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The Love of Trains - Some Things Don't Change! Journals/Blogs
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Frequent poster 890 posts Verne Niner Frequent poster 890 posts
Verne Niner

Some things don’t change...including many traits in ourselves and the people we know best. We can always change our behavior when motivated or compelled to do so...to quit smoking, lose weight, etc. But as research has shown, our personalities and preferences that form as a young child tend to be the foundation that helps define us through our lives.

 

So it has been with me and my lifelong fascination with trains. Several years ago, my father (also a train fan) shared with me a photo taken when I was 4, and my hair was as red as a new penny:

 

age-0000.jpg 

 

As I recall, I was playing on some old mining equipment in a small roadside park during a family picnic in Arizona’s copper country, shortly after my family’s move to Arizona in 1964. This photo was taken in Hayden, one of a string of copper mining communities along US Highway 60 east of Phoenix. In the background, you can see some composite gondolas dating back to the 1940s. Big trains, little trains...I am a happy guy!

 

Fast forward to last winter, when a family road trip took us through Hayden. There was the old locomotive and mining cars that I dimly remembered:

 

ingloco3.jpg 

 

The park has been rearranged, and the locomotive was turned around, but comparing photos proved the Jeffrey storage battery locomotive was the same one I found so interesting back in ’64! It was great to see it again, and relive the memories. If you compare the two photos, you can see the original fence is still there, although the plant and tracks behind it have been removed. A pipeline following the fence is also still there, and the trees in the park have grown considerably.

 

I suppose then it's no mystery that I am modeling a copper mining railroad in On30, as my latest project in a lifetime of model railroading. It would be fun to build a model of this locomotive to bring things full circle. Just goes to show, some things don’t change!

ne-alt-1.JPG 

See my website here: The  Maverick Canyon Branch of the Rio Grande Southern 
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Virginian and Lake Erie Super User 9,224 posts
Virginian and Lake Erie

some things

I think it's great that you were able to relive some of those memories. My parents are gone now but many of the things I do, model railroading is one of them, brings back found memories of them.

Rob in Texas

MRH Blog / Prep for an Operating Session / Delving Into the Past / The Club Blog / Youtube / etmrc.org
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fernpoint MRH Contrib. Editor 1,931 posts
fernpoint

Memories are Priceless

Hi Verne

Your photograph from the 60’s sparked off some great memories for me.

I was born in ’55 and because steam hung around in the UK for quite a lot longer than the US, I was fortunate to experience first hand (albeit through a child’s eyes) the fascination of steam.

The annual vacation visit to Newcastle Central Station was hugely exciting and the sights (and more vividly, smells) are crystal clear in my memory.

The hustle of the porters moving luggage, the flags and whistles of the guards all set the scene for steam hauled main line passenger travel into the highlands of Scotland.

Passing over the Forth Rail Bridge (WW2 Submarines in the breakers yards below!!), cinders in my eyes – just superb………….

The world moves on and things do change. Unfortunately I have no personal steam related photos of this time, but in many ways the memories alone are better. I had no idea then that the steam bug would stick with me for the next 50+ years, but here we are………….

Many thanks for posting your atmospheric photo – it catalysed some great memories for me

Rob

Cornhill & Atherton RR
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IronBeltKen Super User 659 posts
IronBeltKen

Childhood Influence on Modeling Preference

My pre-teen childhood memories of growing up in southeast Michigan have definitely affected my choice of region and era.  

Since age 13 I've been living in central Maryland, an area rich in rocky terrain, tunnels, truss bridges, and a lot of railroading history.  Yet, my layout aims to reflect a typical 1970-era steel mill on the Cuyahoga River in Cleveland, OH, since I always dreamed of modeling a 1:87 scale Great Lakes ore boat like the ones I saw on the Detroit River (you won't find any of those in MD). I've also named my adjoining towns after Cleveland suburbs.  [You're probably wondering: "Why Cleveland and not Detroit?"  Because the B&O didn't serve Detroit, and I met a lot of great people on the B&O when I chased - and sometimes even rode - trains on that line as a teenager.]

The last steam locos were retired shortly before I was born, so I never actually saw any of those in regular revenue service.  Accordingly, my roster contains a lot of geeps and F-units since they were what defined railroading for me during my impressionable years.

 

IBKen
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Verne Niner Frequent poster 890 posts
Verne Niner

Thanks

I am glad the post provided an opportunity for others to relive some of their favorite memories.

ne-alt-1.JPG 

See my website here: The  Maverick Canyon Branch of the Rio Grande Southern 
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