MEC-Glenn-FallTruss
Family trips to New Hampshire, Vermont and Maine in the 1970s and 1980s helped introduce me to the full size trains of the Maine Central and Boston & Maine. This fed into my passion for model railroading. Below are some snapshots I took during a few of our camping trips to White Mountains of New Hampshire. Certainly not contest quality images but being able to take some pictures of these trains was really cool for a teenager growing up in New Jersey!
MEC GP38 on the YR-1 train from St. Johnsbury to Portand as it passed by our campground in the White Mountains of New Hampshire, in 1980.
A pair of B&M GP9's idled in Whitefield, New Hampshire, where we were passing through one day during an early 1980's camping trip.
Another camping trip took us into Maine, where we got up close to the rail yard in Bangor. I saw a local crew working to get their train ready around caboose #640.
In the early 1980’s I joined the Gateway Model Railroad Club in Gloucester, NJ. This helped me to develop my skills, learn more about model railroading and also introduce me to new people. One of those was my late friend Glenn Salvatore (pictured below as we railfanned along the tracks in Woodstown, New Jersey). He really encouraged my interest in New England railroading and helped me get into building prototype models.
Soon after we started work on Glenn’s Rutland RR layout and also built a pair of modules for a local HO group. This was a great learning experience, and Glenn really helped broaden my knowledge of the prototype railroads in New England.
I also spent some time working at Sattler’s Hobby Shop in Westmont, NJ. This helped me understand more about the model railroad industry and meet other people from all walks of life who shared an interest in trains. This was an exciting first job to have as a high school student and I really enjoyed going to work!
Participation in the club and working at Sattler's led me to my involvement with the NMRA and locally the New Jersey Division. Nothing can help you achieve your model railroading goals better than participation in the NMRA. My involvement has led me to serve the NJ Division, previously as Superintendent and editor of the Clinkers newsletter, and currently as their webmaster.
While at Gateway and working on Glenn’s layout, I met Anton Mazza. Anton is Canadian Pacific and Canadian National modeler. Anton was part of our group working on Glenn's Rutland layout, and we are still friends today. He has helped me with the early stages of my NEK layout, particularly the early benchwork, before moving to Maryland.
Here is Anton at the Timonium MD show, operating a long CP freight on the Four County modular layout.
Even though Anton has moved to Maryland, we still get together to go to conventions and train shows. Each year we make the weekend pilgrimage to Springfield for the Big E train show. We find plenty of stuff to buy and enjoy, and recently I have participated with the New England Free-mo group, with me bringing my modules up for the show. Anton's club has also been attending Springfield recently so we are both busier than ever during the show. Having friends in the hobby makes it even better!
Finally, I would like to thank my wife Tanya for not only tolerating my hobby but also supporting it and helping out at times (she has built some nice structures and birch trees for the layout).
About Mike McNamara
I have been into model railroading since I was pretty young. My parents gave me a number of model railroad items growing up, and this led to a 4x8 in the basement, with various Tyco and AHM products populating the layout.Family trips to New Hampshire, Vermont and Maine in the 1970s and 1980s helped introduce me to the full size trains of the Maine Central and Boston & Maine. This fed into my passion for model railroading. Below are some snapshots I took during a few of our camping trips to White Mountains of New Hampshire. Certainly not contest quality images but being able to take some pictures of these trains was really cool for a teenager growing up in New Jersey!
MEC GP38 on the YR-1 train from St. Johnsbury to Portand as it passed by our campground in the White Mountains of New Hampshire, in 1980.
A pair of B&M GP9's idled in Whitefield, New Hampshire, where we were passing through one day during an early 1980's camping trip.
Another camping trip took us into Maine, where we got up close to the rail yard in Bangor. I saw a local crew working to get their train ready around caboose #640.
In the early 1980’s I joined the Gateway Model Railroad Club in Gloucester, NJ. This helped me to develop my skills, learn more about model railroading and also introduce me to new people. One of those was my late friend Glenn Salvatore (pictured below as we railfanned along the tracks in Woodstown, New Jersey). He really encouraged my interest in New England railroading and helped me get into building prototype models.
Soon after we started work on Glenn’s Rutland RR layout and also built a pair of modules for a local HO group. This was a great learning experience, and Glenn really helped broaden my knowledge of the prototype railroads in New England.
I also spent some time working at Sattler’s Hobby Shop in Westmont, NJ. This helped me understand more about the model railroad industry and meet other people from all walks of life who shared an interest in trains. This was an exciting first job to have as a high school student and I really enjoyed going to work!
Participation in the club and working at Sattler's led me to my involvement with the NMRA and locally the New Jersey Division. Nothing can help you achieve your model railroading goals better than participation in the NMRA. My involvement has led me to serve the NJ Division, previously as Superintendent and editor of the Clinkers newsletter, and currently as their webmaster.
While at Gateway and working on Glenn’s layout, I met Anton Mazza. Anton is Canadian Pacific and Canadian National modeler. Anton was part of our group working on Glenn's Rutland layout, and we are still friends today. He has helped me with the early stages of my NEK layout, particularly the early benchwork, before moving to Maryland.
Here is Anton at the Timonium MD show, operating a long CP freight on the Four County modular layout.
Even though Anton has moved to Maryland, we still get together to go to conventions and train shows. Each year we make the weekend pilgrimage to Springfield for the Big E train show. We find plenty of stuff to buy and enjoy, and recently I have participated with the New England Free-mo group, with me bringing my modules up for the show. Anton's club has also been attending Springfield recently so we are both busier than ever during the show. Having friends in the hobby makes it even better!
Finally, I would like to thank my wife Tanya for not only tolerating my hobby but also supporting it and helping out at times (she has built some nice structures and birch trees for the layout).