I guess that you can say that my interest goes to WAY back before I was born, to about the Depression Era actually. My great-grandfather was a shop forman for the Lehigh Valley Railroad in the road's famed Sayre Shops, so that will explain my infatuation with the Lehigh Valley. When I was just in K-4, I got a Bachmann 45mm gauge Southern 4-6-0 and Santa Fe 4-6-0. I don't know why they got me those engines in particular, but it wasn't the best idea. Both engines recieved enough abuse from me derailing them on sharp curves that I put them on display tracks in my layout room, maybe to never run again. When I was in 3rd grade, I recieved a Lionel New York Central Freight Flyer O gauge set, which still runs in top-notch condition today (granted the smoke unit was choked out by someone wanting it to "billow" like a real steam engine ). I got several K-Line freight cars to run with the set and still have them. I got into N scale a few years back thanks to a Bachmann set from 1999. Some of the cars found their way onto my logging themed N scale Barclay, Towanda and Susquehanna Railroad layout. Unlike a typical logging railroad, the BT&S hauls in raw lumber from around the line instead of building cheap track into the backwoods of the sawmill's complex, since trucking pretty much took over this part of the industry, so don't expect any Shays or Climaxes on the railroad anytime soon! Right at the start of 2012, I got a 6464-425 New Haven Boxcar, which ignited my interest in postwar Lionel. I might have to build several shelves for I have collected more postwar items than I currently have space for!

1,000 posts made on this date: April 21, 2013