Re: Start Them Young

I got into railroading at an early age. In 1945 my family rode the San Juan from Durango to Alamosa on the way from Farmington to our home in Louisiana. I have vague memories of that ride (was 5 years old). Our home in Louisiana was right next to a Missouri Pacific water stop. I could watch steam engines taking water from our front porch. My interest in trains continued into my teen years. My uncle was the GM of a paper mill that had their own railroad....North Louisiana & Gulf. He arranged for me to have a whole day in the cab of a GE 70 tonner switching the mill. That GE was later destroyed in a head on collision. In 1956 I read a TRAINS Magazine article about a ride on the D&RGW from Alamosa to Chama and return....I was sold.