pic: Jay H 237

[mrmummert]

Hello folks...

Besides Robotics..I'm a train nut too...My dad was a 30 year railroad conductor. He started with Penn Central just after the merger in 1969,then Conrail, then Amtrak. He passed away in 1999 after having worked earlier that
day. Dad worked with everything from GG-1's and E-7's up to the X-2000,the Ice Train and would have worked the Acela.I tried for years to get on with a railroad, but alas its not to be. It just never worked out for some reason.

During dad's years with the railroad (epsecially when I was a teen and in my
early 20's) I go to go along with him often and got to see a lot of stuff that
is now gone. He worked the former PRR main from Washington to N.Y. and Harrisburg. I got to see GG-1's,MP-54 MU cars,the original metroliners,the
E-44's (and for VGN and NH fans the E-33's) the Kennedy funeral train,the
Flying Scottsman during its american tour, and the Freedom train twice
(with ex Reading 4-8-4 2101) near Baltimore. I saw and sent a letter on the last RPO run in the US (with repainted GG-1 4935 pulling it) and some of the
Army-Navy runs to Philadelphia and lots and lots of other stuff

I miss the old Alco RS-1's that used to work Washington Union station
(under Washington Terminal Co. ownership then) and the original silver
liners (they replaced the MP-54's) I've almost always have been a PRR fan.
This was a bit hard to do living in Baltimore then. I knew Baltimore's Penn station and Washington Union Terminal almost like second homes.
(note..former PRR GG-1 4876 of Washington Crash fame is rusting away in south Baltimore,although owned by the B&O museum. They have no current plans to restore it.) At one time I was a member of the Baltimore streetcar museum where I got to work on and operate some of the cars. The oldest I ever ran was the 1900 Brill opencar.

Today I live in S.E. Virginia and do a wee bit of railfanning now and then.
I got to see both N&W J class 4-8-4 No. 611 and A class 2-6-6-4 No. 1218
run before NS cut the program off. I've gotten some railroad stuff off E-bay
from time to time (like lanterns,timestables,passes,buttons,punches,etc.) and even wrote a short article for TRAINS magazine once. I also have about 3,000
dollars of H.O. models that one day I'll hopefully set up again. (took it down
then I moved) I plan on modeling the former PRR line between Baltimore and
York,Pa. One of the coolest things I have is the cast iron station sign
which was from the Ruxton,Md. station that was built in 1898.I also have some uniform stuff (Penn Central and Amtrak) I'll probably be wearing the vest
from my dad's PC uniform at Atlanta as its very useful being that it has all those pockets...LOL...

Hope to see you all there..I'm with team 1610 and am the old mentor
in the pit wearing the RR vest...