Long ago and far away....Nah, that's another story....Ahem...On Christmas Day in 1951, I got my first electric train. Santa had dutifully come in the night and there under the tree was a large box. And in the box was a pair of Lionel No. 2023 Union Pacific diesels, followed by a No. 6456 Lehigh hopper car, a No. 6465 Sunoco double dome tanker car, a yellow No. 6656 stock car and bringing up the rear was the No. 6357 illuminated caboose. Also in the box was a circle of track and a Lionel No. 1033 transformer. Once assembled on the floor, the magic began.
Imagine. You could control the speed (and with MagneTraction on the lead engine, this could be pretty fast), run backwards, blow the horn, and generally begin to think about becoming a real engineer. In the beginning, the train only appeared at Christmas when the circle of track was assembled under the tree. In later years, the gateman, some uncoupling track section, a cattle unloader, and other accessories arrived. On that same first-train Christmas, my brother received a steam train with its own consist, which he too still has to this day. So, while in high school, we constructed a layout in the basement. By that time, we had acquired a Lionel KW dual control transformer, so we could run both trains at the same time. Grown and out of the house, the trains were packed up for fifty years, until rediscovered when clearing out the family home. Having made the decision not to leave them in a box for the fifty years, my current layout came into being. A layout, as most you know, that has gotten completely out of hand. That original box is long gone, but I still have that first train. Do you still have your first train? I'm sure you remember it. How about sending our editor a not, and perhaps a picture, beginning with the sentence, "My first train was a..." and maybe in the future we can use it as a blog post here or in our clubs newsletter. Stay on the rails... Lowell Baughan
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My love of trains can be directly traced back to a vacation taken with Mom and Dad around 1954 or 55, when we traveled out to the Western states, to include the Grand Canyon, Yosemite Nation Park, and Yellowstone National Park. Somewhere out in Wyoming, where roads run straight as a beeline, right next to the railroad tracks for mile upon mile, we were in a 1951 Oldsmobile 88 2-door Sedan (green, if I remember correctly), and I noticed a steam locomotive coming up from behind us, and gaining rapidly. Mom took a picture of it for me as it passed us, the fireman giving us a friendly wave. Dad always liking a challenge, decided that he was going to race that locomotive. There was no other automobile traffic, so he felt perfectly safe. That is, until her realized that the Oldsmobile was doing 90 mph and the locomotive was still pulling away. The was magnificent to me, especially since the line of freight cars stretched being it as far as the eye could see. Later on, Mom's photo showed it to be a Union Pacific Big Boy 4-8-8-4, thundering along at close to 100 mph. That's the main reason, over 60 years later, that my HO layout showcases the Union Pacific.
Although I became fascinated with real trains of all kinds from that point on, model trains had to wait fro another couple years. Right before Christmas 1957, the family made plans to visit my grandparents in Morristown, OH, for a week or so. At the last moment, Dad, being the control tower chief at Columbus International Airport, suddenly announced that he couldn't make the trip - it was urgent that he remain at the Tower - so Mom and I would have to go without him. It was Christmas Day when we returned, and what a surprise awaited me! Dad had actually stated behind in order to build a 4' x 8' HO train layout for me, complete with a Varney Casey Jones 4-6-0 train set. Wow! It was the proverbial "Best Christmas Ever!". I enjoyed and expanded that layout over the years until we moved to Virginia in 1959, and on until I became interested in other things. The layout and trains languished in that basement in Arlington, Va until Mom passed away. The good news is that the layout was brought out here to Luray, VA when Gayle and I moved here in 1986, and no resides in our basement. I still have the entire Varney Casey Jones set #35, complete with all boxes, and it still runs. In 1996, while recovering from my first heart attack, I decided to begin work on my "dream layout". Having always wanted a layout that could not be seen in its entirety from any one point, I have worked on if off and on since 1996, and even completed the first continuous loop with a "golden spike" ceremony (I used a brass brad nail!) in 1999. Most of you have seen it through the years of construction, but a brand new expansion is currently underway, including a portion of the late Howard Pritchard's layout, bought from is estate. Guess I'll never quite finish it, as long as I can come up with more ideas. -Bill Price I remember the Alaska Railroad from the four years I spent stationed at Eielson Air Force Patch just south of Fairbanks. I remember it partly because of the bright yellow and dark blue colors of the diesel engines and partly because we saw a lot of engines on base hauling in coal for the base power plant. The power plant not only supplied electricity for the base but also supplied steam for heating the buildings. (There's a story there but has nothing to do with the Alaska Railroad so I'll skip that one.) We also saw a lot of the trains because the main route paralleled the (George) Parks Highway running from Fairbanks south past Denali National Park to Anchorage, a route we drove numerous times. From Anchorage the rail lines then heads across the Kenai Peninsula to the ports of Whittier, on Prince William Sound, and Seward, on Resurrection Bay. The mainline is over 470 miles long with a number of sidings and rail yards. Although the rail line runs only in Alaska, there are rail barges that can be loaded and moved through the inside passage to allow connections to the lower 48 states. The Alaska Railroad actually began in 1903, when a company called the Alaska Central Railroad began to build a line from Seward northward. By 1909, the company had 51 miles of rail line carrying passengers, freight, and mail to the upper Turnagain Arm where everything and everyone was taken by boat, god team, or pack train to the Matanuska-Susitna Valley, then the agricultural center of the territory. Unfortunately, the Alaska Northern Railroad, bought the Alaska Central rail line and extended it another 21 miles allowing the owners to mainly use small boats from that point to move goods and passengers. However, that company also failed to turn enough profit and it entered receivership in 1914. About that time the United States government was planning a railroad from Seward to the interior town of Fairbanks. President William Howard Taft had authorized a commission to survey a route in 1912 and in 1914, the government bought that Alaskan Northern, which became known as the Alaska Railroad, and moved the headquarters, and began to extend the rail line northward. In 1917, the Tanana Valley Railroad in Fairbanks, a 45 mile, narrow gauge line, was also heading into bankruptcy. The government bought that railroad and some of its narrow gauge line was converted to dual gauge to complete the line from Seward to Fairbanks. The government also extended the south portion of the Tanana Valley Railroad to Nenana on the Tanana River and in 1923 built a 700 foot bridge across the river to complete the final link in the line. At the time it was completed the bridge was the second longest single-span steel railroad bridge in the US. President Warren G. Harding was on hand to drive the golden spike to complete the railroad on July 15th, 1923. President Harding may have been better served to let someone else do the honors as he died on return to San Francisco from a heart attack. In 1944, the Alaska Railroad bought its first diesel locomotive. The last steam locomotive was retired in 1966. In 2011, the ling reacquired the last steam locomotive that had been purchased new by the railroad, a Baldwin 2-8-0 Consolidation engine, No. 557, built in 1944. The 557 had been purchased by Monte Holm, moved to the lower 48 and displayed in the House of Poverty Museum in Moses Lake, Washington. In was purchased on Holm's death by Jim and Vic Jansen and returned to the Alaska Railroad on condition that it be restored. The engine was then sold for $1.00 to the Engine 557 Restoration Company and the restoration is currently underway. In 1984, the Governor of Alaska, established the Alaska Railroad Corporation and in 1985, the state purchased the Alaska Railroad from the US government fro $22.3 million and immediately invested another $70 million into long needed infrastructure improvements. The purchase agreement prohibits the Alaska Railroad from paying dividends or otherwise running capital to the state of Alaska. In addition to freight the Alaska Railroad offers several passenger services including the Denali Star between Anchorage and Fairbanks, the Aurora Winter Train running the same route as the Denali Start but only on weekends from September 15th through May 15th, the Coastal Classic from Anchorage to Seward, the Glacier Discovery from Anchorage to Whittier, and the Hurricane Turn, one of the last flag-stop routes in the US, between Talkeetna and Hurricane. Article written by Jim Cartmill
Sources Jim Cartmill and Wikipedia |
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PCRCThe Page County Railroad Club has a wealth of railroad information shared between it's members. In this blog we will do our best to share that knowledge. Archives
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