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Welcome to...

The Collinwood Backshops

This is the first version of my website. I hope to update it frequently with photos of my HO layout and other railroad related information.

I hope you enjoy your visit here... Thanks, Ed

I had the very fortunate opportunity to be on the crew of the 4070, an ex-Grand Trunk Western light Mikado, when it was running at Conneaut Lake Park and on the Cuyahoga Valley Line in the early 1970's. There were a few occasions when I was engineer, as in the photo at left, but mostly I fired or was doing maintenance and hostling work... pretty good for a kid still in high school!

I began construction of my current HO layout in the fall of 1995. Today, it is no where near completion but it has been a source of thousands of hours of fun... and frustration as I have recently switched to a Digitrax DCC system. Here's a scene from the concourse of Union Station.

This is a platform view of the Sandy Creek, the 5 double bedroom-observation lounge on the Twentieth Century Limited just prior to departure. The conductor stands ready to answer questions and assist passengers.