Reader Robert has sent in this story of the day the Circus Train stopped at his house:

“When I lived in Manville N.J. in the Valley section of town. We had a cape cod style home along the Reading Rail Road line. Our home was 35 feet from the tracks. My small yard was 80′ X 60′ with an access driveway on the right side of the house. It went to the small roadway behind the house and allong the tracks. I lived there with My Wife and 2 boys. At that time they were 4 & 8yrs old.

One day the Ringling Brothers Barnum & Bailies Circus train came by on it’s way to N.Y.City. It had to slow down and even stopped at one point. Rob 8 & Matt 4 were thrilled to see the animal cars go slowly by and all the equipment cars. We watched for what seemed like hours. They were so excited naming the animals. We got a chance to wave to workers and some of the people that preformed the acts. A few miles ahead was a crossing of another line it was the reason for the slow down. We didn’t care it was exciting and interesting to watch. The boys will have that memory forever and so will I.

Another Train we enjoyed counting was the Tropacana train. Hundreds of orange colored cars filled with Orange juice would go by once or twice/year. Not as exciting but a great counting exercize. “

Herb recalls the steam engines pulling Iron Ore in Ohio and shares this memory with readers:

“I live and grew up in Ashtabula, OH, USA. I remember two Steam engines in front, one in the middle and one or two at the end pulling Iron ore out of Ashtabula Harbor. Also, the Astabula Carfery took coal cars to Canada. It had twin screws and did not need any Tugs. It was built in 1917. We would go to Point Park and watch it come through the Lift bridge on the Ashtabula River. This all brings back a lot of memories.”

Jean share her memories of trains in Belgium, France and Brazil and writes:

I have many remembrances of trains when growing up in Belgium as well as France and Brazil. Here are a couple.

Just before WW2, waiting on a platform at Mons with my parents, a very unusual engine went by. It was, in current terms a 0-6-0, with a very tall stack, gleaming copper fittings, a semi open driver position. I have never seen another one like it except in movies of the 1880s in the American West, or pictures of some GWR in the UK

Another one. Between Rio de Janeiro and the summer towns of Petropolis and Teresopolis in the Serra da Mantiqueira, 40 miles north of Rio and as high as 7000 feet (the towns are at about 3000 feet), British engineers in the late XIX century had built a meter gage system (similar to South African RR), called the Leopoldina Railway. From Rio to the foot of the mountain, the track ran across lowlands. At Raiz da Serra ( Mountain Foothill), the trains were broken into sets of two carriages and each set pushed up the steep slope by a cog steam engine. At the crest, about 1200 feet , (sometimes in the midst of clouds) the train was reassembled and another steam engine took it down to Petropolis. For Teresopolis, a similar system prevailed, plus the fact that the track ran in the middle of the main street.

What I found fascinating, coming down from there one day and looking out the downhill side window, in the curves, to slow the train , the engine at point had huge brake shoes on both sides of the central cog rail, which threw plenty of sparks. The engines had a spark catcher smokestack and carriages were open at both ends to a balcony, and looked exactly like the ones in Western movies. There were two classes, First and Second, both very dusty and distinct only in that First had woven straw seats and Second had wooden benches.

A well retold joke went like this, given that the trains would speed up going downhill and slow down considerably going up.

Q: “‘What is the difference between First and Second class?”

A: “When you get to a lombada (hill climb) the conductor will come through and shout: Second class passengers get out and push the train “.

If you would like to share your railroad memories go to http://www.model-railroad-resources.com/memories.html and add your thoughts.

Gordon has sent in some memories of the Lambert Fuel Yard owned by his Dad in Canada and writes:

“My father owned a fuel yard in Winnipeg, Manitoba Canada. It was called Lambert Fuel and was served by steam and diesel trains. I watched them deliver the coal cars and spot them in front of the coal bins for my Dad to unload. There was many different kinds of coal stored at Lamber Fuel.

Some times the train crew would come and have coffee with my Dad and operate my model railway which was 0 and 027. They seemed to have greater fun operating my train set then there own. I would get rides in the cab of the engines to the rail yard across the street from the Fuel Yard, now know as the Forks. I used to stand along the tracks and watch they switch the cars and wave at the engineer.

My Dads Fuel Yard is gone now and is the home of the Winnipeg Goldeyes baseball field, home of The Fish.

Gene is in the process of getting a Western Maryland HO train set for his grandson and has kindly sent in these fond memories of his early years in West Virginia. Gene writes:

I grew up in West Virginia seeing the freight trains pull 50 and 70 ton hoppers up and down the mountains. On the steeper or longer grades, I’d see trains pulled by two engines up front and one engine pushing in the rear.

The Era was: 1940-52. My age: 8 – 20 years. Location: Morgantown, WV

I remember watching frieght trains hauling coal. I enjoyed hearing the “Woooooo, Wooooo” of the air horns in the late evening echoing through the mountains.

On the steeper or longer grades, two engines pulled from the front and one engine pushed from the rear.

Frieght: 90% was coal. Rust colored hoppers, 50 tons or 70 tons, depending on whether it had two V V or 3 V V V from the bottom.

There was an occasional gondola and ‘box car.’ Always with a caboose.

Most of the cars were “PRR”, Pennsylvania Railroad.

I also rember the passenger trains:
Cars painted dark brown to match the heavy dust from the engine, which would pour through the open windows during warm weather.

Seats were heavily upholsterd with hard stuffing. But the ride smooth, since we were on tracks.

Summer: Lots of dust and smoke and noise coming through the open windows.
As a kid I loved it. About 5 people in the car.

Conductor in typical uniform punched our tickets.
[A well dressed man, angry because he had not been recognized as an important person, scoffed, “My face is my ticket!” So the conductor punched it. Whoops, just kidding about this.]

My mother and I would ride a few miles to Hildebrand, WV to visit my grandmother. The journey was less than 10 miles. I loved to ride the train. Fare: 20cents each way.

The passenger train was “B&O”, Baltimore and Ohio.

These are very pleasant memories of my childhood and the trains.

If you would like to share some of your best railroad memories please use the form at http://www.model-railroad-resources.com/memories.html

I’m sure others would like to hear of your experiences on trains.

Mark is new to model railroading and is asking for help from anyone in the hobby who is prepared to give his some guidance. Mark asks:

“I am new to model trains, my track runs dcc I think it is called. What is the best way to connect the wire to the track, also what type of wire should I be using. I am disabled so putting the wire underneath the track would be extremely difficult. I thought of soldering the wire, as I have a small soldering iron, and I could do that. I just dont know how far apart the feeder wires should be and the types of wire for all the track. Thank you to anyone who can help me.”

If you can give Mark some tips or guidance please do so. Simply register (it takes just 2 minutes) by using the Comments & Feedback link under Mark’s posting. You can then add your thoughts and participate in future Model Train Blog discussions.