THE MODEL RAILROADER
My Dad was a ferroequinologist, a person recreationally interested in trains.
As a kid, Dad built model airplanes, but because they easily broke when flown, he turned to model trains. Model railroading was Dad's passion and became the focus of our family's recreational activities--family friends, railroad conventions, travel.
The NMRA (National Model Railroad Association) is an international organization of model railroad hobbyists and its achievement programme is an incentive to learn and develop the hobby's crafts and skills--building various types of models, scenery, structures, track work, wiring and volunteerism. A Master Model Railroader must earn at least seven of the eleven achievement certificates. Dad earned his MMR in 1968 and was #22 worldwide, and the second Canadian.
Dad was a founding member of the Boomers Railroad Club. For over fifty years, this group of men from south west Ontario would meet monthly in a different member's home and run their trains, talk model railroading, plan outings. run an annual model train auction and organize regional conventions. The wives had their own social group. The Boomers were an important extension of our family.
THE FUMBLE & GRUMBLE
HO model railroads are the most popular scale (1:87 or 3.5 mm to 1 foot) of model railroading in the world.
Dad's HO railway was called The Fumble & Grumble. His first small layout was on the second floor of the Harriston Boy Scout building, but in 1955 he built an extra room--his train room--above the family garage. In 1983, he moved and expanded his layout into the rec room of the new Arthur Street home.
The F&G had lots of feet of track, looping around the scenery and into train yards...switches so trains could change tracks...signals and lighted buildings...handmade buildings (the burning house) and structures and detailed little panoramas (the naked swimmers)...hundreds of rolling stock--cabooses, boxcars, reefers, automobile and tank cars, gondolas, flat cars. Dad had well over 100 steam engines... (after 1949, diesels were forbidden from his layout. Anyone saying that "dirty" word paid a 5 cent fine). Almost all his engines and rolling stock were lettered as Fumble & Grumble.
Many places on the layout were humorously named for family & friends. Violent Junction was named after Mom; Pidsville after my sister, Vicky; Sandy River after our cocker spaniel; Aberville after the cat; Baldy River was for me. Then there were others like Sniderville, Jarvis Tunnel, Ed's Lumber, Hill's Ash & Smell Chemicals, Frankie's Hash House, etc. named after friends.
Harriston Review Aug 8 1962
the George Street layout
Fun Story: I found an article that Dad wrote for a railroad newsletter. It was titled "How To Smuggle that new locomotive or car into the house without being noticed by the Wife." It was Dad's joking advice but I wonder how much truth there was behind it. Dad's strategy was "Have all your locomotives painted and lettered for your own road name, except one. Whenever a "new" item appears, get that unpainted one finished off and the new purchase can replace it. Try "Oh, I've had that one for years, remember I got it at ** convention" or "The hobby shop had a sale and sold this one for $1..or they couldn't get it to run, so gave it to me and all it needed was oiling or a replaced wire." or "This for dickerers..Oh, I got this in a trade for that car I gave Sam who traded it to Mike for the passenger car, who traded it to Bill..and so on until she loses interest" "Get enough cars and locos so even you don't remember where it came from and when (Dad's #1 strategy?) that doesn't work, buy your wife a dozen red roses.
FERN VALLEY RAILROAD
It was late 1980s when Mom, aka The Conductor, "allowed" Dad to build a small loop of track outside the cottage. Over the next twenty-five years, the Fern Valley Railroad grew and grew to over 1000 feet of track looping around the cottage, with spur lines, a small yard built into the workshop, a turntable to allow trains to run pilot first in or out.
Fern Valley was a G-Gauge or Garden railway which is 1:24 (1/2" scale to one foot prototype). The forest of ferns around the cottage gave the railway its name.
The rolling stock consisted of passenger cars, boxcars, refrigerator cars, tank cars, flat cars and several cabooses; many of these were Dad-made. Each of the approximately 50 steam, battery-powered or electric locomotives had its own assigned caboose.
A majority of the buildings were scratch-built by Dad over the winter; many were named after family friends. There were 15 scratch-built bridges of different designs from arch, truss, plate, covered, to a 5 foot suspension bridge. Alberta Spruce (miniature trees), ferns and a large variety of flowers lined the track and moonlights placed all along the right of way provided illumination for evening operation.
The Fern Valley Railway was a notable feature of the Gobles Grove cottage country.
OTHER TRAINS
Two tracks of O Gauge (1;48 scale) trains and N Gauge (1:160) trains
OTHER ASSORTED TRAIN STUFF
No surprise that as a serious model railroader, Dad also amassed an assortment of anything train-related--coffee mugs, dishes. He had the clothing--a full conductor's uniform and hats. He had train lanterns, and station chairs. At the old house, he mounted the headlight from a steam locomotive and he also had a full-size train bell. He had signs from local abandoned train stations. And there were hundreds of slides, postcards and pictures of model and real trains. His library held over 1000 books about trains--all of which Dad read before they were shelved.
lanterns
locomotive headlamp on house
You forgot to mention how bright that engine light was - would nearly blind the neighbours when it was turned on vs
ReplyDeleteGreat recounting of his collection and his dedication to his hobby and precision that went with it. A man of many talents and skills.
DeleteI was thrilled when he let me run the train at the cottage!
ReplyDelete