Train Fascination

I finally put up my train calendar. Buck usually brings home several calendars the first of each year, many of them beautiful animal or scenic calendars. Nice, but I usually leave them for him to hang in his space. This year he brought home a calendar of train pictures, compliments of Orchard Supply Hardware. That one I claimed for me.

My family seems to have this fascination with trains. It may be because my grandfather was an engineer on a train. My uncle was killed in June of 1955 while working as an electrician on a train.


I enjoyed this photo of a Santa Fe engine I took while Buck was working for Wesson Construction to repaint the Bradley Overhead in Merced. The train company is now the Burlington-Northern Santa Fe, and the color scheme of their engines is entirely different.







My brother loved model railroading, and belonged to the local club before his death in 1998. He was disabled, so Buck built him a work bench, and the club helped him get set up so he would work one-handed. His specialty was trees.





We featured several at his memorial service, along with my all-time favorite picture of Bob as an adult--his smiling face in the middle of his benchwork. Several of his trees were donated to the model railroad set up in one room of the Bloss House in Atwater.

I saved a box of trees to pass along to my grandchildren even though I know in my heart of hearts that most, probably all, will have no interest in the beautiful things created by their great-uncle.

Yet, I keep a scene using his trees and some of the model buildings from his model railroading benchwork in a corner of my living room. It is backed by a barn in winter scene painted by my sister. They are a reminder of the talents of both my siblings.