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THE OBSESSION
It was my grandfather
who, having worked for the
Pennsylvania Railroad in his pre-college
days, first instilled in me a love of trains.
Although my interest has waxed and waned from time to
time, it has never left me. This is undoubtedly
due to the enchanting nature of the mechanical giant,
who, with fiery breath and thunderous gait, treads
gleaming ribbons of steel to wage an endless battle
against time, distance, and gravity.
The
steam locomotive, especially, creates such a
spectacle of motion and sound that it, of all man's
inventions, seems most alive. Its glaring eye
and its billowing tower of smoke and condensate
proclaim its presence for miles. The
unrelenting bark of its exhaust, the dire scream of
its whistle, and the warning clang of its bell
assault not only the ear but the entire body with a
brutally percussive yet curiously heart-rending song
of places far away. And there is no denying the
sexual suggestiveness of the thrusting of its drive
rods and the churning of its counterweighted wheels,
as they speak unmistakably of speed and power and
desperate intent.
Granted,
sunsets have their splendor, mountains their majesty,
and the sea its mystery; airplanes fire the imagination
and great ships enthrall the spirit. But there
is nothing, nothing*, which rivals the
adrenalin punch of witnessing 400 tons of locomotive
thundering toward you at a mile a minute, shaking the
very earth under your feet as it passes!
*I concede
that, for those lucky enough to be able to view one,
a space shuttle lift-off might well be more
thrilling!
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THE PROTOTYPE
My earliest modeling
interest was attracted to the lightning stripes of
the
New York Central, whose double-tracked
Cincinnati - Cleveland mainline, now part of the
Norfolk Southern, still bisects our city. This
line still carries much freight traffic, and in my
younger years there were several passenger trains
each day as well. I remember the husky Mohawk
(4-8-2), racehorse Hudson (4-6-4), and elephant-eared
Niagara (4-8-4) steam locomotives, as well as the
variety of diesel-electric power — from ALCO,
Baldwin, Electromotive, and Fairbanks-Morse —
which replaced them. And I was occasionally treated
to a ride on the Ohio State Limited when
visiting my grandparents in Cincinnati.
But by the time
I had returned home from military duty in 1969 my
sentiments had shifted to the blue-and-gray of the Baltimore
and Ohio¤ (now CSX), whose once
double-tracked mainline also runs near my
hometown. (This main was single-tracked, and
the semaphore signals upgraded to B&O's unique
color-position lights, following a major derailment
in the early 1960's.) Besides the fast freight
traffic which continues to this day, during my
younger years the spectacular heavyweight
streamliner, the
Cincinnatian,¤ ran daily between
Cincinnati and Detroit on this line. The
B&O also operates a freight-only branch into
town, serving a number of local industries and
businesses, especially the Armco (now A-K) steel
mill. This branch also interchanged locally
with both the New York Central and the Pennsylvania
Railroad (both subsequently Penn Central, then
Conrail, and now NS). The B&O's lonely Q4b
Mikado (2-8-2) steam locomotive number 456, which
served this branch during my boyhood, was finally
retired in 1958, replaced by a gleaming royal-blue EMD
GP-9.
Yet the conversion of
mainline railroads to diesel-electric operation in
the 1950s did not silence the steam locomotive's
staccato exhaust and wailing whistle
altogether. Private clubs preserved a number of
these giants, and as the United States observed its
bicentennial in 1976, some of them were revived for a
spectacular role in the celebration. The
unexpected degree of public enthusiasm for the
American Freedom Train prompted revival of steam
excursion operations¤ by some mainline railroad
companies.
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THE MODEL
I received my first
electric toy train set (American Flyer) when I was
age six. It absorbed much of my leisure until I
was in my teens, when I graduated from toy trains to
scale-model railroading. I have been in the
hobby ever since, even if only in "armchair
mode" at times.
I have had
several model railroad layouts, only one of which has
yet evolved to completion. (Perhaps it is the
constant cycle of building and planning and
rebuilding which appeals to me, as much as seeing
these miniature iron horses in operation.) I
currently model the Baltimore and Ohio in HO (1:87)
scale, the project (a-building) seeking to represent
the B&O of the early 1950's in western
Pennsylvania and Maryland. During this period
big steam was still hauling tonnage up Sand Patch
Grade on the Pittsburgh Division, but the flashy,
growling, blue-and-gray diesel-electrics of ALCO,
Baldwin, and EMD were asserting themselves as the new
masters of the Alleghenies.
As
things take shape, I'll snap a few photos of the layout and post
them here. Enthusiasm and construction seem to flow in spurts,
so I can never be certain that even this latest and best planned
effort will finally grow to completion. Whether or no, I am
having fun, and that's the whole point of model railroading!
Some of the listed pages
include numerous photos. Though compressed for web viewing,
they might load slowly over a dialup Internet connection.
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LINKS
I am a lifetime member of
the
NMRA (National Model Railroad
Association) and have recently become a
member of the
Baltimore & Ohio
Railroad Historical Society.
Although I am
not a member of the
NRHS (National Railroad
Historical Society), its publications and activities
have also been a major source of information and
inspiration to me.
Also of general
interest to railroaders and railfans are the
following web sites, which in turn contain further
links to a vast array of rail-related sites of more
specific interest.
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A WORD ABOUT SAFETY
The safety record of
America's railroads has improved dramatically since
the inception of the industry in 1827. Indeed,
with the possible exception of elevators, it is hard
to find a safer mode of moving people or
freight. Yet there is one area where casualties
continue to mount — railroad grade
crossings. Most railroad-related deaths occur
where tracks and roads intersect, and railroad
crossing accidents are as frequent today as
ever. This is not because trains are too fast,
maintenance is deficient, or crews are
inattentive. Nor is it because someone changed
the rules and forgot to tell us, the driving and
walking public. There is no one to blame,
except those drivers and pedestrians who attempt to
cross the tracks when or where they shouldn't.
Perhaps this is
partly because some people are ignorant of both the
fundamental laws of physics and the rules of the
road. And perhaps a few try to "race"
a train, either while under the influence of
intoxicants or out of sheer stupidity. But all
too often it is because people simply fail to pay
adequate attention to what they're doing and to
what's going on around them. For as long as any
of us has been alive, railroad tracks have been a
fact of life, and crossing them has always been, and
continues to be, one of those tasks requiring
undivided attention.
Nowadays
accustomed to living in what might often seem a
fool-proof environment, we become inattentive,
distracted, victims of our own negligence.
Barriers, bells, and flashing red lights may remind
us of the challenge of a video game, but when
crossing a railroad track in the real world, there is
no "TRY AGAIN?" message if we make a
mistake. Though the laws of man can sometimes
be violated, the laws of physics cannot.
Principles of mass, energy, and friction remain
inexorably in effect, regardless of our mood,
inattention, or hurry. Anti-lock brakes, air
bags, seat belts, and door beams afford a measure of
security on the highway, but offer no protection
against 5,000 tons of train moving at 50 miles per
hour. The only effective defenses are our own
eyes, ears, and brains. There is no
way to bargain, blame, bully, cheat, cry, excuse,
lie, plead, pray, or rationalize our way out of the
responsibility. It is ours alone. If we
do not accept it voluntarily, it will be imposed
posthumously.
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