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Re: Vesties....was..... Are most US model railroaders actually not

I met him. I'm from NJ too. Let me attest to the truth of everything you said,

Den

Well, none of you have ever met the King of the "Vesties", a guy that was in a > model RR club I used to belong to. This guy took the cake. Aside from the fact > that he had the personality of a dead porcupine, and thought that HE owned our > club layout, his EVERY DAY attire included an olive/khaki colored train > engineer outfit (matching shirt and pants, of course), and an engineer hat, > similar to the squared off steam type hats. He ALWAYS had buttons on it, not as > many at the club, or when he went out in public, as he did at shows... at shows > he used to put on a bunch of these blinking light grade crossing buttons, that > he was trying to sell..... it was the stupidest thing you'd ever seen... unless > you had to spend the entire day with it, then it was just damned annoying. All > he EVER talked about was trains.... now I am a very big Erie and Erie > Lackawanna fan, but I have my limits. He had a small trailer that he built a > wooden top for, in the shape of an Erie Caboose, which he towed all around, > whether there was anything in it or not. And, his Blazer was painted Black with > a yellow stripe, with Erie and other RR stickers all over it. To top it all > off, he was about three times the size of me (and I weigh in at about 240, 6' > tall), it appeared that he wore the exct same "outfit" every day, never changed > it, and he religiously took a bath or shower once a month, whether he needed > it, or not...... Anyone venture to guess the main reason that I quit that > club?????? > Jeff > > BTW, I hadn't seen King Vestie in about 4-5 years, until about months ago, he > was walking around one of the local RR shows here in NJ, and low and behold, it > was like time stood still.... same outfit, same hat with pins on it, and same > unique odor.... I ducked out before he recognized me.........
Reply to
Dennis E. Golden
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You said a lot just then. This is sort of a change of thread, but one of the reasons why I quit railroading as a profession was that I saw those old men work until they were seventy or seventy-five; not because they had to, but because the had no other life. When you work on the railroad as an engineer or other train crew, the company owns you completely. These old guys would finally retire and have no friends or activities to occupy their time. They would go home and sit down in the easy-chair, turn on the TV and, six months later, die.>>>

King Vestie never worked for any railroad, if I remember correctly Froggy, he was a Wannabe. I know he took a lot of pics and spent quite alot of time in Port Jervis, Otisville, Goshen, all along the Erie (Lackawanna) Way. I know he bummed alot of rides on Erie and EL locomotives. I think he would have been much more palatable, had he changed his clothes once in awhile, took a shower between full moons, and had a half decent personality. I do know that he was the reason alot of other people left the club, and I believe that he was thrown out of another club, before he helped form the one I belonged to. Unfortunately, he was the President of the club, and not a very good one at that. There were other guys that I was very friendly with there, that were extremely knowledgeable about trains, both 1:1 and scale, as well as the area, history, etc... and none of them came off like King Vestie. The guy would use his mortgage money to buy trains with, and not be able to make his mortgage payment at the end of the month, then cry about not having enough cash.... something was definitely wrong with this person. His life was sad and miserable, because he made it that way, it wasn't thrust upon him, from what I saw, anyway. Jeff

Reply to
JJRNJ

I go to work because I choose to. I could retire at any time. My boss just gave me a big project with about a decade in the future. I said "how do you know I won't retire" "You wont" he was right.....Damn.....Too much fun.

I get to meet many people every day I feel so lucky and would never change places, even with the young. I only hope their future will have all of the interesting activities I have had....

My Da died on the job. He was really just learning to live when he left us. I was 32 then. Over 30 years ago.

Jim Stewart

Reply to
Jim Stewart

We all know them, Jeff, would you trade places, I think never. Just pray that they get a life....

Jim Stewart

Reply to
Jim Stewart

I didn't know how boring being an engineer was until I got and used MS train sim since it is a 'realtime' game. I found long stretches that were dull and tedious to get through.

Reply to
Frank A. Rosenbaum

On Tue, 1 Jul 2003 13:15:49 UTC, "Frank A. Rosenbaum" wrote: 2000

Hours of boredom punctuated by moments of sheer terror!

Reply to
Ernie Fisch

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