The title explains all, just post what railroad(s) you grew up by, maybe even talk a little bit about the company in your hometown…
I still live at home and am not old enough to have my own home so I’ll have to talk about what I still see:
I live by the KCS, with the occasional BNSF run-through, the railroad serves a grain elevator and some anhydrous fertilizer tanks in town, north of town the road takes a small grade around a curve onto higher land, with the line running to Jacksonville and Springfield, IL. Usually 3-4, sometimes 5 trains go through a day, with anything from modern GE units to older SD50s and Tunnel Motors powering the trains.
I grew up mainly surrounded by the MBTA and guilford, Its a wonder I know what I know about trains because I never saw one up close until I was 6 or 7. The fitchburg branch of the T commuter rail ran by my elementary school. I probably saw one Guilford train in my whole 2 years there. then I moved to a trainless town[:(]
For the first 11 years of my life it was 4 unit sets of Frisco Red & White GP-7’s on the Ardmore - Arkinda sub-division ( Now the Kiamichi RR. ) in Durant, Oklahoma.
That was 30+ years ago, I still miss the sights and sounds of the Frisco.
First trains I remember paying attention to were Erie-Lackawanna; I remember seeing what I now know are F-units pulling a passenger train into the station in the center of Passaic, NJ. Next was Conrail.
When we moved to VA, we lived very near the big RF&P yard just below Washington DC, and I remember seeing RF&P, CSX and NS engines there. We still live in the same area (actually a couple of blocks closer to the tracks now), but both the yard and the RF&P are long gone. So now its mainly NS, with the occasional CSX going through.
Funny thing is, I’ve always been fond of the Santa Fe, and that’s what I’ve always modeled far back as I can remember – and I never even saw an actual ATSF train until I was well into my 30’s, on our first trip to L.A… I don’t know what prompted my fondness for Santa Fe, but there ya go.
The ones I remember the most were Southern Pacific, during the era of filthy Geeps and SD’s in bloody-nose gray and red (and rust and oil and grime and dust.) I sort of dimly remember seeing green and orange locomotives from time to time in the Seventies and early Eighties which, as it turns out, were Western Pacific and/or Sacramento Northern engines.
grew up in Hamilton Ont. Bay View Junction was a great spot for trainspotting. Returned there a few years ago after an absence of more than 50 yrs, what a disappointment . Oh well I guess nothing is ever what it seems with our " selective " memory. Do remember steam tho of the CNR, CPR, TH&B, and NYC. in the area. Very fond memories.
The first three years of my life was spent growing up by the Nevada County Narrow Gauge RR here in Northern California. And I mean BY! Our house was right across the street from the terminal in Nevada City. Later, I grew up with SP’s Donner Pass route in Truckee, CA. In fact, I didn’t see my first WP until I was about eight, didn’t see my first ATSF until I was about nine and visiting Tehachapi and heard the rat-tat-tat sound of an ATSF 2-10-2 for about three miles before I even saw it. Didn’t see any other railroads until I was in college and traveling the west. Didn’t see my first Rio Grande trains until I got out of the Air Force and traveled home via the original “California Zephyr.” Being a native Californian, you’d think I model either WP, ATSF or primarily SP, right? Or even that ol’ debbil’ UP? Nope, being a native Californian, I quite naturally model Rio Grande. Is there a problem?
As a boy in Providence, Kentucky, it was the L&N and the Illinois Central
In high school, Tuscaloosa, Alabama, it was Southern, L&N, and GM&O
Now in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, it is Norfolk Southern, KCS, and AmTrak
I grew up with GN, NP and Milwaukee. Also had Butte Anaconda & Pacific as a shortline. I have read a description of my city as “it looks like a model railroad with all of the train track all over the place.”
I couldn’t have custom ordered a better growing up from a railfan’s perspective! I was born and raised on the south side of Chicago Circa WWII and we lived about four blocks from the embankment shared by the four track mains of the NYC & PRR a reasonably short hike from Grand Crossing where the NYC/PRR crossed over the 8 track mainline of the IC (with trackage rights for the Big Four, Mich. Central and South Shore. The MC was NYC cars with NYC engines while the Big Four was NYC cars and IC engines. About 3 months short of my 16th birthday my family moved to LA (on the Golden State) where I could watch SP:s Valley frieghts leaving town with three cab forwards(1 on the point, one mid-train and one about 12 cars ahead of the caboose). An afternoon trip to the Balboa Blvd crossing of the Coast Line to watch the Daylight go by with 20 cars and a GS-4. Throw in some trips my father (who travelled a lot on business) treated me to like a ride to St. Louis on the IC transitional Green Diamond’s open platform observation car, and a round trip to minneapolis one weekend out on the Hiawatha and back on the 400 at better that 100 MPH on each and it’s little wonder that I’m an obsesive train freak.
Having moved around alot as a child, I’ve lived by Penn Central, Milwaukee Road, BN, SP, ATSF, Mopac, and KCS. It was quite a thrill to get a cab ride in a KCS GP40!! Nearly 20 years ago–I hope I’m getting better and not just older!
In my VERY early years it was the Grand Trunk which turned a daily sand train in Muskegon Michigan. Later it was the Manistee & Noreastern (known by the locals as the Manistee and Nowhere Else) which ran by my grandfathers fruit farm in Manistee and Onekama, Michigan. During my high school years, my (later) father-in-law operated the Ludington & Northern, a wholly owned subsidary of the Sergeant Sand Company. They hauled sand over a five mile route from the sand dunes of Lake Michigan to an interchange with the C7O in Ludington. The sand ended up at the Ford River Rouge plant in Detroit or at a Libby Owens Ford glass plant.
Then of course there were the C&O carferries which operated out of Ludington to Milwaukee, Manitowoc & Kewanee Wisconsin. They ran 7 boats, 'round the clock 24-7 for a lot of years. One boat the SS Badger still operates from May - October hauling cross lake auto and truck traffic from Ludington to Manitowoc.
I grew up on 8th street in Jersey City about 4 blocks from the Hudson River. On tenth street(adjacent to my school yard) ran the ERIE later to be the E-L. On 6th st. ran the Pennsylvania later to become the Penn Central. A few blocks away was the Hudson Tubes later to become PATH. Also remeber taking the ferry from the ERIE terminal to NY not too long before they stopped that service.
Great question!!
Mark http://webusers.warwick.net/~u1015590/