505, South Anderson

[Roger Hensley]

Railroad wise, how fortunate we are here in Central Indiana. This weekend I went to Cleveland Ohio and back. Going, I went via Dayton and Columbus and up and returning, I came down to Mansfield and across US30 to I-69 and down. In all that time, I never even heard a train and saw only one parked as I approached Indiana on my return.

I wasn't back home 15 minutes when a train went by my house, the first of several over the next hour. Even as I type this, I hear the third in the past hour this morning. And now hear, "Three Point applied" on my scanner.

Here in central Indiana we can still see and hear trains. How sad for our hobby in all of those areas where there are no more trains to be heard and seen.

"505, South Anderson" says the conductor of the train that just came by… and another day has begun.

 

[Matthyro]

Yup it is sad to hear and see about the demise of so many railroads. I am very fortunate to have a CN mainline through town and a CP main not too far away. You are lucky to be living where you are Roger.

 

[brakie]

Roger,When you went through Mansfield you was 26 miles from Bucyrus..Yesterday NS put on a rather good show on the Sandusky line.
Sadly Mansfield is served by the Ashland Railway and NS.However,NS only runs about 12-14 trains a day through Mansfield and sadly Crestline is no longer a hot spot since the split up of CR...

If you would like to railfan in Bucyrus,Belllevue,Fostoria,Marion or Willard e-mail or pm me and we will get together and I will show you some railroad action.

Like fishing one needs to know where to go..

 

[farmer ron]

I agree Robin, here in B.C. (west coast of Canada) we use to have a large mainline railroad called the British Columbia Railway owned by the Provincial BC Government. In their poor judgement they sold it to CN rail. There is a town called Squamish just north of Vancouver BC where BCR was the main terminal, it was the main service area for BCR, you could see all sorts of rolling stock and engines. Was us there last weekend, all there is left is 5 siding tracks beside the main line and two switcher engines. All the rest of the tracks have mostly been torn up and the acres of buildings have been left in an empty delapidated state, very sad. In talking with a few of the locals, the real sad part is the huge number of jobs that were lost, and now the town and families suffer, I hear they call it progress.. Ron..

 

[Roger Hensley]

But is there anything we can do to show trains to younger people. Remember that they do see Thomas the Tank Engine...

 

[zedob]

When I was in middle school (7-8th grades) the library had a subscription ( I didn't) to MRR and RMC plus RC modeler. A few of my buddies, that were into trains, would jump on the new monthly issues evreytime they came out. By the end of the month, the mags would be pretty well worn out.

I don't know if it was just us who warped the pages with drool, but the mags got me more interested in scale model railroading.

The best way to get people involved is to let them see layouts. The shows that are open to the public are probably the best motivators because of the large variety of layouts and the chance for those interested to talk with the modelers.

If young children are interested and can be nurtured early on, there's a chance they may stick with it. Usually when they reach the age of 13 and all knowledge and wisdom is bestowed upon them by devine intervention (or the guy below) and all previous interests evapourate, unless they are REALLY into it, you can forget it.

I was lucky up to a point. When I was 15 I was allowed to join the Silk City Model Railroaders in Manchester CT. It was at the LHS, so it was pretty easy to talk my way in. Then I moved to where there were no clubs, or LHS's. To make a long story short, that part of my life was pretty much a blurr. Fun, but still a blurr.

I wish there was a club back then. I probably would have ended up with better grades in school. This may sound funny, but my being interested in scale MRRing played a big part in my job placements over the years. Doing research about all things trains and related for my own personal edification provided me with alot of basic mechanical knowledge, which in one way or another came in handy, later on.

OK, ramble over.

It would be an interesting experiment to use a model railroad in a school and interface it with a variety of class subjects. I know it has been done in the past, but I don't know to what extent.

Lets see; History, Geography, Math (Logistics,statistics, trig...), Business/economics, computer interfacing, and on...
Let the IA classes build the benchwork and wiring.

A little sumpt'n for everyone.

 

[ausien]

Leroy,77railer is doing just that zebob, so its not a new idea as you say, but still a good one. my club also has a junior membership with clinics on how to`s ect and they get to run trains as well...have a good one steve

 

[zedob]

I remember someone posting and the posts mention getting back to school and a layout. That's why I never claimed it to be my idea.


I'm going to see if I can find it right now.