Hi Dan,
I'm disappointed that you didn't offer me a beer when we met at a
certain Chicago area hobby shop many years back! Actually it was mid
morning, so that probably wouldn't have worked out anyhow.
Welcome to the group--
Bob Werre
PhotoTraxx
Good afternoon!
After lurking on and off this list for years, and signing up a month
or so ago, I thought that I should introduce myself!
My name is Dan Kirlin. I have been modeling in S scale since the
summer of 1982, so I am just coming up on my 30th anniversary in S
scale. Now I am told at some meetings, that when a person introduces
himself, at that point the entire group responds with " Hello Dan !,
oh not that kind of group.
I seem to know a fair number of the participants on the list - I live
in Southern Ontario ( Kitchener / Waterloo area ) so I know most of
the guys around here. I also taught a certain hobby shop owner in the
Chicago area how to enjoy a nice cold canadian beer......seems to me
that I also taught that same lesson to a couple of S brass importers I
know, as well as two other " S " manufacturers.
In the mid 1980's I lived and worked in the Windsor / Detroit area,
and had the pleasure of getting to know many of the SMSG members of
the day - all started by a chance encounter with Dave Held at P&D
Hobbies. He invited me to a monthly meeting which I thoroughly
enjoyed, and then attended most of the meetings while living in that
area. At the time, I was an area manager for an International
Restaurant company, which had me transferring to Winnipeg shortly
after getting married in 1986. Winnipeg is basicaaly where I grew up,
and my modeling focus is the CNR line between Winnipeg and Portage La
Prarie Manitoba circa 1959. This area is where steam died on the CNR
in April of 1960, so I chose the fall of 1959 as my focus, because
most of the AG crops would be in the harvest process making the wheat
fields easier to model, and 1959 was a very busy crop year for the
railways out west, so there was still a lot of big steam running
beside the first gen diesel fleet which was all on the property by the
fall of 1960, so a varied diesel roster is viable.
In 1997, my wife and I transferred back to Southern Ontario to be
closer to our aging parents. I have been self employed since 1993, and
I have a decent basement and workshop to build my layout.
When I signed up for this list, I of course read the rules with
regards to Flyer subjects - but I do have to pass on a short tale. I
use to know the number of some much desired Flyer freight car, and
when I told someone that I modeled in S scale, of course they would
tell me all about their Flyer etc., at which point I would disclose
that I once owned the xxxx ( rare freight car ) and that I ran it
through me tablesaw to try and correct its width - that didn't help,
and never bought a piece of flyer again! This usually generated a
reaction!
All joking aside, I never really owned any Flyer - I have been a model
railroader for as long as I can remember - first with Lionel, then
with HO scale, but in 1982, I was getting really fed up with the
overall mechanical quality ( lack thereof ) of almost all of the HO
equipement that I was buying, and started looking for something
better. I had seen some very nice quality O scale equipement, but I
was a batchelor at the time, and didn't think that I would ever have
sufficient space to model what I wanted in O scale, so responding to
an advert and a telephone call with Ron Bashista, I ordered and
promptly received an American Models FP-7 in the mail. I was hooked,
and have been ever since.
Anyways - good afternoon.
Dan Kirlin / Waterloo, Ontario
