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 Posted - January 16 2013 : 10:08:27 PM
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Hey everyone,
My name is Harrison, and I'm studying as a mechanical engineer at SUNY Maritime. It's an odd-ball school as far as state schools go, because at Maritime, we learn mostly about shipping. I'm studying for an engineer's licence so I can run any ship's engine room and many systems, even though I originally came here intending to work in power production.
I'm a seasoned Eagle Scout, I'm great friends with many of the elderly in town, and I'm often accused of being "the old soul" because I like things most of my peers don't. I teach archery in the scouts for fun, and I'm notorious for working hard in exchange for "that box of trains down in your cellar". I love topography, have studied maps of everywhere I've been, and have become 'the source' for those looking for local history. For all its faults, I love the Long Island Railroad for its history; it made half of the towns on this island!
I've been into trains since I learned how to talk, having had a ping-pong table covered by the Thomas wooden railway. I had grown up with the Lionel G scale Thomas set running intertwined with several Big Haulers and two trolleys. I had an HO set I mentioned in the "first TYCO set" page, but the spark was lit on my tenth birthday. Grandpa's "sunday morning coffee pal" dumped 8 boxes of what had been his model railroad on my porch, much to my parent's surprise. From there I got more from cleaning a basement for a scout's grandpa, my dad's stuff when we dug it out of Grandpa's attic, a neighbor's lot buried in his hoarding, and tid-bits given to me by friends "because nobody else wants this anymore"
I don't have a railroad, and through the regimented lifestyle of school and the clutter of home, I dont' expect to for a while. But I still collect, and I'm still tinkering with what I can, in hopes that my education, and the potential for great pay for hard work in the Maritime industry will put me in a position to enjoy trains when I'm out on my own. I am bent on living in a caboose when I get out of college, though for the meantime I'll continue to detail.
I've never kitbashed, and I only built a few kits. The constraints of my household largely prevented me from getting a workbench, and I suffer from a severe case of armchair-modeler. I have learned quit a bit by researching on Tony Cook's site, and by reading into the depths of this forum, and in a way I'm glad I read in first. A few of my more valuable pieces would have been long ago scrapped or junked had I not been informed by these resources.
From that crazy birthday when I opened the first box to see a Tyco Santa-Fe streamliner set stacked neatly in the box, it was just intuition that I had to get these things running. Though I do have some spectrum steamers, and I do appreciate the improvements in model locomotive tech over the years. Even though I can't say I have the nostalga effect, maybe through my contacts with the elders, I do know what that feeling is of getting an old train to run. I love giving these toys a second lease on usefulness, and I'm glad I've got folks out there who still appreciate using what others call "less than perfect" just becuase, well... come-on, someone's gotta fix it!
Although many have told me to stay near the railroads, I've got more prosepect at sea, and I find I like it more every day. Many mariners work for a few years at sea, accumulate some 'loot' from their work at sea, and then go back for a later-in-life second job that focus less on a money need, and more on interest. I could teach, I could keep sailing, or I could go to work on the railroad. I'm not sure where it'll go, but I'll have enough to do with getting through school for now.
I thank ya'll for this great server, (and for having read this far), and I look forward to the next project; how to bring some trains to school.
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Posted - January 17 2013 : 01:46:41 AM
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I know you've been on here long enough so I won't say welcome to the forum  . It's always nice to get to know people a little better though. Like you I'm also in college and much too young to say I ever got a Tyco set brand new. Luckily fixing these old trains is half the fun of it!
Happy railroading 
Eric
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 Posted - January 17 2013 : 09:06:52 AM
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Harrison,
Welcome...and thank you for the story.
I understand completely about the "old soul" comparisons. There is NOTHING wrong with it, and we are a rare breed, indeed...the 0001% of the 001% of the 1%.
Here's hoping for a successful hitch at sea...and for finding an old caboose to renovate!
...Come to think of it, that would be THE ULTIMATE man-cave. 
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Posted - January 17 2013 : 11:59:44 AM
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Have you ever read about the FEC that went from Miami to Key West?
Theres some neat history on it
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Posted - January 17 2013 : 12:52:40 PM
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I have read quite a bit about the Key West Extension, as I had been to the Florida Sea Base in Islamorada with my troop. As it turned out, the island we raced kayaks around was originally a stepping-stone island from an original alignment of the causeway, which was later bypassed. I can't believe the structures are still up even after dynamiting, collisions, hurricanes and minimal maintenence in a saltwater eviornment.
I've always fancied what a Greeport extension of the LIRR across Plum and Fisher Islands to Rhode Island would look like....
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Posted - January 17 2013 : 1:55:26 PM
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yeah would be nice if they rebuilt the track but they won't 
Still it would be a way to get vehicles off the roads
Or even ship containers to & from Cuba or South America LOL
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