Hello there,
The Cliff notes of my life, Born on 9-11 in ’55 Grew up on a small farm about 12 miles south of Altoona PA. Still live there. Model rockets, trains and dirt bikes were my main interest’s growing up. During Sr. High the list was narrowed to racing motorcycles and girls. Married Mrs in Nov of ’75. Two kids. Daughter in ’78 and Son in ’81. Both doing fine and living nearby.
Racing interest continues to this day but I quit competing in ’13. Now I support Son, Grandson (daughters boy) and the son of a friend.
Trains returned to prominence when son started expressing interest about ’84. I refurbished the 4x8 I’d built early in high School and ran trains til son lost interest. About that time I found the 1st issue of CTT and started collecting Gilbert HO a couple years later. Due to limited production I have all the easy stuff and only buy the hard stuff if it’s a bargain basement price.(the guy doesn’t know what he has) I’ve expanded to late 50’s early 60’s RTR that strikes my fancy and is cheap. Also been dabbling with prewar a bit. Have Dad’s 254E set.
Still farming as well but son does most of it. We have 4 beef and 7 chickens. Mainly because I like to hear the rooster crow.
Started working for Blair Electric July of 73. Spent 44 years there except for a long layoff during ’82-’84 I spent 18 month emptying trash cans and changing light bulbs at Nason Hospital. During the early years work was primarily coal preparation plants and heavy industry. As that went away we moved to commercial stuff. Big box stores and hotels. Fall of 99 I moved from the field to the office and became estimator. Then through attrition Construction Manager/Estimator.
During the last several weeks the owner succumbed to Pancreatic Cancer and the heirs opted to close the company. Another firm bought the assets and hired most of the men. Could go to the new company but I’ve decided to retire instead of starting over in something that became less fun each year. Finally gonna build the layout I’ve been planning and buying stuff for. My last day will probably be the end of November..
My last day was November 3rd 2017. I collected unemployment til May. Got my 1st SS check June 20 of '18. Mrs is still working so I've been a House Husband although not to her standards. I've decided to do a couple of home improvement projects in lieu of paying some one before I start my layout . I'm now on fixed income, gotta watch my pennies. Really starting to wonder how I had time to work.