I was going to take a few pics of what I model and what I rode back in the day but I just did my yard work and I'm beat so I'll just tell ya.
When I was a youngster my family and I went to downtown Pittsburgh several times a year to shop for new school clothes for me. We used to take the B&O RDC from McKeesport to Pittsburgh, PA. As soon as I was on board I used to plant my face against the door window between the cab and passenger section of the car. One trip the engineer looked back and saw me and waved me to come forward. He hoisted me onto his lap and told me to nudge the throttle forward one notch. Then blow the horn one time. I rode the whole way to Pittsburgh that trip working the throttle and blowing the horn. I don't remember him letting me work the air though. So, needless to say I do have an RDC1 in B&O in G scale.
When my son was about 9 or 10 I took him to Pittsburgh on the train. By this time the RDC's were gone and they had, I believe, was an F3 A unit as the PAT (Port Authority Transit) train. We got to town very early in the morning and found out the first train back home was not til around 2 or 3 that afternoon. Much longer than I wnted to stay in town. So, we got right back on the train and took a seat. The engineer was headed to the engine and stopped to chat with us and when I told him we were train fans he invited us up to see the engine. This time it was my son that got to ride on the engineers lap and work the controls while I got to ride the conductors seat. Again, the F3 is my favorite engine to this day.
Later in life I got the opportunity to work for NS as a conductor working the coal trains from Elrama, PA to Altoona, PA. So, obviously, I have a coal drag with SD40-2s (old, dirty, noisy and usually too cold or way too hot) in the lead hauling 100 ton hopper cars ready to go on the loop.
Rick
