Steam & Excursion > Hey, Arlen... the Dream had started earlier...

Arlen...

We recently had our basement/recroom upgraded and remodeled...problem: too much stuff..
So, I’ve been rearranging our collection of old storage boxes, —— the last one I go to evaluate, has a copy of the book “ Those Daylight 4-8-4s”,
by R.J. Church.
The purchase date I wrote on the inside is “17 Jan 1969... “

On page 97, Church wrote about the two remaining locos:
“By 1959 all had been scrapped except two that were saved for display puposes. The 4449 is on display at Oaks Park in Portland Oregon, and the 4460 is
at the Museum of Transportation in St. Louis.”

To which I wrote a message to myself: “ } NOTE !! “

So, it was Church’s work that lit the match...and fired my interest...

And this was BEFORE we had run the Golden Spike Centennial Limited , with Lima beauty NKP 759....to Salt Lake City and return...
The Special ran in May 1969....and was to ignite the idea in Ross’s imagination for the Bicentennial Train...in what was then, the future..
The AFT came about 6 years later...

Came across many additional artifacts in my collection, now I’m weeding out and tossing boxes of train and model magazines, except for certain relevant issues..

Thanks for all you do, and pass along my congratulations and best wishes to Doyle and Laurie , on Doyle’s 39th birthday...
Ross’s in in July, mine is August...

Regards,

Wes



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/16/18 18:54 by wcamp1472.

So Wes, I don't have enough fingers, but I'm trying to count back.....you must have been in your 20s in '69? I would think you'd already worked up a pretty good steam resume by then.

AA

Stanford White
Carmel Valley, CA

AA,
Yes you’re right, I volunteered with steam-powered, tourist line operator in York, PA...
I had gone into the USAF in early ‘60, age 20...

Got out in January ‘64....Early days of digital radar signal-processing.
The electronics industry was hiring anybody with digital training and experience..
The biggest advantage, for me, was the ‘digital’ training & the practice of the systems approach to complex operating schemes.

At York, I had the BEST , experienced, steam mentors who watched over me, as I stumbled...they taufght me so much, I trusted them implicitly..
I showed up often enough as a clumsy, eager volunteer, that the ‘regulars’ began to count on my willing labor—- not really a strong back, but competent at being trustworthy. When given a task...I completed it..
I asked questions continually, got a lot of B.S. answers to sophisticated questions...I dug further until I got answers that made sense.

Yes, we were all young, known as the “can-do boys from Jersey.. “
Ross was a month older, but we were both born in 1940— a scary time to be having babies...

W.



Edited 4 time(s). Last edit at 06/17/18 04:09 by wcamp1472.

What I find remarkable is how young your entire group was during this era. You were all in your late 20's during the Golden Spike Centennial trains of 1969. And just in your mid-30's during the Freedom Train of 1975 and 1976. That's a lot to accomplish at a very young age. No wonder you guys are all still around today. You're still all not that old, really :)