My wife and I sashayed over to Arizona for a couple of days of relaxation, and I arranged to have lunch with Jonathan Peiffer, who posts here as GG14877. We had exchanged an occasional email over the last couple of years, so it was already established that he and I would probably get along well. What a fine fellow he turned out to be. We had a very nice visit over fish & chips and a very cold beer; then he took me to see the Paradise & Pacific hi-rail club layout. They really have a nice place and a good layout for running trains, thanks to a wealthy land owner who funded a trust to create and maintain the McCormack Stillman Railroad Park in Scottsdale. The railroad park has some prototype equipment on display, a scale train to ride on, and a beautifully built and maintained building housing three model railroad club layouts (and a shop area for each layout). It's well worth a visit for anyone going to or passing through Phoenix. It's first class.
Jonathan is a generation younger than I am, and we grew up on opposite coasts, so we had an interesting discussion comparing the quite different train watching experiences of our respective youths. There was still plenty in common, as railroading has so much that's universal. While we were at lunch, we lifted a glass to Scott Mann, having additional common ground in our admiration for Scott and Sunset/3rd Rail/Golden Gate Depot.
This Forum has facilitated the formation a lot of friendships among O gaugers, and I am pleased to have made another one in Jonathan.
