MrAllied: There's nothing wrong throwing a baseball term into your thread! Wonder how many OGR members love baseball? I was built 7-4-1946 in Dallas, TX and grew up loving baseball. My grandfather loved to watch boxing on our 1951 Westinghouse TV. Though I'd sit on his lap every week and watch the matches with him I didn't become a boxing fan. I retain fond memories of flipping the pages of Sears Roebuck catalogs to check out the trains as well as the Ted Williams signature baseball items too!
If I'd had the $$$ and it were possible, I'd loved to tried to acquire the standard gauge collection that the late W. Graham Claytor Jr. possessed. We became "pen pals" while he was president of Amtrak. I was a passenger service rep with Deutsche Bundesbahn (German Federal Railways) at the time. I still have the letters he wrote me plus the black and white professional glossy 8X10 signed photograph in my paper collection of trains stuff! Regretfully, I lost the letters I exchanged with the late John W. Barriger III (then president of the Katy) while I was serving in Germany in the US Army Transportation Corps in the mid-60s. He and Mr. Claytor were two of the best 20th Century railroad men in my opinion!
On the subject: I regret I didn't learn about McCoy standard gauge trains when they were introduced to the hobby. I'm still in love with the jade green Great Northern set that featured Rocky the GN goat on the box cab electric and cars. I still believe it remains one of the most beautiful modern day standard gauge sets produced to this day! WOW!
Item: This is your thread MrAllied, so go ahead, do it your way!
Respectfully,
Joseph Toth Jr.
Digatal Subscriber/Supporting Member
USATC Vet, 49th Transportation Group Germany, 1964-1967
Seventh Army European Command
I served with Pride!
