how old are you ???

On Wed, 16 Feb 2005 12:05:17 +0100, "perando" purred:

I am old enough to remember riding the last run of the Phobe Snow behind steam. To remember water pumps outside, outhouses and radio drama. Movies were black and white and you got 2 of them, a newsreel and cartoons for the price of admission. comics were a dime and $5 would fill the Old's tank. However I also remember polio (my Mother had had it), iron lungs, whooping cough, and other now nearly extinct diseases. and the fear of being different.. All in all it balanced out and was a long time ago

cat

thanks :) i yust want to know age of one avarge rail modeler...

On Wed, 16 Feb 2005 12:05:17 +0100, "perando" claims:

Been in O Scale since 1948, went to HO in about 1960, N Scale in 1965 or so, back to HO in 1984-85, then back to O Scale but narrow gauge (On30) now. My brother and I used to hang out on the Long Island RR, walked the tracks often, and were able to hear the steam locomotives long before they arrived from behind us. Don't try that with diesels. :-) Our best friend was the guy who operated the crossing gates, and between trains, smoked cigars in his little shack. Neighbors brought him coffee when it was very cold.

Cordially, Ken (NY)

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On Wed, 16 Feb 2005 14:52:15 +0100, "perando" purred:

Actually I suspect I am about average or a little younger than the norm. Generally surveys have shown the avreage model railroader to be 50 or older, own their own home and are reasonably affluent (this is not a cheap hobby).

cat

Old enough to know better, but I am 58 years old, retired since 1996 (Thanks, Larry). Besides model railroading, I still play blues, rock, and jazz with a group of guys I played with in college, do video production for my daughter's school theater group, ski in the winter and golf in the summer, am on the board of directors of the San Francisco Zoological Society, and am an adviser to several start up technology companies.

Ed

in article snipped-for-privacy@4ax.com, cat at snipped-for-privacy@consultant.com wrote on 2/16/05 12:43 PM:

I am old enough to remember the magnificent B&O passenger trains that came through Silver Spring Maryland, the last stop on the Metropolitan Division, before they terminated at Washington DC Union Station. And remember sitting with my young friends, on a hill near the tracks in the evening watching the outbound parade of the Capitol Limited, National Limited, Columbian, Ambassador, no name "number" trains and commuters (now MARC). And especially the beautiful GP-7/9's (?) "torpedo boats" with their extra air tanks for braking, on top, and their classy "gray top" passenger paint scheme. And the multiple "E" units that were there to pull the long distance trains west over the Alleghenies.

Also remember the unusually large number of baggage and REA cars on those long distance trains.

One may guess what you might find on my layout (:

A special treat... You could buy a ticket for the unimaginably wonderful Capitol Limited, from Silver Spring MD to Washington DC for about 60 cents (I think). We did this two or three times. My friend and I would meet his aunt downtown at Union Station in the morning. And she would take us to her work at the Treasury Department. Treat us to lunch, and always something special, like a trip on the private subway between the Senate office buildings. Finally, she would drive us home in the evening, after a most wonderful day.

Perando may guess my age as I still am so fond of those memories from over 40 years ago.

Robert Arlington VA

I remember riding the bus to Newark for 8 cents and riding on the train to NYC with GG1 pulling. I remember the ferries across the harbor. But, most, I remember standing in a cut while the Erie steam came roaring through. I remember the birth of rock and roll, beatniks, and when the UN was on long island. I remember the war and the fleet coming home. I remember the Staten Island Ferry for a nickel. And the Automat. And I remember when television was on an 8 inch tube. In fact, I remember so many wonderful things I am not sure which were dreams....

Jim Stewart Age 65

Robert replied: I am old enough to remember the magnificent B&O passenger trains that came through Silver Spring Maryland, the last stop on the Metropolitan Division, before they terminated at Washington DC Union Station.

---------------------------------------------------- I go back a bit more. My first ever train trip was on the B&O Cincinnatian. A Streamlined P7d 4-6-2 with five streamlined heavyweights. That was 1948.

It didn't get any better than that. Seeing the big EM1s (2-8-8-4) double heading pulling loaded hoppers at about 5 mph even with two pushers. The Cincinnatian whizzed past at 36 mph!

Smoke everywhere!

Bill Bill's Railroad Empire N Scale Model Railroad:

History of N Scale: Railroad Bookstore: to 1,000 sites:

Older than I want to be. I'm 49 but my waste line is still at 29 or 30 depending on who makes the pants, same as it was when I was 22. Bruce

Bruce=A0Favinger wrote: Older than I want to be. I'm 49 but my waste line is still at 29 or 30 depending on who makes the pants, same as it was when I was 22. Bruce

---------------------------------------------------- I'm envious, Bruce. Do you eat food?

Bill Bill's Railroad Empire N Scale Model Railroad:

History of N Scale: Railroad Bookstore: to 1,000 sites:

Cool. Waist (waste ;) line comparisons:

I weighted 136 as a Senior in high school (age 17); I'm 58 now and weigh

137; waist still 32. But I think I'm shrinking; I'm about 1" short now than then. Sigh.

Ed

in article snipped-for-privacy@storefull-3254.bay.webtv.net, Bill at snipped-for-privacy@webtv.net wrote on 2/16/05 6:18 PM:

Edward=A0A.=A0Oates replied: Cool. Waist (waste ;) line comparisons: I weighted 136 as a Senior in high school (age 17); I'm 58 now and weigh

137; waist still 32. But I think I'm shrinking; I'm about 1" short now than then. Sigh.

------------------------------------------------------ I think you guys are pulling my leg! That's what I think. The only thing that is shrinking with me is my wallet!

Bill Bill's Railroad Empire N Scale Model Railroad:

History of N Scale: Railroad Bookstore: to 1,000 sites:

137; waist still 32. But I think I'm shrinking; I'm about 1" short now than then. Sigh.

------------------------------------------------------ I think you guys are pulling my leg! That's what I think. The only thing that is shrinking with me is my wallet!

Are you sure they are guys? Aspersions on your body build, not your performance. My wife weighs more than that and she is on a diet. I had a 32" waist till I was 35. Then good food caught up with me and I went to 46" Now down to 42". I believe you should keep your waist under your age.... At 65, I have no problem. First social security check went to the bank today. Enough for a brass engine.....

Jim Stewart

Physically or mentally? :-)

Got Lionel when I was two years old in 1949, got my first HO 10 years later and been in HO ever since.

Don

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Robert wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@4ax.com:

58 years young here. Computer programmer by trade these last 30 years, former radio announcer, former telephone company guy, former ham radio operator, private pilot, and life-long train nut.

I can recall my granddad taking me from Nashville to Chattanooga for a day trip, using his L&N pass, when I was about 9 or 10. I can remember taking a trip from Nashville to Chicago with my mother and baby brother and having a compartment. My last train ride was in 1966 when I took the train from Nashville to Wichita, KS while I was in the USAF. Took the L&N to St. Louis, Missouri Pacific to Kansas City and Santa Fe to Wichita. Santa Fe was the only one that wasn't absolutely filthy and was the only one with a dining car, but it was also the only one that wasn't on time.

42yrs w/ a 38 waist, sometimes 40. Was a 32 when I got married. :-( And it's another 18 yrs till I get an RRB check. :-( I guess I'm just some young whipper snapper around here! LOL

-- DW

I'm only 5'6" tall, so that 137# is in the middle of the green section of the body mass chart. I did have a weight growth to 150 in my late 30's then decided that working out was better than weight inspired diseases.

Ed

in article snipped-for-privacy@netscape.net, I & R at snipped-for-privacy@netscape.net wrote on 2/17/05 2:50 PM:

Got my Lionel train set a few months prior to my being born in 1949. Seemed my Dad had decided that I was going to be a "boy" (: I don't think they knew back in those days. Also got some of his Ives trains (I still have them all!!) and they run just fine on the 027. Also got some Marx trains and accessories.

They were set up in the "attic" every Christmas season. We had a "L" shaped layout, consisting of a 4X8 ping pong table and an adjacent 4X4 piece of plywood. Consisted of two separate loops. Lighted buildings and operating accessories.

Every year, when the season would turn cold, I would begin pestering Dad to set up the trains, but he would say "It's not time yet." Finally around late November I was going absolutely totally crazy with anticipation. And without warning, Dad would agree to set up the trains. But we didn't set them up!!! Yikes! We had to take all the 027 track down the basement to his workshop, were we take each piece and clean it with fine steel wool and "Varsol" (mineral spirits). And then we would get the locos and cars. And each had to be taken apart and cleaned and lubricated, with Three-In-One oil and Vaseline for the gears. By now I was totally going nuts with excitement.

_Finally_!!! we would begin to set up the tables. And then began to wire up all the lights and stuff. Then I was OK, busy with the project, and then the trains began to run.

And then came the annual trip to "Superior Lock Company" in downtown Washington DC. Would always include a side trip to Woodward & Lothrup department store to enjoy their window displays with the operating trains. Superior was a lock and key company that every Christmas season, would transform their store into an electric train paradise. Loads of new and used Lionel, Marx and American Flyer trains, parts and accessories. Bins full of used track and switches, we would get a few more pieces of track, maybe a switch or a bumper. Sometimes we would get a "new" car. And maybe an accessory, like a lighted tower or bridge.

I always used to admire the lighted aluminum Lionel Santa Fe passenger cars that they had. But my Dad would never buy them for me. I appreciate, now, that at $50 or more a piece back then they were _very_ expensive. And during the 50's, $50 was a _lot_ of money!

But Dad always got us something grand and new. And every year the train layout grew with something exciting. And he converted a couple of his Ives passenger cars with new paint and Lionel trucks and couplers, And I was never left wanting.

The trains would stay up until February or so. I would begin to spend less and less time with them. Then Dad would suggest that it might be time to take them down, but I would plead No No! and they would stay up for awhile. Finally I would get more interested with things outdoors, didn't go up to the attic anymore, and somehow, unnoticed by me the trains would be packed away again.

That is until, of course, next year when the season would begin to get cold again.... (: (:

Thanks Dad!! Up in Heaven. I Love You.

Here is a link to a picture of me next to the layout in 1957. With my friend Mike Finzel. He's the one I wrote about earlier, taking the B&O train downtown to meet his aunt. I wonder if he reads this newsgroup?? You might see the church steeple above the "sides" on the layout table. Dad installed the sides, because I would sometimes run the trains too fast, and the big Lionel steam engine, with its' heavy cast metal shell, would come off the tracks and hit the attic floor. Mom and Dad claimed it would "shake the house." (: (:

55, I now have had HO trains for quite a long time, and all year long! But that's another story... Hope the group has enjoyed this one (: I enjoy yours.

Very Best Regards,

Robert Arlington VA

Jim Steward replied:

*** I believe you should keep your waist under your age.... At 65, I have no problem. First social security check went to the bank today. Enough for a brass engine.....

-------------------------------------------------- Well, at age 70, my waist is well under that, so I feel better about this now. Glad to heat that your check went for something worthwhile, Jim. My checks go for nonsence items such as medicine, food, housing, etc.

Bill Bill's Railroad Empire N Scale Model Railroad:

History of N Scale: Railroad Bookstore: to 1,000 sites: