I started modeling in HO scale in the 1950’s while I was a teenager living with my parents in Detroit, Michigan. My first piece of rolling stock was a scratch built private owner wood reefer using the sides that were printed in color on heavy glossy paper in the January 1949 issue of Model Railroader magazine. I then assembled a couple of freight car kits, a Varney Little Joe 0-4-0T saddle tank switcher and a Bowser 4-6-2 Pacific steam locomotive. I built a small mining railroad layout but, the curves were too tight so the only thing I could run was the Little Joe and a few MDC Roundhouse ore cars.
I finished high school and joined the military for three years where I did not do any modeling. I trashed the layout and some poorly constructed scratch built structures but, packed and stored the locomotives and freight cars. After completing my military service I moved to the warm climate of California where I still live. I put myself through college and built a good number of HO scale structures and freight cars from scratch using construction articles in the hobby press. While building the freight cars I came up with the name Gila (He la) Pacific for my freelance model railroad.
After graduating from college I built a small portable switching layout. I bought a house in 1969 and incorporated my small switchback switching layout into a larger layout.
In the 1970’s I attended my first NMRA Regional convention and became active in the LA Division and the PCR of the NMRA. I started entering model contests and became interested in the NMRA Achievement Program. Around this time I also started writing article and doing kit critiques for the now defunct Railroad Modeler magazine which had its offices not far from my house. I wrote and self published three soft covered books on railroad modeling.
On June 20, 1974, I was awarded Master Model Railroader Certificate Number 55. The certificates that I have earned to date are: Master Builder – Cars, Master Builder – Structures, Master Builder - Scenery, Master Builder – Civil Engineer, Master Builder – Electrical Engineer, Model Railroad Author and Association Volunteer. I had planned on applying for all of the categories but as time passes it looks like this may elude me.
In the 1990’s I took about a 10 year break from HO scale modeling while I pursued Live Steam railroading in 1 ½ inch scale.
After retiring in 2003 from a 40 year career as a Mechanical Engineer in the aerospace and aircraft industries, I was drawn back into HO sale model trains after hearing the sound of the locomotives on one of the local club layouts in the area. I had installed Modeltronics sound modules in a couple of locomotives in the 1980’s but, this new system sounded so much better and they were controlled with radio control throttles. I was hooked.
I moved the old layout into a larger room and am now in the middle of the new construction phase of the Gila Pacific RR. The layout is now DCC controlled using Digitrax Super Chief and three times as big. I am also reworking and detailing my older steam motive power with can motors and sound decoders. A lot of the structures that I have built over the years will find a place on this expanded layout along with new structures. The older structures will have to be brought up to today’s standards.
