I was wondering what got everyone turned on to model railroading or rails in general. For me, it's in the blood. Both my grandfather and step-grandfather worked for the railroad. My step grandpa worked in a depot in Falmouth KY on the L&N and then later became a dispatcher. My grandpa worked for the C&O in Ashland KY but had too many jobs to count. He finished his career in the Raceland KY carshops and both grandfathers retired after their roads had been merged into CSX. So needless to say, I saw a lot of trains through them. But the model railraoding bug didn't bite me until 1994 when i saw a copy of Great Model Railroads in a hobby shop. In that issue I saw Gary Hovver's Missouri Kansas and Quincy and I was hooked. Form then on I've been into model railroading and now I've switched to N scale and having lots of fun. So, who or what inspired you?
Inspiration
- Thread starter CSXFan
- Start date
I used to yell and scream if my mum did not turn the pram around so I could see the train go past! I was gunna be a train driver! 
But never was......................
But never was......................
My Grandfather worked for CHICAGO, BURLINGTON & QUINCY in the Chicago yards as a dockhand, then after a heavy steel thingy got lowered onto his chest they moved him to crossing guard. When I was about 5 or 6 my uncle had an O gauge layout in his attic, nothing fancy, just track and trains. But the first time he let me run it I was hooked and that was 43 yrs ago. P.S. nobody ever really told me just what the heavy steel thingy was!!!!!!!!!!!!
P.S. nobody ever really told me just what the heavy steel thingy was!!!!!!!!!!!!
I don't know what it was exactly that got me into trains. I remember when I was very young seeing the trains at a small yard north of the big Settegast Yard in Houston. Plus, there was the SP railroad that ran by my elementary school (same road as the yard). I always loved watching the choo choos at the crossings.
My dad bought a train layout that someone had built. It was the Apex and Hypotenuse plan by Atlas, and it needed a lot of work to get it going. He and one of my brothers fixed it up. Before that I had a Tyco train set, but this was Heaven!
-Rory
My dad bought a train layout that someone had built. It was the Apex and Hypotenuse plan by Atlas, and it needed a lot of work to get it going. He and one of my brothers fixed it up. Before that I had a Tyco train set, but this was Heaven!
-Rory
Had a American Flyer layout on a door when I was a kid. Rode the train every summer from Fla. to N.C. and back from the time I was 6 till I was 15. In the late 70's my (now ex) wife got me a n-scale set as a stocking stuffer for Christmas. A week later I picked up a copy of MR at the local hobby shop (which I hadn't been in in years) and it was devoted almost entirely to the late John Allen's incrediable layout. That was it I was hooked again!
When I was 2, we visited my grandmother in Edinburgh. By the end of the summer I knew which tramcar took us to the museum downtown where they had a model of a stema locomotive. I could press a button and watch the wheels and rods go round.
Add in that we didn't have a car at that time (lived in a small town) and every time we left we went by train.
Add in that we didn't have a car at that time (lived in a small town) and every time we left we went by train.
My Grandfather was a 'lasher', then a pointsman waaaaaaay back turn of the century. But my Dad was a 40 year veteran Loco Engineer. We lived up a rise from the workshops and could look down on all the trains and bogeys in for service.
Spent many days on the footplate - specially school holidays.
My Dad was retired not long after diesels came in and steam went in the early '60's(he hated that), but it has taken me until my 50's to finally get the time (and the REAL space).
BTW - my Dad was known by all fellow railwaymen as "Ontime O'Brien" thats because he was GUARANTEED to get the train in on time before the pubs shut (6pm closing in those days) so all the Firemen just loved working with him because it meant they'd be sure to get a beer before going home..
Bruce
Spent many days on the footplate - specially school holidays.
My Dad was retired not long after diesels came in and steam went in the early '60's(he hated that), but it has taken me until my 50's to finally get the time (and the REAL space).
BTW - my Dad was known by all fellow railwaymen as "Ontime O'Brien" thats because he was GUARANTEED to get the train in on time before the pubs shut (6pm closing in those days) so all the Firemen just loved working with him because it meant they'd be sure to get a beer before going home..
Bruce
Ever since I can remember watching the Boston&Maine behind my dads furniture company and getting candy from the engineer.
Rory
A 'lasher' was my Dad's description of my Grandfather's first railway job. He used to "lash" goods onto flat cars etc. Dunno what else they would have called those guys I guess.
Maybe there's a fancier term for it but I doubt it...
bruce
A 'lasher' was my Dad's description of my Grandfather's first railway job. He used to "lash" goods onto flat cars etc. Dunno what else they would have called those guys I guess.
Maybe there's a fancier term for it but I doubt it...
bruce
railroading fun, CSX paint?
Hi, CSXFan! Glad to see someone else out there who likes CSX and it's old lines. I guess I always liked watching trains, but I never got into model railroading until my father-in-law introduced me to it about 5 or 6 years ago. He is from Pennsylvannia, and he is a big Pennsy fan. I like CSX and all it's old lines, especially the Chessie System. I have quite a few engines on my layout from the Chessie System. Hey, what do you think about CSX's new paint scheme?
Hi, CSXFan! Glad to see someone else out there who likes CSX and it's old lines. I guess I always liked watching trains, but I never got into model railroading until my father-in-law introduced me to it about 5 or 6 years ago. He is from Pennsylvannia, and he is a big Pennsy fan. I like CSX and all it's old lines, especially the Chessie System. I have quite a few engines on my layout from the Chessie System. Hey, what do you think about CSX's new paint scheme?
I have trains in my blood on my dad's side. My great-great grandfather was a switchmen on B&O's mainline in Martinsburg W.VA. way back when, I think about the turn of the century. When he set a switch a train came on the track he was working on, so he moved to the other track. Now this was on a bridge, so when I train came on the 2nd track you have reason to believe he was killed. A fellow switchmen found his still-intact bucket and put his bodyparts in it. Now I found the newspaper article on this and it said everything I did including the bucket part! I also come from a long of WM employies some as close as the early 60's. I got into N-scale when I got a Bachman set as a little kid.