Hi there everyone,
I must say this forum has been very appealing to me for some reason. I cannot say why, but possibly because of the folk I know on it as well as it being South African. So now, I feel I should at least contribute something
.
Before my story, I must firstly say hi to some old friends from CT, namely Ed and Steve. So good seeing your interactions here and hope you are all well. Many good memories!
Also hi to Colin TT, Neil and my boet, Kevin C... Making new memories.
OK, a little about my history.
Started model train’ing back when I was knee high to a grasshopper. My mom used to take Kevin and I to a bridge over the main railway line into Bulawayo. From the bridge, you could see the steam sheds, yard and the station far in the distance and we would spend many Friday afternoons after school watching the Garrets working up and down. I think it is this bug that bit, and it bit hard. As I have said many times before, if I could, I would probably spend a fortune on an “N” scale Garret if it were available LOL.
The first layout was some HO trains (Brittish) when I was 14 going on 15. However, school kept the hobby at bay. After school, a move to SA, getting an apprenticeship, woman (discussed many times on this forum LOL) and kids took over. It was back in 1994/5 somewhere that Kevin got me back into trains when he showed me an n scale Fleishman switcher he had just bought. Cannot remember if it was on a straight track or circle, but the thing ran like clockwork. I was looking at going back to HO, but when I saw this and did some measurement comparisons, I switched to “N” and Never looked back.
I initially settled the craving by purchasing some Graham Farish while buying many magazines to see what I would like. Well, there is a photo (which I must look for) that just gripped me by the throat and that was it. It was going to be American. I don’t really know how I settled on BN, but I did. Then came the SF merger and the “Pumpkin” colours and it just opened up my world further.
I must admit though that I have now turned to the dark side LOL. Every single one of my locos is either BN, SF or BNSF. However, for Christmas I bought my first UP
. I suppose it happens to the best of us.
I have a blog on my layout which you can see here: -
http://bnsfmodeling.blogspot.com/ although I will probably post updates here as well now. We will see
Sorry for the long winded post.
Best regards to you all.
Glynn
