Why the Boston and Maine Mike?

Many of my friends in Canada have asked how I became a fan of the Boston and Maine Railroad. The story begins back in 1996 when I first began the planning phase for my future railroad. My good friend, Trevor Marshall, was modelling the TH&B (Toronto, Hamilton and Buffalo) Railroad and I rather liked the appearance of his diesel locomotives in their cream and maroon livery. Trevor, sensing my interest in this handsome diesel paint scheme told me of a few (remotely) similar paint applications on other railroads...one being the B&M. I immediately recognized the beautiful Maroon and Deluxe Gold colours of the B&M diesels from my childhood days when my family would take camping trips from our home in Montreal to New England. The dye was cast!

I was rather new to model railroading at this time. Trevor loaned me some books focussing on railroading in the Northeast. I was hooked! My model railroad would depict the Boston and Maine as it existed when I was a child. I later chose to model a precise day, my date of birth...May 27th, 1958. This provided me with the liberty to run diesels in the earlier black scheme, the lovely maroon and gold scheme...and, if I wanted, the new McGinnis Bluebird livery.
So, there you have it. I certainly owe a great deal of gratitude to Trevor for leading me (astray) away from the typical, but nice, paint schemes of the CN and CP railroads that most of my friends in Canada select for their choice for model railroad operations. Indeed, the pictures speak for themselves!

Editor's note: Trevor later sold all his TH&B equipment and went on to model the B&M in its steam days...so I wonder who influenced who?! Ahh, model railroading is fun!

Trevor's account of this story from way back in time is a little different..."Truth be told, Angus Palmer and I were already modelling the TH&B, and that was enough people in Ottawa for me. So I was hoping to suggest something else to throw you off the scent - I like being "different". Well, little did I know that in helping you define your layout, I'd say "heck, this is the railroad that I should be modelling!" 'course, this doesn't explain why I'm working in On2 now..."

Ahh, how the passage of time changes our perspective on things!

Cheers, Mike Hamer

Check out my other weblog which details my train operating round robin group at http://www.fridaynightgroup.blogspot.com/