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
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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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