First of all, I've been a fan of the Green Bay & Western Railroad since it was introduced to the readers of Model Railroader Magazine^tm way back in February of 1978. I have been in love with that little road and its all ALCO roster ever since and I'll tell you more about it a little later on.

Humble Beginnings

The powered unit ended up getting a different paint job one year while I was experimenting with the creation of a fictitious railroad named after my parents. It never got beyond the painting of the engine and the original Tyco^tm Penn Central boxcar (which I had blown up with a firecracker and then rebuilt from the pieces so nobody would know) from my first set. Well, it needed a new paint job after the firecracker.
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Quality over Quantity

My plywood layout was inherited from my mothers cousin, who had built up a small folded figure eight with a mountain on one side. He lost interest, but his mother, who had helped fuel my interest in the hobby, offered the board and layout to me! The whole layout rested for many years on a card table that my mother had inherited from her grandmother until I actually built legs for the board to keep my little brother from reaching it. The most interesting thing about the layout was it's five foot long balsa ramp that lead to the top of the mountain and the mountain itself, which was built partially with Marlboro^tm boxes covered with plaster. I guess it could have been called 'Marlboro^tm Mountain'. My grandfather later helped me rebuild the mountain out of plaster covered screen. It was much sturdier and not as tacky. I'm not really sure what happened to the ramp, I vaguely remember something about Matchbox^tm cars running into it and a fire, or maybe that was just some movie.

The train club in Elmhurst allowed me to learn some of the things that I just wasn't able to pickup through trial and error. For example, before joining the club, I never knew there were such things as prototype couplers, weathering and metal wheels. My idea of model railroading was hooking up a bunch of cars and seeing if my engine could pull them along at full speed without crashing. Forward only of course since horn hook couplers seldom cooperate in reverse. I even found out that you COULD actually operate a train in reverse with Kadee^tm couplers. What a concept! And here I had always thought that the old 0-5-0 method was the only way to put cars in a siding successfully. For those of you not familiar yet with the 0-5-0, look at the hand you use to manually move your cars. That's your 0-5-0. Now, don't get me wrong, there are still times when the 0-5-0 must be used, but, as a fledgling model railroader, I thought that was the ONLY way to move cars. Another thing I found out was that it is possible to run a train at less than full speed and make several circuits without derailments or unexplained uncouplings. If you're not a member of your local model railroad club, you should be. And if you have a child that's interested in the hobby, by all means, visit your local clubs, become members, go to hobby shows and encourage their participation. It's a hobby that can last a life time.

Now, where was I? Oh yeah, I was adding to my collection and starting to convert my cars from horn hook couplers to Kadee^tm couplers. This was rather expensive for a kid who's only income came from a twice a week paper route. But, somehow I managed to buy a couple packs of couplers a month and a new Athearn^tm car or two as well. When Christmas time came around, there were the tips from my best customers which allowed me to add an Athearn^tm engine or two. I ended up with a couple of Southern Pacific units, a couple of Union Pacific units, a few Santa Fe engines and a pair of Bachman^tm Norfolk & Western U-boats in the Bicentennial paint jobs. I just hadn't decided yet which one I liked the best and was willing to model. So many choices, so little money.
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The Love Affair Begins

Now, all I had to do was to find some decent ALCOs in HO scale.  This was no easy task back in the late 70's since nobody was mass-producing anything in ALCO other than the aforementioned PAs.  It was easier to find platform shoes with live goldfish in them then to find an RS-3!  I think the only other available ALCOs of the time were a few brass imports and these were WAY out of my price range.  So much for building up my railroad at that time.  All I could do was research and dream which wasn't all bad, I had a very vivid imagination.

Not to worry, it was also about this time that I discovered girls and cars.  This was not the ideal time to start to seriously collect anything other than gas money.  Along with the need for gas money came the need for a better paying job, then another, and another until sometime later, I had grown up, got married, had a child, got divorced and found myself right back where I started from, my parents house.  So went the first half of the 1980s.
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Home Again

After moving back in, I was able to restart my passion for model railroading in ernest.  My ex wouldn't let me do things like that while we were married.  Now, it was my turn to have some freedom and to jump in with both feet.  I found my old copies of MR and started really building my collection.  This was about the time that many manufacturers were starting to put out some real quality ALCO equipment in HO.  Some of the equipment I was able to aquire at this time was from the first run of Atlas^tm/Kato^tm.  These were some of the best running engines I had ever seen, they still are.  I picked up four RS-3s, a RS-11, and four C-424s.  This was quite an investment but well worth it.  These would cover the GBWs #305-308 for the RS-3s, #309 for the RS-11 and #311-313 for the Centurys.  Another great break was the release by Overland^tm of the GBW version of the RS-27 #310.  Having a decent job allowed me to afford that one, my first all brass model.  I couldn't believe the detail or the price!  Brass engines aren't something you can go out and buy every day.  The unique thing about the GBW #310 was that it had a recessed brake wheel.  It was the only RS-27 built that way.  Thank you Overland^tm!  The GBW bought the 310 brand new, so did I.  It was more of an investment than anything else.  For RS-2s I purchase four Stewart^tm RS-3 Phase 3 kits and Smokey Valley^tm RS-2 conversion kits for them.  I also picked up some Ajin^tm can motors to try and make the Stewarts^tm more compatible with the Atlas^tm units since they came stock with the older Athearn^tm motors.  These were supposed to become GBW units #301-304.

Now that I had a firm foundation to build my collection on, I had to decide which period I wanted to model.  Originally I decided to work from the early seventies to the present, it was a simple paint job and easy to decal.  For some reason, I changed my mind and decided to go with the pre-seventies, grey stripe scheme instead.  I think that this decision gave me a more colorful train and a larger fleet variety.  What I mean is I could back-date the road to the earlier deisel period, the forties and fifties, with little difficulty and have a larger fleet of motive power.  By the seventies, the GBW had gotten rid of most of it's RS-2's and the FAs were gone in the sixties.  I wanted to be able to have RS-2s and FAs available and running, so the decision was made.

Regardless of the date I chose, I had already painted a couple of units in the solid red scheme and wasn't quite sure what to do with them.  This turned out to be less of a problem when Kato^tm introduced the RS-2.  I had only gotten around to building one of the Stewart/Smokey Valley^tm units, number 301, which I actually mounted on an Atlas^tm chassis.  Now I could paint an actual RS-2 instead of going through the trouble of building it, although, I must admit, it came out pretty good for a first time.
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Here and Now

As you can see, I have a lot of work yet to do. I have my entire fleet on hand, I just need the time and motivation to finish the detailing and painting. 

All of my engines, except for the two Walthers^tm units, get a number of detail replacements prior to painting.  The Stewart^tm RS-2s, obviously, get some of the most significant changes.  They include removing the original cab and short hood and replacing them with the Smokey Valley^tm parts (talk about major surgery!).  The plastic grabs are all removed and replaced with Details West^tm metal grabs.  The plastic handrails are replaced with brass units from the Smokey Valley^tm kit.  The proper horns are installed, marker lights are put on the ends of the long hood (the actual front of the engine) and working rotating beacons are installed.  Then the unit is ready for paint.

The Atlas^tm C424s get a major reworking as well.  The fuel tanks have to be removed as well as the entire dynamic breaking unit on the top of the long hood.  All of the grabs are replaced and several of the grills on the side have to be filled in.  Also, the horn has to be replaced and repositioned and the working rotating beacon is installed.

There's more to come. Stop by again for the rest of the story.
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