Re: NNG - Two Weeks and Twenty Years Ago ...

Hi, Brandon -

And thank you for sharing your experience as a young boy - stories like yours make all our
hard work worthwhile!


I first met the core team of what is now the Golden Gate RR Museum when the West Bay Model RR club invited #4449's crew - and a few of us traveling volunteer 'engine wipers' - to dinner at a pizza joint one night when the American Freedom Train was on display in San Jose.  IIRC, it was that night when - encouraged by Doyle - the twinkle in Mike Mangini's eye of a restored and operating #2472 was transformed into a supernova of possibility. Fortunately for me, I had found a rental darkroom in Sacramento a week or two before, and was able - on behalf of the entire 4449 crew - to thank the West Bay Club for their hospitality by presenting them with a half-dozen or so B&W prints. Need I state that I've been a member of the GGRM (neé 'Project 2472') since the very beginning? *

Tomorrow is the Twentieth Anniversary of #2472's Resurrection: her return to revenue passenger service; I'll be posting another photo or two in a few hours ...

Again, Thank You for Sharing!

- Russ

* A few years later I borrowed a copy of Project 2472's incorporation papers from Doug Debs, changed a few names 'to protect the innocent', and helped Larry Wines instigate 'Project 3751' - currently known as the San Bernardino RR Histörical Society.