When I was five-years old, I received an Aurora Postage Stamp N-gauge model train for my birthday. It consisted of a Santa Fe F-9 diesel, an Erie gondola, a Union Pacific flat car and a Santa Fe caboose and box car. This train was expanded by the addition of two Santa Fe passenger coaches and my little empire was started. Over the next few years, this set grew onto a piece of plywood and eventually to a small layout with folding legs. My dad, who is a lifelong model railroader himself, was instrumental in guiding me down this path, patiently showing me how to wire a layout, build cars and buildings and various aspects of the hobby. This all started over 40 years ago.
Throughout the years, my interest in model railroading has ebbed and flowed. Different phases of my life have brought me other interests and hobbies, but I always seem to find my way back to the trains. One big change that occurred during this time was my changing from N-gauge to HO. About the same time my brother went the other way, switching from HO to N. Naturally, I ended up with most of his HO stuff and he got my N. One of my reasons for switching was at that time, there were very few detail accessories available in N whereas they were quite abundant in HO (details have always been one of my favorite parts of the hobby). Over time the amount of details available in N have increased and N is now the second most popular scale on the market. (I've often thought about switching back, but that's a different matter.)
Over the last few years, my participation in the hobby has waned. I still attend local gatherings and even held a leading role in our local group's hosting of a National Model Railroad Association (NMRA) national convention. My father still has a layout in his basement and I enjoy helping him with it from time to time, but my personal activity in the hobby has somewhat dropped off - until yesterday.
Michael Highsmith, owner of the Rainier Great Western model railroad, put out an open invitation for anyone interested to drop by his layout for a work party. My wife, Karen, convinced me I should go since I actually had a Saturday off. I had suffered a string of migraines (which can be self-perpetuating), so Karen felt this work party would help get my mind off the headaches. I was a bit reticent about going, but I looked forward to seeing Michael's layout and lending a helping hand. I arrived just before Wain Miller, who has helped Michael on his layout from the beginning. It turned out that the entire work party consisted of the three of us.
Now I haven't actually worked on a layout - save for some ballasting work on dad's layout - since I left California many, many moons ago, so I was a bit fearful of what I might be asked to do. Upon arrival, Wain and I found Michael working on a wiring problem that had had them both perplexed for some time. I couldn't offer an opinion on the wiring, since I'm not that great on electrical work and had no idea how they had wired it in the first place. So, after Wain gave me a tour of the layout, I was assigned to put in a track on the temporary portion of the layout. This little project (including the wiring) took me just about two hours. Not bad for someone who hadn't laid track in over twenty years, but certainly not setting any speed records. Michael ended up actually connecting the wires (man, am I out of practice on soldering), but I discovered that the wiring created a short circuit on the layout, so I left the problem for Michael and Wain to figure out.
Once done with this little task, Michael and Wain figured I was okay with track and put me to work on another section. This one was a little more complex, entailing having to remove part of the existing track, inserting a switch and tying it into another track. The main track at this point leads up to what will be the centerpiece of Mike's layout - the Molzahn Bridge. The bridge is named after Dick Molzahn, a wonderful modeler of whom I'll write at a later time. Again, I was a bit timid about what I was doing as this track would be an important, permanent part of the layout and I certainly didn't want to screw it up! I inquired as to the preferred method of laying track and Michael said that anything was good as long as the end result produced derailment free track (no pressure). So into the fray I went and tore out some of the temporary track and setting about putting in new. I won't bore anyone with the details of this part of the project (since most of you are probably bored already, if you're still with me). Unfortunately, do to a slow drying spackle, I wasn't able to finish this project.
However, Wain and Michael had tasked themselves with putting up more facia (a protective and decorative "wall" around the edges of the layout, and had gotten to the point where they needed another set of hands. Since mine were available... We spent the next couple of hours cutting and mounting facia until Michael's wife, Jennifer, was kind enough to make us ham sandwiches for lunch. We did manage to get a lot of the facia put up and I was amazed with how quickly things went with the three of us all working together. Finally, my time was done and I excused myself to head for home. All in all it was a most satisfying day - I'm glad Karen convinced me to go.
So whatever happened to those Aurora Postage Stamp trains? Believe it or not, I still have them. They've all been repainted or modified over the years, but they're still in my possession (and probably will stay there). I guess that no matter what happens in life or whatever paths I may take, I will always be a model railroader and will always return to that path.
My thanks to Michael Highsmith for the invitation and for allowing me to screw up his layout, thereby allowing me to indulge in a life-long passion - one I may abandon occasionally, but to which I'll always come back.
Throughout the years, my interest in model railroading has ebbed and flowed. Different phases of my life have brought me other interests and hobbies, but I always seem to find my way back to the trains. One big change that occurred during this time was my changing from N-gauge to HO. About the same time my brother went the other way, switching from HO to N. Naturally, I ended up with most of his HO stuff and he got my N. One of my reasons for switching was at that time, there were very few detail accessories available in N whereas they were quite abundant in HO (details have always been one of my favorite parts of the hobby). Over time the amount of details available in N have increased and N is now the second most popular scale on the market. (I've often thought about switching back, but that's a different matter.)
Over the last few years, my participation in the hobby has waned. I still attend local gatherings and even held a leading role in our local group's hosting of a National Model Railroad Association (NMRA) national convention. My father still has a layout in his basement and I enjoy helping him with it from time to time, but my personal activity in the hobby has somewhat dropped off - until yesterday.
Michael Highsmith, owner of the Rainier Great Western model railroad, put out an open invitation for anyone interested to drop by his layout for a work party. My wife, Karen, convinced me I should go since I actually had a Saturday off. I had suffered a string of migraines (which can be self-perpetuating), so Karen felt this work party would help get my mind off the headaches. I was a bit reticent about going, but I looked forward to seeing Michael's layout and lending a helping hand. I arrived just before Wain Miller, who has helped Michael on his layout from the beginning. It turned out that the entire work party consisted of the three of us.
Now I haven't actually worked on a layout - save for some ballasting work on dad's layout - since I left California many, many moons ago, so I was a bit fearful of what I might be asked to do. Upon arrival, Wain and I found Michael working on a wiring problem that had had them both perplexed for some time. I couldn't offer an opinion on the wiring, since I'm not that great on electrical work and had no idea how they had wired it in the first place. So, after Wain gave me a tour of the layout, I was assigned to put in a track on the temporary portion of the layout. This little project (including the wiring) took me just about two hours. Not bad for someone who hadn't laid track in over twenty years, but certainly not setting any speed records. Michael ended up actually connecting the wires (man, am I out of practice on soldering), but I discovered that the wiring created a short circuit on the layout, so I left the problem for Michael and Wain to figure out.
Once done with this little task, Michael and Wain figured I was okay with track and put me to work on another section. This one was a little more complex, entailing having to remove part of the existing track, inserting a switch and tying it into another track. The main track at this point leads up to what will be the centerpiece of Mike's layout - the Molzahn Bridge. The bridge is named after Dick Molzahn, a wonderful modeler of whom I'll write at a later time. Again, I was a bit timid about what I was doing as this track would be an important, permanent part of the layout and I certainly didn't want to screw it up! I inquired as to the preferred method of laying track and Michael said that anything was good as long as the end result produced derailment free track (no pressure). So into the fray I went and tore out some of the temporary track and setting about putting in new. I won't bore anyone with the details of this part of the project (since most of you are probably bored already, if you're still with me). Unfortunately, do to a slow drying spackle, I wasn't able to finish this project.
However, Wain and Michael had tasked themselves with putting up more facia (a protective and decorative "wall" around the edges of the layout, and had gotten to the point where they needed another set of hands. Since mine were available... We spent the next couple of hours cutting and mounting facia until Michael's wife, Jennifer, was kind enough to make us ham sandwiches for lunch. We did manage to get a lot of the facia put up and I was amazed with how quickly things went with the three of us all working together. Finally, my time was done and I excused myself to head for home. All in all it was a most satisfying day - I'm glad Karen convinced me to go.
So whatever happened to those Aurora Postage Stamp trains? Believe it or not, I still have them. They've all been repainted or modified over the years, but they're still in my possession (and probably will stay there). I guess that no matter what happens in life or whatever paths I may take, I will always be a model railroader and will always return to that path.
My thanks to Michael Highsmith for the invitation and for allowing me to screw up his layout, thereby allowing me to indulge in a life-long passion - one I may abandon occasionally, but to which I'll always come back.
