Dont Forget The Old Timers!!!

What an amazing post!

My professional life largely consists of serving our brightest and best. I started listening to their stories quite some time ago.

Thanks again for your great story!

Those old guys are "Wizards" you know...cherish them like a fine wine vintage, because they make them less and less as time goes on.

Amen  Great story. And yes try to remember these older gentlemen. I know there are many of them reading these posts that don't get the reconition  from any one. and they offer some of the best advice out there. Because they had the same problem years ago when there was no internet to run to and get the advise we do on a daily basis. So remember they are out their. Popi Thanks for remembering this Old Timer & sharing your story with us.   Scot

Great story Popi.  Good lesson for all of us to remember.  It is so easy to get caught up in what we are doing and forget or ignore those around us.

 

Art 

Wonderful anecdote!

The old expression that you miss people the most when they are gone sure applies to our story. But it was very nice that you got to know and recognize him during the times you shared this train show and purchased this car in recognition of your friendship.

I can't resist sharing this:

1. I had an old client who was a Pearl Harbor survivor-but army. He was diving under jeeps at Hickam during the attack. He signed my book from Time-Life about the Pearl Harbor attack, then passed away not too long afterwards.

 

2. I bought a classic car in Grass Valley,Ca. years ago. Found the original owner's info under the back seat as I was beginning the restoration. I became friends with he and his wife, and he got to see his old car restored. They are both gone now...

Great story.

Nice story!  
thank you

Popi,

 

I was taught at a early age to always listen to what a old timer has to say because there is a lot of knowledge in his words. Thanks for sharing the story.

 

Joe B.

Great story!  Thanks for sharing.  It is so nice to see a story about an older gentleman set up at a train show and he not be called "grumpy" or "smelly old man" like so many threads we see posted on this forum.

 

I have been doing shows for over 30 years and have meet many who seem to fit your description.  Unfortunately, I have not taken the time I should have to get to know them better.  Once you realize they are no longer setting up, you always wonder what happened to them.

 

Last year I started taking pictures of all those who set up and have started a photo album to help remember them.

 

Happy railroading,

Don

 

 

your welcome Lee, Thanks for the input and expertise!!

Don,

he was a true gentleman and would go out of his way to help you with anything.

he had a way of making you feel like you were worth the time it took for him to stop for a sec and see how your day was going.

 

Malcolm

Art

I started a tradition about 3-4 years ago. Got the addresses of the guys and gals I see at the train shows in northern and central New York State that I run my board at. at Christmas time I send them a train related Christmas card that I make on the computer.

they love getting correspondence after the shows are over.

 

thanks

Malcolm

Alan,

I feel humbled as I try to glean info and Help from the Older folks at the shows. many times they will come to me to have me fix something or test something on my board to try and sell. I have helped them sell and fix many trains over the years and gladly offer up what ever my feable mind can muster.

 

Thanks

Malcolm

I've had the chance to meet some of the great older gentlemen of the hobby through train shows. When I saw that my table was next to those of Joe Ranker, or John Marron, or Lou Redman, or other collector greats, I knew I was in for a good day.

 

But, there were many lesser known collectors, too, whose knowledge was amazing.

 

Listening to their stories all day was priceless. Wish I had them all on tape.

 

Jim

What a great thread.  I can think of three people that have passed on that were some

or a great deal of influence on me in this hobby, all of them well known Marx collectors, plus a fourth well known Flyer collector whose location now I do not know,

and, fortunately, still living, a fourth Marx collector in the Chicago area.

I never knew them away from shows, except the Flyer collector, with whom I worked.

Photographing and making a file of these people sounds like a good idea I wish I

had thought of years ago.

That is such a good/sad story.  Good thread.  Yes, time with the old timers is priceless no matter what their area of interest or experience.  Too bad we usually don't learn that until many have passed on.

My train hobby is an important inspiration for me to stay healthy and in shape so I can climb "under and up" the hatches and climb on top of my 12 X 24 layout. I'm looking forward to my 78th birthday and lots of train action in February.

 

"When an older person passes, a library dies."

 

Wally

Popi, great post! You are so right, learn and get to know your elders and listen to what they have to say while you still have the chance to do so. Only God knows when theirs or your number will be called and pass on whatever you can to someone else too. I'm glad I tried to listen whenever family members told me about history whether they had experienced it themselves or it had been passed down through others to them. I learned more about the Old Wild West, the Great Depression,  WW I & II, and other great moments in history and life experiences than any history book.  I had a grandfather who worked for the Lehigh Valley Railroad back in the early  1900's but I can't remember exactly when. His son ( my uncle ) fought in the Battle of the Bulge in WWII and for a while after WWII he also worked for a while for the Lehigh Valley Railroad too before making a career at Kodak. He was also into O Gauge Railroading with a beautiful layout, first one I ever saw & he got my dad to get my brother & I started into O Gauge trains as kids. They're all gone except my brother & I but we'll never forget what they taught us. Thank you all for everything every one here has taught me about trains. Popi,  I'll see you at Syracuse Nov. 1st.

I was born in 1936 and I will really appreciate your assistance and respect when I become "an old timer", if any of you are still around.

I consider myself lucky because Mom and Dad were older when they had me and that meant their friends were older and had a lot of good stories. Three of my grandparents were still here, and their childhood memories were from the 1890s into the turn of the 20th century. Sometimes the other kids (teens, by that time) weren't interested in theit stories, so I got them all to myself. 

 

One thing we'd like to do when Tom retires is put together a module we could take to nursing homes. The population is heavily female, but that doesn't mean everything has to be aimed at stereotypical women in their upper eighties. Ten years ago, a lot of the local places assumed women were all housewives, only to have their rooms filled with aging Rosie the Riveters like our aunt. There are many lonely, often bored people who love to see old trains and reminisce about them. Anyone looking to get rid of old train magazines could do a lot worse than check with a local home and drop them off if the staff approves.

 

--Becky 

 

 

Lord willing, I'll be around.  Born in '56.  Certainly will give assistance if able, and certainly respect regardless.

My parents were older too (40 and 37), now both deceased, and I am 52.

No brothers or sisters, as my mother had 11 miscarriages (10 the doctor killed, 1 killed by a bath tub fall, and my brother died a week after birth).

No nursing home for me, as I am hoping that I live long enough to see age 70, at which time medical science can replace any worn out or bad parts with artificial ones.

Thus, no more elderly folks...just cybergenically enhanced elderly folks who now have the super hero physical ability to match their tried and true "old stock" Wisdom.

A good story, Popi!  I think a good way to honor that 'old timer's memory is to one

day be the 'old timer' yourself at the train shows.

 

     Hoppy

Im getting there, Im 55 now and my kids think

im an oldtimer

I grew up in northern Utah, in the heart of all that Rocky Mountain history.  I since have travelled to and through many historical ares and lived in several more.

 

Now some 70 years on I regret very little..... except not having recorded the many conversations I had with the 'Old Timers' I met along the way.

Popi:

 

Yes, a very nice story about your late friend.  Now is there any chance that the Corning Hopper car you bought was HIS CAR?  That would really complete the story! 

 

How would you know if it’s his car?  Well that car is the LCCA Convention car for 1974 and back in those days the LCCA personalized each convention car by stamping the purchasing member’s number on it with a black rubber stamp.  I have mine and my number is stamped on the underside right on the bottom of one of the hopper doors. 

 

Unless you know for sure that it is not his car, if you could let us know the number stamped on the underside perhaps Al Kolis or some other LCCA officer on this Forum can let you know what member has or used to have that number.

 

BTW since I’ve been a member of the LCCA (and also the TCA) for 40 years, I guess that makes me an old-timer, too!

 

Bill

Great story Popi

It seems every train show I go to I meet a new seasoned citizen wanting to share his experiences and knowledge. I always make time for them and try to make them feel appreciated. We should be considerate and remember many of the old timers have fewer and fewer surviving friends each year. They aren't computer savvy, know nothing about social media and don't have a lot of opportunities to get out and socialize with people who share their particular interests. So for some, the few shows they get to each year are attended with high expectations of meeting old friends who won't or can't show up. And it may be the the only time they actually feel their still making a contribution. It's a small thing to spend time with them in hopes they don't walk away from the show feeling diminished and disappointed.

 

Bill

I don't think that's his car, I bought it after he died and found it at a store when we were visiting the train related areas around Lancaster PA.

Thanks, Ill see if there is a number on it and get back to you.

 

Malcolm

Sadly, we live in a "throw-away society and that relates to our older folks in many, many ways, especially in the work-a-day work. My son watched his mentor get chewed up and thrown away at age 50 by the company he was working for. Two twenty year olds who had no experience were cheaper for the company. But what about that mentor's experience and dedication to the company? Worthless to them; priceless to him. My son shortly afterwards left there, too, went back top grad school, changed his career, and now he is a middle school principal in SF CA, happy as a lark, and glad he isn't being beaten up by the corporate world, and proud to be doing something to pass on his knowledge to future generations via education. 

 

Sadly, the same things happen in our model railroading hobby as well. The leaders of the past have become (or are being) forgotten. Fortunately some of them wrote about their experiences, layouts and experiences in the hobby. But not all and their pasts need to be remembered.

 

On my WSR layout I have nearly a dozen original buildings built by Frank Ellison on his New Orleans Delta Llnes; several buildings from Bill Hopping's Madison Central Railroad and other buildings created by still living O scale modeler Herm Botzow. I am proud to have preserved these things, but as I get older and health issues begin to dominate my days more and more, I worry about their future, as there will come a time when my layout will have to be dismanteled. Perhaps some museum might accept these priceless treasures as a donation, but there aren't any guarantees they will not eliminate them from their collections in the future. An auction sale might work better for me financially,  but might only split the collection into smaller pieces. It's sad to think about, really.

 

These things need to be preserved for future generations, but fewer and fewer folks today even know who/what Frank Ellison, Bill Hopping or Herm Botzow were or are. And I am sure any of you can think of other O gauge senior citizens to whom we owe a debt of gratitude for who they were and what they gave to us. Over the years I have photographed dozens of layouts whose owners are now deceased or which were torn down and a lot of great ideas and people exist only in the photographic records I created. It would be nice to publish books about them and their contributions but costs to do so would be prohibitive and sales to cover those costs minimal.

 

Good post, Popi! Thanks for jogging our memories.

 

Fred Dole

Popi:

 

OK, I assumed you had bought it at a show in the area where you both had lived.  But it’s out there somewhere so keep looking, you may still find it.  We just need to know what his LCCA membership number was.  I now see that you have given his name in your initial posting so I will go through my old LCCA Directories and look him up and let you know off-line what his number was.

 

Bill

I count myself blessed because my family.Such as my grandfather and uncle and aunts.Told me stories about growing up in the years around 1930 and 1940s.My grandmother used to tell me about all the trains around ww2.You see she was 12 years old at the time.She told me about the depression.My family grew their food but they would go to town to get a few things.Yes my family got to see alot go down.I had a uncle who was in the navy during ww2.There are all gone now.And to me the world is a darker place now.We need to rember that they have something we could learn from them.And all we have to do is stop and take the time to listen.

My late Uncle Frank would qualify.  Every Christmas he built a big PW layout with all of the latest stuff that took up the whole living room.  I think that he ran 4 trains.  There was no room to walk around or sit.  My cousin Frankie had limited access to the controls as I remember.  I guess that is why all of his stuff is mint.

I had other uncles that always walked me down to the Pennsy Mainline to see the trains and wave to the engineers and conductors.  They would gualify also.

Norm