Personal Page

Photo from the Palo Alto Daily News - Dec 13, 1997
Here I am seen over the West Bay MRR Assoc. layout
at the HO roundouse. That is an SD40-2 SP Olimpic scheme.

Hello,

here I am, now you know what I look like. My work deals with Windows and connectivity to Unix. Contrary to popular believes, tech support is not easy, it takes time, knowledge and good helping colleagues. But enough of that.

My story is mostly about trains. That is my passion, my hobby. I have other interests (i.e. family, friends, social life), but most of my thoughts revolve around trains, especially model trains.

Thanks to my father, I started with a HO train (Marklin) when I was 1 yr. old. Well, I went through a wooden train, a Tonka train, Lego and more, before I got to play with it. My earliest recollection is when I was 5, when my room became the train room, from mid December to mid January. My bed was moved to my grandmother room. In the following years, I was always looking to Christmas, because I knew the train layout was coming. Every year was a different layout, with scenery, houses and stations. When I got older, I actually got to be part of the building of it. Thank you dad.

Later on, school and dating took its toll, but my thoughts were always there. By now the focus had changed to different aspects of the world of trains. In '85 I moved to California, Bay area, and became interested in the Southern Pacific RR. In '91 I joined the West Bay RR club in Menlo Park, and started learning a different aspect of model RR. Thanks to Robert Sarberenyi and Clyde King, I started learning about modeling SP engines, the attention to details, and the different models of the EMD diesel line (still struggling with GE engines).

In mid '92 something happened: UP #3985 and SP #4449 and #2472 came at the 1992 NRHS convention in San Jose, CA. Robert and I decided to go out and take a few pictures in the historic double header 2472-4449 from San Jose to Watsonville and back. The plan was to go to a place on Hwy 101, near a siding (I forget the name, but they used to load beets on the gondolas). I was fascinated by the engines. The sounds, the noise, the smell, but mostly the look, that wonderful SP look, captured me, and I have been lost ever since. Not planned, we started chasing the train all the way to Watsonville, and by the time we got there, I was out of film. During the Y movement, the train was ready to go back on the main, so I went across the yard, to the wrong side of the sun. The crowds were on the other side, and I was alone. I did not realize, but in order to get back to the main, the whole train had to go down the yard, and back onto the main. And I was standing next to the track the train came by, slowly. I cannot describe the emotions and feelings I experienced during those moments. Even now, while writing these lines, the memories and emotions I felt then are coming back. You had to be there. These huge, big, machines, rods and wheels moving effortlessly, silky, smooth, noises of steam, and pumps, thumping of the wheels on the frogs, a deep ground shaking feeling under my feet, the feeling of great mass moving, the heat. This moment is fixed in my brain forever. I knew then, where I was going to go from there.

My main modeling era is the mid '50s, and the only reason for it, is because I also like diesels. I also believe the SP look of the steam engines is only apparent during the later years of steam, from the mid '20s on, but mostly with the building of the Mts (w/ skylines) and the GS daylights. And let’s not forget the unique engines that are the Cab Aheads. Whether flat or round faced, they scream SP.

Another big decision, later on, was to pinpoint a place I could call home, to be on my [future] layout. The place is Dunsmuir. A place I could not even say the name correctly. From a modeling point of view, it is the perfect corner station/engine facilities.

And that is were I am today. I am not an accomplished modeler, I still struggle with making a model run satisfactorily, I am still learning on scenery and frame building, I have painted and decaled, but am still learning more advanced techniques.

What it all means? I enjoy it, and that is the most important thing of all.

Cheers

Leo

PS. If you have any questions, write to me. I try to answer in a timely fashion, but work takes precedence, and at home, I am not consistent in checking the personal email. But here it is:

Please send me mail at .

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Edited last on Friday, June 30, 2000