My Reluctant Journey from “N-O” to “O”

Part I – Irene makes the call.

From as far back as I can remember, if I had two quarters to rub together, I spent them on plastic models.  Hawk, Aurora, Monogram and Revell often got the lion’s share of my allowance.

I grew up in Indianapolis and hung out at a local hobby shop, Ed Shock’s Toy & Hobbies in Broad Ripple, doing odd jobs, beginning about the age of 12.  By age 13, they were feeding me, and by age 14 they were actually paying me money to be there, serving their customers.  We had plastic kits galore, slot cars of all sizes, U-fly plane kits, model rockets, the introduction of Hot Wheels and plenty of trains.  Some Lionel, but mostly HO.  I still see the Christmas seasons I spent there as some of my happiest.  I worked there into college, shirt and tie, and spent some of my money collecting HO.  I got a discount and with it an Athearn switcher or two, some cars and building kits - all got stashed away.

I continued to visit shops over the years, just to look around and hear the near passionate conversations between a knowledgeable and interested dealer and the customer, sharing the newest product, solving a problem, often making suggestions.  Even though my visits might last for just a few minutes, it felt like home to me.  These dealers are so important to this hobby and I was once part of it.

When I lived near Philadelphia around 1982, one such visit introduced me to the new HO RS-3’s both Atlas and Steve Stewart were bringing to market.  I loved RS-3’s.  I bought a few, recovered my old stash from my Mom’s and started collecting.  Diesels first, then some steam, a little brass, bunches of cabooses, lots of cars, some bridges and craftsman kits.  Lots of stuff.

At several points, I tried to construct a layout.  I never got one operational before I’d had a change in my job and had to move on, but I did get really good at bench work – L-girders, leveling risers and cutting out plywood. Seems like I might have had a pair of pearl handled cordless drills along the way. My sons, growing up, called it “Daddy’s building boards again!”

A short while back, I finally found true love. True love is someone that’s really happy to see you really happy, and vice versa.  Her name is Irene.

She’s accompanied me on a few of these hobby shop visits, and has questioned “What are you looking for here, and what’s this all about?” So I explained some of the basics, like N, HO and O, and showed her some of my HO collection. As our first Christmas together grew near, I could hear her on the phone in the next room calling hobby shops in our area and asking them if they carried “N-O” trains.  There was some confusion, I could tell, but I did end up with a beautiful craftsman kit shipped in from a company in Montana, and hoppers in Erie – one of my cherished eastern roads, all in HO, under the tree.  Quite a pleasant surprise – it was swell. 

The following January, with some encouragement from her, we attended one of the big regional train shows. We’re combing through the aisles looking for new products in eastern roads and she’s striking up conversations and telling people that we collect “N-O”. She is having a good time. She occasionally points out an “O” item and with the conviction of a Harley guy being asked to sit on a Honda, I’d steer her back to HO.

Then we run into a big “O” C&O 4-8-4 Greenbrier steamer and a dealer that knows how to do a demonstration.  Mike would have been proud. We heard all of the sounds, saw the smoke and the drivers move, and fondled the accompanying Madison cars. “I really like this”, she says. “Why can’t we do “O” or do both?”

“I have a lot invested in HO, over 30 years”, I pleaded, “and besides it takes a lot of space to run them.”  “How much space?”, she questioned, and the dealer replied that 16 feet by 16 feet would be a really nice layout. “We have more space than that!”, she exclaimed, “We have the Green House!”

The Green House is not a real green house, with glass and plants and all, but a two story out building on her property that she had painted green. Downstairs we store a car, oil filters and WD-40 – stuff like that. Upstairs used to be a wood working shop built by the original owner. It’s drywalled and basically a 32 foot by 24 foot room, filled with gardening tools, dog supplies, old furniture, some boards and her exercise equipment. Last year I put a reconditioned furnace out there so it would be warm for her in the winter. She’s proposing to clean out the upstairs and build a layout. I’ve always wanted a layout.

On the way home, in her high pitched silly voice she’s saying, “You have to decide – are we doing “N-O” or “O”?”   I heard that all week – in person and in my voice mail.

The next weekend, we are back in a hobby shop and she’s combing through the “O” boxes looking for eastern roads. She finds an LV caboose, an NH coil car and an C&O reefer that she has piled in the aisle. I like them all and she’s still digging. “Let’s just buy one of these cars, take it home, get it out and look at it”, she says, “It will help us decide.” I explain to her that it’s a slippery slope – one “O” gauge purchase, and we might be heading into disaster. We should put the cars back and think about it some more. With a stomp of her left foot, and a voice I thought was reserved for calling her dogs back from pursuing a juicy target, she says, “Well, I can decide. We’re not doing “N-O”, we’re doing “O”!” and off she’s heading to the register with a reefer in hand.  Eventually, everyone in the store went back to what they were doing.

The next week, it’s an Alco C-420 in LV colors. Wow – I love Lehigh Valley. The Green House is getting cleaned out. One night I come home to her reading a Classic Toy Trains' article in the kitchen about “O” gauge track. “I’m thinking Atlas O”, she says, “and what’s flextrack?”

Next, we’re back at the train show.  She is telling folks she met last month that we’re not doing “N-O”, we’re doing “O”.  She’s also negotiating. Her approach is to say that she likes something very much, but that she can’t afford it and could they help her with the price.  She’s serious and they do. We end up with the C&O steamer we saw last month, with its set of passenger cars, plus she buys a pair of EL PA’s, and gets a really good deal on a Lionel C&O Hudson steamer I’ve coveted since it was introduced and sold out years ago.  She is having a really good time.  I believe we are doing “O”.

The following week, I’m home from a few days business trip to find a sign on the Green House door saying, “We’re doing “O”!  She’s inside, with a friend, who is teaching her how to spackle the walls.  The place is absolutely empty.  “Hello, Darling”, she calls, “Do you know anything about bench work?”          

Send mail to mrmuffinstrains@att.net with questions or comments about this web site.  

This website hosted by: OIU-WEBHOSTING

Last modified: 08/09/10