Real and Model Trains

I'm with you once again, Arnold!  I have nothing to contribute, but I would like to hear from others who do.

Search for some posts by @laming.  He's a recently-retired real railroader.  O ver the years he's shared some of his "faith journey" with model trains and O gauge trains which I've found helpful.

I was born & raised in a railroad family, and received my first "around the Christmas Tree" Lionel set, for Christmas 1944. My dad would take me down to the CRRofNJ yard in Cranford, NJ, and we would watch the big 0-8-0 switch for hours. As I grew, trains grew with me. The Lionel stuff was eventually traded for HO scale equipment, and I spent way too much time at the DL&W tower in Summit, NJ, as we moved from Cranford to Chatham, in 1956. I enjoyed learning from the Towmen, Engineers, Conductors, and Trainmen on the DL&W. I applied for a summer job as a Hostler, in Hoboken Terminal, in 1959. My mother could see the "hand writing on the wall" concerning the direction I was heading!

My mother did NOT want me to go to work for a railroad, and insisted I attend college, and "get a good job". Thus, I was hired right out of college by EMD, and began my diesel locomotive career on June 1, 1962. What with all the full time traveling, I didn't get much chance for model railroading. I still loved steam locomotive, and began to develop a "dual career" with EMD, and main line steam locomotives, eventually being assigned to lesion with #4449 and the Chief Mechanical Officer of the American Freedom Train, in the summer of 1975.

Eventually, with a house, and a grown family, I got back into 3RS model railroading, in about 1990. My professional work in prototype locomotives, both steam and diesel, produced the desire for more prototypical modeling with properly weathered locomotives, rolling stock, track, and scenery. It has all been VERY rewarding. 

Hot Water, thanks for sharing your experiences with real and model railroads and trains, which you clearly love.  What you said in your reply is exactly what I was hoping for when I started this topic.

It just occurred to me that although I have no experiences working for a real railroad or operating a real train, I am very interested in reading about the real Put, have several booklets and books about The Put, have some features of The Put on my layout, am interested in adding more such features (more as caricatures, not scale models) of the real Put, and have a few models of locomotives that ran on The Put that I cherish. 

I have photos that show features of my "The Put" models, which I have posted on other threads, and which I may post here later on.

Of course, I have many experiences as a passenger and observer of real trains, which have impacted my model railroad and railroading, and which I will also share here later on.

At this point, I am more interested in what you folks say about this topic before I say anything more about it. Arnold

Of late I have been attempting to acquire locomotives I remember as a child.  Specifically, NKP and Erie.

Lou N

Hot Water,

I'm impressed by what you did in your career.

Being retired, I know that it's important to look back on one's career with satisfaction rather than regrets. You are fortunate to feel rewarded by your career.

MELGAR

Arnold, In 1980-82,  I was a MP assigned to Commander US Army Europe. When he would travel by train, it was a diesel engine

and 2 car consist. I would ride up in the cab with engineer. Probably was 1960s equipment, immaculately maintained. Didn't happen often,

but when it did, I was in 7th heaven.  

Guten Tag Arnold!  I saw this new thread late last evening but was just too tired to reply.  Will see what I can do to help answer some of your questions.  First, about me.  I'm not going to rewrite my biography here on the OGR Forum for fear Alan will delete same and ban me from taking part on the Forum now and in the future as well......LOL. 

Seriously, I'm just kidding of course, however the best place to properly introduce myself to OGR readers can be found on the Railroad Evangelist Association web site.  The REA has revised their website, but since it hasn't been updated on the www.railserve.com site yet, save yourself a trip to nowhere in the event you use this great server.  If you'll Google railroad evangelistic association you'll bring up their revised site, or best, just use their new web address which reads:   www.railhopeamerica.com 

On the REA Home Page tip MORE and proceed to LINKS.  Here you'll be able to read select back issues of All Aboard, the REA magazine, online for FREE!  Editor Joe Spooner (a former Burlington Northern employee) asked me to submit something about myself so he could include it in an upcoming issue.  As a result, the artical can be found in the Summer 2015 issue, on page eight and nine.  Looking back on that time, when Joe asked me, he must have really been hurt up for something to fill the pages of All Aboard......LOL

To bring my "bio" up to date, I didn't return to the States as planned, but remained here in Germany due to health issues.  Fast Forward to 2020.  It is DONE!   I know now that the Lord wanted me here, and not anywhere else on this, our poor polluted planet.  Don't misunderstand me, I'm not one of the, what I call Environ-Mental-Illness Nuts, but do believe each and everyone of us must do his and her part to save our planet starting NOW.  It is a MUST for us to make it as green as humanly possible to insure that our children, and their children's children, can also have a place in God's Great Universe they can call home.  This is Fact, NOT Fiction!  We, as responsible human beings, owe it to them, PERIOD!

On a lighter subject, it should be noted that one of the all time best photographs of yours truly was taken by my late best friend friend, Robert E. Taff (RIP).  It took place in 1995 on a railfan trip one day so we could catch Amtrak and CSX trains on film in Auburndale, Florida.  I happened to be on vacation at the time, far far away from Germany and my employer, Deutsche Bundesbahn.  I was employed as a service rep for DB at the main passenger station in Nuremberg, a famous city in Northern Bavaria well known for it's delicious gingerbread cookies, which are very popular during the Christmas holiday season. 

Nuremberg also happens to be the birthplace of the very first railway in Germany, Der Ludwigsbahn.  On December 7, 1835, the British built steam locomotive, Der Adler (The Eagle), made it's very first revenue run from the original train depot which was located at Plärrer, a short distance north of today's Hauptbahnhof, terminating in the neighboring city of Fürth/Bayern.  Today, Plärrer serves as a major junction where one can board or transfer to streetcars, subways (U Bahn) and/or busses, which will transport a person in all directions in and around the City of Nuremberg and surrounding areas.

Nuremberg is also home to a really fine train shop, Modellbahn Ritzer, where owner Rainer Knoch always greets customers with a warm welcome.  He offers model trains and vehicles (including rare tinplate), in all sizes and gauges.  From Z to G, you're bound to find something of interest.  His web site (in German and English) can be found at www.modellbahnritzer.de   A visit is well worth your time.  Note the double "l" in modell. 

So folks, that pretty well takes care of who I am.  With OGR's permission, I'd like to take this opportunity to ask those of you who haven't subscribed to O Gauge Railroading magazine and/or become a Supporting Member to PLEASE consider doing so.  The REA would also like to invite active and retired railroaders, railfans, and model railroaders, to become members as well.  Membership is FREE, but like OGR, in these trying times sincerely appreciate any $$$ support to insure that they can continue their service obligations not only in the U.S.A. but around the world as well.

A Final Note: All Aboard now includes a Rail Fan & Model Railroader page.  I'm sure Edititor Joe Spooner would be more than happy to accept material from OGR Railroaders.  Read the Summer 2020 All Aboard online to see what I mean.  If you desire to send Joe anything related to this new section, please feel free to contact him.  Your contribution will help make All Aboard a better magazine.  No specific scale, anything from Z to G, will be welcomed by Joe!

Thank you,

Joseph Toth Jr.

The Trinity River Bottoms Boomer of Dallas, Texas, Currently "Derailed" in Deutschland

Godspeed One and All and Please Pray for World Peace

We owe it to our children and their children's children!

Joseph, I read your article in the Summer 2015 REA and poked around the Website a bit.  This is the first I have heard of the REA and I see railfans and modelers are encouraged also.  I'll spend some more time there and finish reading the current issue as well.  Thank you very much for writing the above post and sharing the link!  You really got around not only from Texas to Florida and back, but worked for railroads in Texas and Germany.  Thank you again!

You're welcome Mark.  I've always tried to keep a low profile but when Joe Spooner asked me to do a write up about my international railroad career I couldn't turn him down.  The REA was founded by an locomotive engineer was employed on the Atlantic Coast Line, the same railroad I tried to hire out on as a switchman in Tampa just after graduation from T.R. Robinson High School.  The ACL turned me down. 

Disappointed, just shy of passing Milepost 18, and w/o having my military obligation behind me (remember, in 1964 the U.S. still maintained the draft board) I decided to join up.  I signed on for a three year stint with the U.S. Army Transportation Corps and after attending the USATC school at Ft. Eustus, VA, was assigned to a German Army traffic office.  We coordinated German/US convoys in Germany, most which were enroute to/from training areas.  It was an indoor job which gave me plenty of free time to observe Deutsche Bundesbahn steam, diesel, and electric operations here in Ansbach/Bavaria.  Two major trunk lines crossed here, and still do to this day, albeit less steam of course.

I sincerely hope more OGR railroaders will check out the REA.  You'll be glad you did.  So will another man whose initials just happen to be JC.  That's not JC Penny either!

Godspeed

73

Joe