About Simon & Trains

Simon wasn't born in the early 1960's in England, so he was not a deprived child - he had a train set. Ok. it was Brio and it was Thomas, but nevertheless, it was a train set.

He grew up next to the railroad. Hmmmn, well sort of. You see, there was an old abandoned spur about 100 feet behind out property. A train hadn't run on it since the 1960's and it had gotten overgrown. But in the Fall, it was a wonderful place to go and just walk amongst the leaves and listen to the sounds of a locomotive in your mind.

Sometimes, when you were imagining that locomotive running on the abandoned line, you'd hear the close whistle of a modern CSX loco as it plied its trade upgrade on the CSX main north of the Plymouth Diamond on its way north on the Saginaw Division. That line is just over a mile to the west and is where this old spur led to.

Often, when we saw one, we'd chase the train for a few miles, planning which grade crossing we could be at the front of the line when the locomotives came rumbling by. Simon, as he got older, started writing down the numbers and then we'd look them up on the internet when we got back home.

Like all things mechanical, he soon grasped what each locomotive model was. And I do mean each. As a locomotive came in sight, he'd start recanting the characteristics of the locomotive, as well as the different types of freight car that followed.

And that all lead us to Chicago...