I should have built more staging yards and I would not have hid-
den them. I have numerous scars on the top of my head from
crawling under the layout to re-rail trains in the hidden staging
areas. If I were to do it all over again, I would have visible stag-
ing and use it as such, as a yard for trains waiting to go out on the
mainline and do their thing.
Gustav:
You grew up in Indiana and live in Vermont. Most model
the railroads of their youth or roads with which they have some
familiarity. Would you say
you're atypical?
Jim:
Yes, I'm different.
Originally, I was going
to model the Santa Fe if
only because I had some
locos left over from the
plywood central I had
built for my son. But
then around 1982-83, I
attended a national model
railroading convention
and met a group from the
Great Northern Railway
Historical Society.
I liked the color of their
locomotives and espe-
cially the goat emblem.
I didn't know anything
about the railroad. They
were out there in the west
somewhere, and I'm here
in the northeast. I joined
the society at the conven-
tion and started receiving
10: GN Mikado #3200 with a
coal drag from Fergus Falls,
Washington, to Scofield
Junction. Washington.
10
Jim Ferguson’s GN - 7
MRH-Oct 2013
