I grew up in southern Ontario beside (what had been) the Grand Trunk line following the north shore of Lake Erie, a line that still ran CN freight behind steam into the 1950s. You could hear the whistle for MILES and as a preschooler I would scamper across the field behind my parents' house and climb up on the railway fence to wait for the train with my fingers firmly planted in my ears! Westbound was a downhill run into a reduced speed zone so the trains would drift by quietly (for a train!) but the engineers would see me on the fence and give a toot of the whistle and I would always wave back. Eastbound was different. It was uphill and into a higher speed zone so the throttle would be open and the fire intense - the whole earth would shake (including me on the fence post!) and the noise would be deafening as they tried to gain speed up the hill. But my love affair with steam really started one day when I (at about age 4) was in town with my Dad and a train was stopped to take on water and coal at the station. My Dad, being fascinated with machinery, took me with him to have a close-up look at the locomotive while the engineer was oiling the side rods. I remember the engineer being SO kind and friendly, stooping to talk to me beside one of the drivers (I still have the picture somewhere!) and boosting me up into the cab so I could see what it looked like inside. It was the friendliness of the people that captivated me as much as the monstrous locomotives that could sit so quietly one moment and shake the earth minutes later! As untypical as it was at the time, I wanted to be an engineer (despite my Dad's caution that "little girls don't grow up to be engineers"). But I was hooked on steam!
In my teens, I discovered steam engines that didn't need rails, steam traction engines, and for the next 30 years of my life I was connected with steam traction engines in one way or another - as a passenger, a fireman, or an operator and earned my provincial STE license in 1990 while operating engines at a number of major steam shows. In 1996 I scratch-built a 1:2 scale STE patterned after the oldest operating STE in Manitoba and later built a water wagon and threshing machine to complete the set. I operated the 1/2 scale threshing outfit at various shows for a few years before my interest in being hot, dirty,and tired subsided.
Having retired June 1 and looking for something to occupy my time indoors during the recent heat wave I ran across 2 locomotives that I had acquired 30 years ago (in my model building phase) - a Roundhouse Shay and a Master Creations Allegheny 2-6-6-6 kit that I had started but never finished - and decided to go back to work on the Allegheny. The Allegheny is probably one of the most demanding HO locomotive kits ever sold and it is reminding me of the demands of model building - things like patience, attention to detail, patience .... did I mention patience?
I also recently acquired a Keystone Shay kit as well.
Since I have a home of my own and space to build a small layout, I am leaning toward a mountain logging operation. I LOVE building, enjoy building from scratch or kit-bashing, so the plan is to accumulate and build many of the extra details and then plan a layout around the details.
Since I seem to be hanging around the forum, I thought it was high time I introduced myself, one of the oddball chicks with a fetish for steam LOL!
In my teens, I discovered steam engines that didn't need rails, steam traction engines, and for the next 30 years of my life I was connected with steam traction engines in one way or another - as a passenger, a fireman, or an operator and earned my provincial STE license in 1990 while operating engines at a number of major steam shows. In 1996 I scratch-built a 1:2 scale STE patterned after the oldest operating STE in Manitoba and later built a water wagon and threshing machine to complete the set. I operated the 1/2 scale threshing outfit at various shows for a few years before my interest in being hot, dirty,and tired subsided.
Having retired June 1 and looking for something to occupy my time indoors during the recent heat wave I ran across 2 locomotives that I had acquired 30 years ago (in my model building phase) - a Roundhouse Shay and a Master Creations Allegheny 2-6-6-6 kit that I had started but never finished - and decided to go back to work on the Allegheny. The Allegheny is probably one of the most demanding HO locomotive kits ever sold and it is reminding me of the demands of model building - things like patience, attention to detail, patience .... did I mention patience?
I also recently acquired a Keystone Shay kit as well.Since I have a home of my own and space to build a small layout, I am leaning toward a mountain logging operation. I LOVE building, enjoy building from scratch or kit-bashing, so the plan is to accumulate and build many of the extra details and then plan a layout around the details.
Since I seem to be hanging around the forum, I thought it was high time I introduced myself, one of the oddball chicks with a fetish for steam LOL!
