote on a hot summer day, my mind goes back to the Rochester of my youth.

[UpNorthBob]

My family never worked for the railroad, and never travelled by train during my lifetime, but when my mother worked at the dime store in Rochester, MI in the early 1950's, my Grandfather would take me for a walk every day. It was about three blocks down to the NYC station to see either the late morning BD-2 freight or the mid afternoon Beeliner. I became a steadfast NYC "man", despite the fact that on the other side of town, the GTW was still running steam. My parents and grandparents all said that they were going to let me ride the Beeliner up to Lake Orion or Lapeer and back "some day." Unfortunately, that "some day" never came. For years the only train ride I took (other than at the Detroit Zoo) was a ride in a rail motor car from the Rochester depot to main street - about 200 yards. I've never ridden that many trains - a couple Algoma Central trips and and Amtrak from Jackson to Chicago, but my love of trains has remained strong. My only regret is that I wasted my high school years chasing girls instead of buying a good camera and photographing those things that are now gone. Every time I catch that wonderful aroma of creosote on a hot summer day, my mind goes back to the Rochester of my youth.

[slotracer]

On several occasions, several stories..........
As a real little one my family used to go to a place south of Buffalo NY on the lake erie shoreline called the lakeview inn, after dinner my grandfather would take me outside while he smoked his pipe and we would watch the trains of teh NYC, NKP and PRR that ran on both sides of teh place. He took me toa neat hobby store that at one time was famous in Buffalo....spoonley the trainman which operated out of a basement on Choate ave in South Buffalo to get my first lionel set.
He passed away and no one else had any interset so my attention to trains dwindled. In Nov 1967 BOYS LIFE had an article on model trains with a picture of a neat layou in the centerspread and I got hooked again. Was pretty active through high school with models and my prototype interset gave way to historical society involvement when Conrail took my interest in much of any railfanning atthat point.
Once I got a house with a good basement I started back into modeling in 1990, and built or started 3 different pikes because of moves. Actually started to take pictures again in Colorado as teh SP was going to be gone and I had easy access to Tennessee pass every weekend. With the merger, I lost prototype interest and stopped taking pictures all together, even sold teh 35mm's this time. I grew tired of moving and restarting pikes and the glut of equipment, and really got a distaste for railroads after working for Uncle Pete, and besides the thing that really motivated me.....the old northeastern lines in the green allegany foothills and Buffalo's congested rail system were a very distant memory so I got out.
I can't say the bug has bitten again, I happened into these forums due to a spurred curiousity when I heard the V&O was no more and again when I heard teh Kinzua bridge collapsed.
When the kids move to other things in a few years when they are old enough to drive a car and attend school sports, I will likely find running slot cars alone pretty boring so I could see me building another pike and getting into it again, but who knows. Today's railroads I do not find inspiring or motivating what so ever....but who knows.....

[slotracer]

On several occasions, several stories..........
As a real little one my family used to go to a place south of Buffalo NY on the lake erie shoreline called the lakeview inn, after dinner my grandfather would take me outside while he smoked his pipe and we would watch the trains of teh NYC, NKP and PRR that ran on both sides of teh place. He took me toa neat hobby store that at one time was famous in Buffalo....spoonley the trainman which operated out of a basement on Choate ave in South Buffalo to get my first lionel set.
He passed away and no one else had any interset so my attention to trains dwindled. In Nov 1967 BOYS LIFE had an article on model trains with a picture of a neat layou in the centerspread and I got hooked again. Was pretty active through high school with models and my prototype interset gave way to historical society involvement when Conrail took my interest in much of any railfanning atthat point.
Once I got a house with a good basement I started back into modeling in 1990, and built or started 3 different pikes because of moves. Actually started to take pictures again in Colorado as teh SP was going to be gone and I had easy access to Tennessee pass every weekend. With the merger, I lost prototype interest and stopped taking pictures all together, even sold teh 35mm's this time. I grew tired of moving and restarting pikes and the glut of equipment, and really got a distaste for railroads after working for Uncle Pete, and besides the thing that really motivated me.....the old northeastern lines in the green allegany foothills and Buffalo's congested rail system were a very distant memory so I got out.
I can't say the bug has bitten again, I happened into these forums due to a spurred curiousity when I heard the V&O was no more and again when I heard teh Kinzua bridge collapsed.
When the kids move to other things in a few years when they are old enough to drive a car and attend school sports, I will likely find running slot cars alone pretty boring so I could see me building another pike and getting into it again, but who knows. Today's railroads I do not find inspiring or motivating what so ever....but who knows.....

[Anonymous]

Dad was a CP operator in North Bay (Ontario). I remember visiting him at work in the 70s when I was young, and seeing the switcher shuffle cars around the yard. Now everything, except for the station is gone. I guess nostalgia is at the root of my interest in railways.

[Anonymous]

Dad was a CP operator in North Bay (Ontario). I remember visiting him at work in the 70s when I was young, and seeing the switcher shuffle cars around the yard. Now everything, except for the station is gone. I guess nostalgia is at the root of my interest in railways.

[AltonFan]

I'm not exactly sure when the bug bit, but it must have been very early on.

When I was two or three, my Dad used to take me out for walks, and one place I remember was a playground next to an elevated Milwaukee Road line in Chicago. I would ride on the see-saw and watch trains go by. I also remember passing a gray wooden building, I think it had a Milwaukee Road sign on it. I remember there being tracks behind and alongside the structure. The last time I was in the old neighborhood, the tracks were gone, the buidling had new siding and was a city recycling center. (This structure is located near an intersection with Fullerton in Chicago, but I don't believe it's actually on Fullerton.)

I had train toys from very early on. Got my first Lionel when I was about five or six. A liitle later I had an American Flyer set with a plastic layout. I graduated to HO, had a Life-Like styrofoam layout. Eventually moved on to N and built a 2'x4' layout when I was in high school.

When I was in high school I read Don Ball's America's Colorful Railroads and fell in love with the Gulf Mobile and Ohio. From there I developed a fascination with the Alton. During one summer I read a most of Lucius Beebe's books as well as The Mohawk That Refused to Abdicate. About this time I got interested in steam power.

Once the bug bites, it never goes away. It may lie dormant for a while, but it never goes away.

[AltonFan]

I'm not exactly sure when the bug bit, but it must have been very early on.

When I was two or three, my Dad used to take me out for walks, and one place I remember was a playground next to an elevated Milwaukee Road line in Chicago. I would ride on the see-saw and watch trains go by. I also remember passing a gray wooden building, I think it had a Milwaukee Road sign on it. I remember there being tracks behind and alongside the structure. The last time I was in the old neighborhood, the tracks were gone, the buidling had new siding and was a city recycling center. (This structure is located near an intersection with Fullerton in Chicago, but I don't believe it's actually on Fullerton.)

I had train toys from very early on. Got my first Lionel when I was about five or six. A liitle later I had an American Flyer set with a plastic layout. I graduated to HO, had a Life-Like styrofoam layout. Eventually moved on to N and built a 2'x4' layout when I was in high school.

When I was in high school I read Don Ball's America's Colorful Railroads and fell in love with the Gulf Mobile and Ohio. From there I developed a fascination with the Alton. During one summer I read a most of Lucius Beebe's books as well as The Mohawk That Refused to Abdicate. About this time I got interested in steam power.

Once the bug bites, it never goes away. It may lie dormant for a while, but it never goes away.

[Anonymous]

I guess my love of Railroads and Railroading started back in the '70's when I was a little kid. My grandpa was a railroadman and so were a lot of my relatives so I'd say that I've got railroad blood in me.

[Anonymous]

I guess my love of Railroads and Railroading started back in the '70's when I was a little kid. My grandpa was a railroadman and so were a lot of my relatives so I'd say that I've got railroad blood in me.

[corwinda]

I don't know. The first memories I have (from age 2 or3) were from train trips to visit an Aunt in Spokane WA (from Eugene OR.)

[corwinda]

I don't know. The first memories I have (from age 2 or3) were from train trips to visit an Aunt in Spokane WA (from Eugene OR.)

[Anonymous]

it was probably about 2 or 3 for me two. My dad and my brothers would stop at porter junction in indiana on our way to our grandparents house. we would camp out in our minivan, all five of us to watch the endless parade of conrail piggybacks. i will never forget my conrail

[Anonymous]

it was probably about 2 or 3 for me two. My dad and my brothers would stop at porter junction in indiana on our way to our grandparents house. we would camp out in our minivan, all five of us to watch the endless parade of conrail piggybacks. i will never forget my conrail

[Anonymous]

My love for trains stated at A very young age. I grew up not to far from the tracks so every time I heard A train coming into town there I was ( AT A SAFE DISTANCE OFCOURSE) even today when my son (12) and I see or hear A train there we are[:D]

[Anonymous]

My love for trains stated at A very young age. I grew up not to far from the tracks so every time I heard A train coming into town there I was ( AT A SAFE DISTANCE OFCOURSE) even today when my son (12) and I see or hear A train there we are[:D]

[Anonymous]

Trackside in the fifties, Larchmont NY watching the New Haven evening rush hour parade while we waited for my Dad's MU to arrive from Manhattan.

[Anonymous]

Trackside in the fifties, Larchmont NY watching the New Haven evening rush hour parade while we waited for my Dad's MU to arrive from Manhattan.

[Hakuhatsu]

I think I can count myself as one of the "whombers," as I, too, don't know how my love of trains started. My hometown of Preston, MN was on the old Southern Minnesota and Iowa Division of the Milwaukee Road (Reno, MN to Isinours, MN). I was born in December of 1976 but unfortunately the tracks were torn up three or four months before. My parents both taught at the elementary school (which has since moved to a new building next to the middle school) which was close to the tracks, so I probably was exposed to trains via the whomb, listening to the SW-1s idling at the depot or enginehouse.

I've been a train nut ever since then. I ride/watch them whenever I can. I took the trains everywhere when I was living/studying in Japan and also took the Empire Builder to commute home for the hollidays when I was going to the University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee. I'm also starting a new HO scale layout so I can do some psudo train watching in the comfort of my own home.

- Hakuhatsu

[Hakuhatsu]

I think I can count myself as one of the "whombers," as I, too, don't know how my love of trains started. My hometown of Preston, MN was on the old Southern Minnesota and Iowa Division of the Milwaukee Road (Reno, MN to Isinours, MN). I was born in December of 1976 but unfortunately the tracks were torn up three or four months before. My parents both taught at the elementary school (which has since moved to a new building next to the middle school) which was close to the tracks, so I probably was exposed to trains via the whomb, listening to the SW-1s idling at the depot or enginehouse.

I've been a train nut ever since then. I ride/watch them whenever I can. I took the trains everywhere when I was living/studying in Japan and also took the Empire Builder to commute home for the hollidays when I was going to the University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee. I'm also starting a new HO scale layout so I can do some psudo train watching in the comfort of my own home.

- Hakuhatsu

[Anonymous]

I grew up in Philadelphia just a few blocks from both the Pennsy and the Reading and not too far from the B&O. Also there were streetcars in front of our house. So there was pleanty of action to keep a kid interested. And when we would go to visit relatives upstate we would travel on "The King Coal" to Shamokin. Seeing all of the passing coal trains, and the huge yards full of hoppers at Pottstown, Reading, St. Nickolas, Locust Summit, and Shamokin was fascinating.

[Anonymous]

I grew up in Philadelphia just a few blocks from both the Pennsy and the Reading and not too far from the B&O. Also there were streetcars in front of our house. So there was pleanty of action to keep a kid interested. And when we would go to visit relatives upstate we would travel on "The King Coal" to Shamokin. Seeing all of the passing coal trains, and the huge yards full of hoppers at Pottstown, Reading, St. Nickolas, Locust Summit, and Shamokin was fascinating.

[Anonymous]

When I was three or four we moved next to the UP tracks in Hastings,NE. Steam was still present but those yellow diesels were making appearances at an ever increasing rate. CB&Q and Missouri Pacific also were here. My grandparents ran a railroad hotel called the Big Four where railroad crews would layover. What the fourth railroad was I don't know for sure but think it was CNW. Later we moved to quite a few different states but the most memorable was moving to Fargo, ND on a very cold January day in 1965. We were headed north on Broadway and the crossing gates came down. Soon the Empire Builder rolled to a stop right in front of us. That cold, fridgid air and the steam from the generators and that orange and green paint scheme just grabbed ahold of me. Little did I know how little time there would be to enjoy that color scheme but will never forget that image!

[Anonymous]

When I was three or four we moved next to the UP tracks in Hastings,NE. Steam was still present but those yellow diesels were making appearances at an ever increasing rate. CB&Q and Missouri Pacific also were here. My grandparents ran a railroad hotel called the Big Four where railroad crews would layover. What the fourth railroad was I don't know for sure but think it was CNW. Later we moved to quite a few different states but the most memorable was moving to Fargo, ND on a very cold January day in 1965. We were headed north on Broadway and the crossing gates came down. Soon the Empire Builder rolled to a stop right in front of us. That cold, fridgid air and the steam from the generators and that orange and green paint scheme just grabbed ahold of me. Little did I know how little time there would be to enjoy that color scheme but will never forget that image!

[Anonymous]

QUOTE: Originally posted by Mookie

QUOTE: Originally posted by Chazmort

When I was only 3 or so, we would take the MBTA subways across the Boston area. I only remember being on the Orange and Blue lines. Then, in Michigan, we lived across a vacant lot from the Ann Arbor RR, long before it became the TSBY. My Dad was from Wyoming and my Mom from Nebraska. Both grew up in towns right on the UP line. A few years ago I visited that town in Nebraska and was awake much of the night listening to freights blow through town. It was great.

Going to take a stab at this an ask if it was Alliance NE?

Mook

[Anonymous]

QUOTE: Originally posted by Mookie

QUOTE: Originally posted by Chazmort

When I was only 3 or so, we would take the MBTA subways across the Boston area. I only remember being on the Orange and Blue lines. Then, in Michigan, we lived across a vacant lot from the Ann Arbor RR, long before it became the TSBY. My Dad was from Wyoming and my Mom from Nebraska. Both grew up in towns right on the UP line. A few years ago I visited that town in Nebraska and was awake much of the night listening to freights blow through town. It was great.

Going to take a stab at this an ask if it was Alliance NE?

Mook

[Anonymous]

QUOTE: Originally posted by Scottydog

For me, I guess, it was as a kid and we were leaving on the family vacation. It was during the steam era, after we were settled in the coach, my Dad would take me and my brother out on the platform and up to the head of the train to look at this monster hissing steam and letting out little groans. I guess railroads have always meant something good was about to happen. Maybe I sound corny but that's how I feel. How about you?

My parents used to take me to the railroad station in Brantford, Ontario, when I was a kid to see the big steam engines come lumbering in, stop, and after people & luggage got off and on, start up again heading either East or West. I've never forgotten the sounds, the smells and the earth vibrating as we could stand within 10 feet of the tracks. When I was older I used to ride the train between Brantford & Toronto every weekend while going to school in Toronto. Diesels had replaced steam by then of course. The station is still there and in use today. I should go back and see it again.

[Anonymous]

QUOTE: Originally posted by Scottydog

For me, I guess, it was as a kid and we were leaving on the family vacation. It was during the steam era, after we were settled in the coach, my Dad would take me and my brother out on the platform and up to the head of the train to look at this monster hissing steam and letting out little groans. I guess railroads have always meant something good was about to happen. Maybe I sound corny but that's how I feel. How about you?

My parents used to take me to the railroad station in Brantford, Ontario, when I was a kid to see the big steam engines come lumbering in, stop, and after people & luggage got off and on, start up again heading either East or West. I've never forgotten the sounds, the smells and the earth vibrating as we could stand within 10 feet of the tracks. When I was older I used to ride the train between Brantford & Toronto every weekend while going to school in Toronto. Diesels had replaced steam by then of course. The station is still there and in use today. I should go back and see it again.

[johncolley]

In '47 my stepdad was a 22 year conductor on S.P. After he died in May '48 we travelled on pass until I was 18. all up and down the west coast. For a lot of years I was an S.P. fan, but now I've retired in the northwest I model G.N. in HO.