Page 24 - NMRA Roundhouse September October 2020

Captivated by the lore of railroads
1953: Captivated by the lore of railroads in a way I hadn’t been before, I was drawn by a pavement artist just after I had climbed up into the cab of a Cape Cod Railroad F unit!
1954: My darling Dad took me on the Lackawanna railroad from Summit, NJ to Hoboken – the spur to write this was the re-discovery a few months ago of a very special 16 page booklet from the ‘Twenty Fourth ANNUAL EXHIBITION 1954 NewYork Society of Model Engi- neers, Hoboken, N.J., founded 1926’.
1961: I spent my summer watching West- ern Maryland trains roll by the Highfield, MD train order office. I did my first measured drawings of it between long freight trains each day as well as the local freight switching out of Hagerstown some 15 miles away.
The engineer of the local freight had offered me a cab ride following the day’s train orders – a boy’s dream come true! Mr Fore, smiling, called “Come on board, David!” I climbed up the mammoth GP9, number 41, into the safety of the cab and Mr Fore’s friendship.
1985:An earlier layout with my son Sam standing by Highfield. Building a model of the Highfield train order office was the right place to start modelling the Western Maryland Railway some 3,000
New York Society of Model Engineers 1954 cover
Milton A. Fore WM at Highfield DM engine ride for day
Sam and WM layout c1985
miles and 24 years away from what I had known and loved as a boy.
2020: Re-creating the setting and track- work of the Highfield train order office encouraged by Brian Moore following the retirement of Waynesboro, PA for future relocation!
David McLaughlin
ROUNDHOUSE - September/October 2020 - 75thAnniversary Issue
DAVID MCLAUGHLIN REGION PRESIDENT 2017-2019
Waynesboro Model 2011
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