Skip to main content

Hi, people.   I'm making my first post here but have enjoyed dropping in and reading many interesting discussions and have purchased a few items for sale.  I enjoy the sense of community I feel.  It's something maybe a little lacking elsewhere.

I got started in O gauge with tinplate Marx and can still recall the fun I had with my 2 older brothers showing me how indestructible that stuff was,  gleefully plowing through my freight cars on a crossover with a Lionel 221.  No, I don't still have that set but got much more that the money's worth and also learned how not to take care of my trains.  I enjoyed Lionel's postwar golden age but never had a set of my own.  Other interests took over and I forgot how much I really liked O gauge until much later, in fact in my 60s.  Life took up all of my resources working, raising kids, homeowning, paying bills, paying bills, paying more bills.

As a retiree there's more than enough time to shop for trains and I have a few I will be offering for sale shortly.  I'm not a flipper,  just have buyer's remorse for the freight cars I got which are too modern for my taste.   Really love the steam/diesel transition period.  The freight trains were mostly drab looking boxcars, gondolas, flat cars, tank cars & a few reefers.  Nothing eye-catching but getting the work done.  That also describes the Q pretty well as far as their freight operations back then.  Their Zephyrs couldn't have been more of a contrast, all polished stainless and glimmering in the sun, Flashing through the suburbs of Chicago.  I'm an idiot for not borrowing dad's 35mm rangefinder and snapping shots of those and the NP North Coast ltd, possibly the prettiest train I've ever seen.  Literally  within minutes I could also watch the Empire Builder flying through good old Berwyn and occasionally I would time it just right and see the trifecta of the evening Zephyr, the Builder, and the North Coast in succession.  Those were the days.

OK, enough.   Phil McCaig

 

Original Post

Replies sorted oldest to newest

Thanks for the welcome.  I have picked up countless tips already like tossing the factory rechargeable batteries in the MTH PS2 units.   Found a set of Mike's early PS2 Greybacks (new old stock) at Nassau and first thing i did was toss that white 9v.    Another thing I learned here is that there are different types of 9 volt batteries.  Good stuff to know when dealing with expensive toys like these.

When I finally came back to O gauge 6 or 7 years ago a whole new world opened up to me.  The Scale look of the offerings today are what I wished for in 1960.  Better late than never.   This was an experience maybe some of you can understand.   I admit that if I ever win the lottery and make a trip to York I fully expect that on my return, all the locks will be changed on the house.  

Some of my earliest memories of trains are of a Burlington commuter train pulled by steam engine.  The thick black smoke is something I will never forget.  Another vivid recollection is of Soo line F3s hauling rusty old steam engines to scrap.  It was a horrible sight as the poor dilapidated steamers had been my friends.  They seemed to  me like they had been beasts of burden rather than simply machines.

Ok, here are my F3s.  The Soo Lines are Mike's PS3.  They sound better than any other engine I have.   The NP ones are Legacy.  I have a dummy B for them and they are really nice engines.  No tethers, either.   The Greybacks are just awesome engines.  I wish there was a powered B for this set.  someday I might figure out a way to make one.  I know one thing, those guys aren't going anywhere when I'm gone cause I'm taking them with me.

Adios,  Phil

Attachments

Images (2)
  • DSCF2752
  • DSCF2533

I like the look of the T-rail of Real Trax and the ease of setting up & taking down since I don't have room in the townhouse for a permanent layout.

I forgot to mention how much I appreciate K-line since I had never even heard of it before a few years ago!  It sort of adds a little spice to the mix when shopping for something   that's been out of production for so long. I feel like a gumshoe poking around at every online store, picking up the "finds" once I locate what I'm looking for.  Try finding a K-line CB&Q standard cupola caboose.  Took me years but that's half the fun.

Thanks for the warm reception.  I have come to feel like I know some of you folks already.  After all, it's the world's greatest hobby.

 

Thanks, Adriatic.   

We lived in Mundelein, Illinois when I was small and the houses across the street had the Soo Line running literally through their back yards and we  had a good view of those trains from 1950-58.  I walked a block down and then under the Soo Line's rickety wooden trestle to get to school.  It collapsed causing a freight derailment a few years after we moved and took down more than one garage.  The pictures of that were in the Chicago papers.  I used to play beneath that very trestle while trains were going over it!

Those days made me enjoy the sounds and sights of trains working and it's still in my blood.

Phil

  That must have been something; to know you used to stand right there. I spent hours watching the Soo load the Chief Wawatam rail ferry at the dock in St Ignance Mi. as a kid ... alas; no steam left ...today, no dock left either

I can still feel the banging of cars in the huge hollows rumbling up the hill at me. Good times!

Yes, the car ferries!  That was before Mighty Mac was built.  We waited in the hot August sun in our 1950 Buick in the staging yard the size of a medium sized freight yard until our turn to  get onto the car ferry so we could cross the straits of Mackinac.  I got sea sick after all that waiting!  

Yep, train service existed all across the UP back then.  You could go just about anywhere by train in those days.  What's happened?

The Svengoolie thing is great.  It's a real Chicago thing and he's still on Sat. nites telling the worst jokes & making the most awful puns.  Gotta love it.  Used to be on a UHF station.  Anyone recall UHF?

Phil McCaig posted:

Yes, the car ferries!  That was before Mighty Mac was built.  We waited in the hot August sun in our 1950 Buick in the staging yard the size of a medium sized freight yard until our turn to  get onto the car ferry so we could cross the straits of Mackinac.  I got sea sick after all that waiting!  

Yep, train service existed all across the UP back then.  You could go just about anywhere by train in those days.  What's happened?

The Svengoolie thing is great.  It's a real Chicago thing and he's still on Sat. nites telling the worst jokes & making the most awful puns.  Gotta love it.  Used to be on a UHF station.  Anyone recall UHF?

I repaired many a TV as a lad, TVs that didn't even have a UHF tuner! Talk about dinosaurs!!! And I think many stations around the country had a "Svengoolie" of their own. 

Welcome Phil, you're in good company! Like you, I set up and tear down due to lack of space - my current mess is right here, a small portion of the stuff I bought and repaired in the last coupla months

IMG_1113

Attachments

Images (1)
  • IMG_1113

Thanks, Rich.   The wife & I bought tickets for the Galesburg excursion that was supposed run on the BNSF 3 years ago and were to ride in the ex-Northern Pac. lounge dome Stampede Pass and 765 was to haul us to Railroad Days.  That was going to be an awesome trip but was cancelled due to weak sales, darn it.   You were still running then, weren't you?

Anyway, we were looking forward to the trip and also meeting the boss.  Maybe one of these days we will cross paths. 

Phil

Add Reply

Post

OGR Publishing, Inc., 1310 Eastside Centre Ct, Suite 6, Mountain Home, AR 72653
800-980-OGRR (6477)
www.ogaugerr.com

×
×
×
×
Link copied to your clipboard.
×
×