[AT] Old trains

Sun Dec 6 09:17:38 PST 2009

Al, I'm not sure if I've told this on the list before or not but I'll risk 
boring everyone with it one more time.

When I was at NC State my sophmore year I was living in Sullivan Dorm, as 
you well know the baseball field is just off the end of the dorm.  A lot of 
the Aero engineering students were in those days (I suspect still are) into 
building RC airplanes.  However, in 1969 the "state of the art" isn't where 
it is today.   This one kid had his RC which was close to 2' wing span and 
completely homebuilt including the controller out on the baseball field and 
was doing a fine job of flying it around.  Several of us had stopped to 
watch when the train came by headed west out of town.   Well, all of a 
sudden the plane stopped responding to his controller and took off following 
the train.  The last time I saw the thing it was down behind the train 
headed on down towards the fair grounds and the poor boy was running around 
not unlike the little fellow on Fantacy Island yelling MY PLANE, MY PLANE!

Charlie Hill
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Al Jones" <farmallsupera at earthlink.net>
To: "Antique tractor email discussion group" <at at lists.antique-tractor.com>
Sent: Sunday, December 06, 2009 11:48 AM
Subject: Re: [AT] Old trains

> Sounds like how I feel about R/C model airplanes.  I could see myself
> becoming an enthusiast, but one expensive hobby (that being old tractors!)
> is enough.
>
> Plus, I would probably go insane from crashing the first plane, after all
> that hard work building it, on its maiden flight.....
>
> Al
>
>
>> [Original Message]
>> From: charliehill <charliehill at embarqmail.com>
>> To: Antique tractor email discussion group <at at lists.antique-tractor.com>
>> Date: 12/6/2009 11:33:21 AM
>> Subject: Re: [AT] Old trains
>>
>> I never got really interested in model trains but I can see the
> attraction.
>> The problem is where to put them so you can enjoy them without taking up
>> half the house or shop.  One thing I've seen is to put shelves around the
>> top of a room (all 4 walls) and run the track up above the doors and
> windows
>> where it can stay without being in the way and can be run at any time.
> That
>> doesn't give much room for rail yard layouts and the like but it's a way
> to
>> enjoy the trains.
>> ----- Original Message ----- 
>> From: "Ernie" <cchopper at centurytel.net>
>> To: "'Antique tractor email discussion group'"
>> <at at lists.antique-tractor.com>
>> Sent: Sunday, December 06, 2009 10:55 AM
>> Subject: Re: [AT] Old trains
>>
>>
>> > Dean, you just gave me the idea to maybe get my old train set out.  I
> just
>> > moved into this house last Jan, actually still moving in...  Mine is
> the
>> > O27
>> > scale I had when I was a kid 50+ years ago.
>> >
>> > Thanks for the idea!
>> >
>> > Ernie Thackeray
>> > "A government big enough to give you everything you want, is big enough
> to
>> > take away everything you have."   Thomas Jefferson
>> >
>> > 'In God We Trust'
>> >
>> >
>> > -----Original Message-----
>> > From: at-bounces at lists.antique-tractor.com
>> > [mailto:at-bounces at lists.antique-tractor.com] On Behalf Of Dean Vinson
>> > Sent: Saturday, December 05, 2009 11:53 PM
>> > To: 'Antique tractor email discussion group'
>> > Subject: [AT] Old trains
>> >
>> > Lately my interest in model trains has picked back up, after 30-some
> years
>> > on the back burner.  I was browsing eBay a few months ago and happened
>> > upon
>> > a nice HO scale model EMD F3 locomotive, cast metal, mid-1940s vintage,
>> > honest and original looking but non-running and missing wheels and
> axles
>> > on
>> > the front truck.  Wasn't going for much, so I bought it.  A few days
> later
>> > I
>> > bought another old F3 with a running motor and good chassis for parts,
> to
>> > make the first one complete.  It's flat beautiful.
>> >
>> > But that wasn't actually my first model train purchase this year.  For
> a
>> > few
>> > years now I'd been aware that one of the model train companies
> (Walthers)
>> > had been making a really nice Great Northern Empire Builder set.  The
>> > Walthers set went out of production early this year sometime, but I 
>> > made
>> > sure to buy one before they all disappeared from retailers.  Still in
> the
>> > boxes, it's in my closet waiting for a time when I have space and time
> to
>> > set up some tracks.
>> >
>> > That was enough for a while, but then I noticed a similar set in
> Milwaukee
>> > Road livery.  The Milwaukee Road, like the Empire Builder and local
>> > commuters and the Elgin, Joliet & Eastern freights, looms large in my
>> > memory
>> > of my maternal grandfather, with whom trainwatching was one of my
>> > growing-up
>> > activities during visits to his Chicago-area suburban home.  The
> Milwaukee
>> > Road set is in a box in my closet also.
>> >
>> > That was enough for a while too, until I saw that F3 on eBay, and since
>> > then
>> > I've acquired quite a few other model locomotives, freight cars, and
>> > passenger cars.  Something about them feels right to me, in the same 
>> > way
>> > that an M Farmall or a Cockshutt 30 or an Oliver 77 or a John Deere A
>> > feels
>> > right.  The mesh of function and optimism and honest production, the
>> > elegantly simple and classic designs, the industrial streamlined
> designs
>> > of
>> > Raymond Loewy and Henry Dreyfuss, the defining symbols of their 
>> > industry
>> > during the 40s and 50s.  My Farmall M makes me think of my dad, and his
>> > dad,
>> > in the same way these toy F3s and E8s and such make me think of my 
>> > mom's
>> > dad.  Feels like a nice way to settle in for the winter.
>> >
>> > Dean Vinson
>> > Dayton, Ohio
>> > www.vinsonfarm.net
>> >
>> >
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