IronBeltKen
Lazy Daydreamer
As I was working to de-clutter my trainroom the other night, one of the containers I relocated had a long-misplaced Front Range GP9 that I’d decommissioned decades ago because, even though it looked pretty, it ran like crap. It got me reminiscing about a random event that ultimately led me back to the model railroading hobby, 15 years after I had abandoned it.
It all started one Sunday afternoon during February 1988 in Catonsville, MD, as I was having a late lunch at the Burger King on Frederick Rd. This was right up the street from the old location of the legendary Pro Custom Hobbies where I remembered spending lots of time [and quite a bit of cash too] during my late teens; that storefront was now occupied by another business (a used-record exchange, IIRC?). Then I noticed that Pro Custom had relocated right across the street from the Burger King. I had a few hours to kill since my wife was at a luncheon with a few of her friends, so I figured I’d just stop over there and explore the new place – maybe get a magazine or two.
No other customers were at the store, so I chatted for awhile with the clerk about how I missed the “glory days” of the B&O when first-generation EMD power still roamed the rails. At some point I mentioned that one of the reasons I had left the hobby was because one of my favorite loco models, the Athearn “blue box” "GP9" (actually a GP7), had a hood that was way too wide, and it just wouldn't look right being consisted with the Altas Roco-powered GP40’s and GP38’s [whose hoods were correctly proportioned]. “Lemme show you something" the Pro Custom guy said, then reached into the cabinet and brought out 2 HO scale Front Range GP9’s. OMG!! – not only did they have scale-width hoods, but they were also available in different variations and did NOT have the molded-on winterization hatch like the Athearn geeps did!
Once I saw that decent-looking* models were available for the GP7/9’s and GP30’s of the B&O during my era (1969-72) – and knowing that my wife and I both were gainfully employed with disposable income – I could pick up the hobby where I’d left off 15 years earlier! She didn’t know yet about my earlier-life involvement in the hobby, so to play it safe, I only bought one of the Front Range geeps – the Phase III model with the 48” radiator fans (pictured above) – along with a B&O-decorated Athearn bay window caboose, a Champ decal set for B&O hood diesels, Floquil Dark Blue paint, and a Badger beginners’ spray kit that included air-in-a-can. When I told my wife later that evening about my rediscovered hobby, she thought it was a great idea since it would give me something to focus on besides TV. I now had the green light to continue buying more mrr stuff!
Feel free to share your own memories of returning to, or discovering, the world of scale-model trains!
* It wasn't until two years later, after I'd built a layout, that I discovered how poorly the Front Range Models ran in spite of their good looks. Luckily the LifeLike Proto-2000 geeps came onto the market within a few years and enabled me to replace and retire all the Front Ranger's.
It all started one Sunday afternoon during February 1988 in Catonsville, MD, as I was having a late lunch at the Burger King on Frederick Rd. This was right up the street from the old location of the legendary Pro Custom Hobbies where I remembered spending lots of time [and quite a bit of cash too] during my late teens; that storefront was now occupied by another business (a used-record exchange, IIRC?). Then I noticed that Pro Custom had relocated right across the street from the Burger King. I had a few hours to kill since my wife was at a luncheon with a few of her friends, so I figured I’d just stop over there and explore the new place – maybe get a magazine or two.
No other customers were at the store, so I chatted for awhile with the clerk about how I missed the “glory days” of the B&O when first-generation EMD power still roamed the rails. At some point I mentioned that one of the reasons I had left the hobby was because one of my favorite loco models, the Athearn “blue box” "GP9" (actually a GP7), had a hood that was way too wide, and it just wouldn't look right being consisted with the Altas Roco-powered GP40’s and GP38’s [whose hoods were correctly proportioned]. “Lemme show you something" the Pro Custom guy said, then reached into the cabinet and brought out 2 HO scale Front Range GP9’s. OMG!! – not only did they have scale-width hoods, but they were also available in different variations and did NOT have the molded-on winterization hatch like the Athearn geeps did!
Once I saw that decent-looking* models were available for the GP7/9’s and GP30’s of the B&O during my era (1969-72) – and knowing that my wife and I both were gainfully employed with disposable income – I could pick up the hobby where I’d left off 15 years earlier! She didn’t know yet about my earlier-life involvement in the hobby, so to play it safe, I only bought one of the Front Range geeps – the Phase III model with the 48” radiator fans (pictured above) – along with a B&O-decorated Athearn bay window caboose, a Champ decal set for B&O hood diesels, Floquil Dark Blue paint, and a Badger beginners’ spray kit that included air-in-a-can. When I told my wife later that evening about my rediscovered hobby, she thought it was a great idea since it would give me something to focus on besides TV. I now had the green light to continue buying more mrr stuff!
Feel free to share your own memories of returning to, or discovering, the world of scale-model trains!
* It wasn't until two years later, after I'd built a layout, that I discovered how poorly the Front Range Models ran in spite of their good looks. Luckily the LifeLike Proto-2000 geeps came onto the market within a few years and enabled me to replace and retire all the Front Ranger's.