My Mom called me a “train brain.” My favorite toys were trains and the stories I wanted to hear were all about trains. So when I became an adult, model railroading was a natural hobby for me. I started by building an HO scale empire in my basement. It was a freelance endeavor because I had so many different (railroad) interests. I loved camelback steam engines from the northeast anthracite railroads; but I also liked heavy electrics running under catenary. So my miniature empire featured both.

After a dozen years I was introduced to live steam trains big enough to ride on. I joined the Finger Lakes Live Steamers, located in upstate New York. I soon discovered there is not enough time to do everything. The HO layout was pushed to the back burner as I acquired machine tools to make parts for bigger trains. Eventually the HO empire was torn down and most of the little trains I had collected were sold.

My other hobby when I was young was collecting rocks and minerals. At some point I started cutting gemstones and making jewelry. By the time I was in high school I was faceting gems. After a couple of years at a community college I needed to decide on a career path. It was the early 1970s and the craft movement was in full swing. I was accepted to study jewelry design at the School for American Craftsmen at Rochester Institute of Technology where I earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree. I worked in the manufacturing of fine jewelry for several years, but I soon discovered I could make more money and get better benefits in the manufacture of steel parts (Tool and Die shops). I programmed and ran very early CNC machines in the 1980s. Somehow I fell into inspecting the quality of machined parts. I became a Quality Assurance Manager in 1987. Most of my career was centered around metal parts, but when I retired in 2016 I had been working in the quality of optical glass.

I am primarily writing this blog for myself to document the building of my next engine and a few other live steam projects. If others want to follow my progress, that’s great. I plan to update the blog on a fairly regular schedule.