What connection do you have to railroading?

[Jhanecker2]

Grew up in Chicago ,  had plenty of trains in the area and rode the CTA  elevated .  I remember the storage yards of scrapped cars near the Chicago River near Halstead and Chicago Avenues .   Worked for Pyle National  Company from  1972 to 1992  and inspected  & tested a lot of  Railroad connectors and assembled cables .   We manufactured a considerable number of lines of equipment Lights ,  MU cables & Equipment  , and also  Line of Head end Cables Parts. We had a good number of former railroad members in the company  some of whom  were also  model railroad collectors . Went to the Illinois railroad Museum down the road in Union       and noted all the different connector lines  that were used  in railroad cars .  John2.

[Deland]

 I was born into Santa Fe. My Mothers father was killed when she was 12. He had his legs run over during a switching accident. My grandmother remarried a Square headed Pennsylvania Dutchman who had worked the steel mills in Pittsburg but got on with the pennsy and eventually the Santa Fe where he met and married my grandmother who had 3 kids (not something that was done during that era). My Great uncles (on my maternal grandmothers side) also worked for the Santa Fe to support their dryland farming habits, IIRC 5 of the 7 uncles worked Santa Fe. My uncle on my mothers side worked Santa Fe during summers in HS, then went to the army for 4 years and at age 22 back to the Santa Fe until retirement. From the time I was born until I was in my 40's I never lived more than a couple of blocks from a SF rail including thru HS where they were stopped less then 50 ft from my front door for crew change. I lived in a small town and if you wanted a snack after 10:00 pm the rail station had machines for the crews (sleeping accommodations up until the 80's). Many of the residents had an old caboose that were used to rent to RR employees on overnight stays and some later became storage sheds and workshops. My mothers cousin worked the car shop and his dad was retired SF. He knew all the yard hands and engineers/brakemen so snuck me in a few times for rides in engines and caboose (highly illegal and against the rules). Summers, from the time I was about 6, I would ride the passenger train to visit my grandparents in Canadian Tx (my grandfather knew all the conductors so I always had supervision if needed). To this point in my life I have seldom lived so far from the tracks that I couldn't hear the horn and after living right on the tracks for 8 years during JHS/HS I had a hard time sleeping if I didn't hear an engine and horn during the night. I had trains as a kid but after the "GIRL" thing kicked in, other things took priority but now that life has slowed, I needed a hobby for the winter months, not many car shows/cruise ins in the winter.

[Rick Abramson]

As a kid I "worshipped" the New Haven. I hired on the NH in Feb., 1968 and worked at Devon, CT. My RR career spanned 44 years when I retired in 2012 as Sup't of Operations for the Housatonic RR. One of my goals was to become a locomotive engineer, which I did!
It was a fabulous 44 year career for which I am very gratefull for.