By Dwight Morgan

Author  Bio My wife is the one who reintroduced me to this fun hobby by giving me a Z gauge starter set for a wedding present 28.5 years ago. I had not had trains since my Lionel 0-27 when I was about twelve years old.

Born in St. Louis MO. Moved to California at age 2 and grew up with my three younger sisters in various Southern California communities and Sacramento.
I had a Lionel train set as a youngster but when I went away to boarding school in the eighth grade it was loaned to friends of the family who thought it a gift. When their kids tired of it they sold it to someone else.

I studied tech theatre in high school and college, traveled on the road with "Up With People" in 1967 and went into the U.S. Navy in 1968. When I got out of the Navy and returned to my education at Pasadena City College I worked part time as a Stage Technician in theaters and studios in the Hollywood area, and eventually landed a permanent job at PCC running a multi-media lecture hall for the nursing department. During this time I met my wife and after a rocky courtship of several years we were married shortly before I lost my job due to cut backs as a result of California's infamous Proposition 13. She was working as a Stage Tech at ABC-TV (the first female professional stage tech in L.A.) and I found a job at Southern California Edison as a Communications Technician.

My wife's wedding present to me was a Marklin Z gauge starter set. We jointly built it into a brief case. We graduated to N gauge to provide a replacement for her son's HO when he came to live with us shortly after we were married. We had been in our house for about two years when my sister in law gave us a Bachman G gauge set, she had found on a garage sale, to put under our Christmas tree. The back yard was still unlandscaped and she said if you want a Garden Railroad now is the time. This was August and she said if you start this you must have trains running by Christmas. I did.

My wife was always a model builder and she had fun creating the areas and scenes around the layout. I had fun making the track fit and doing the wiring. After 31 years of happy married life my wife and best friend was taken from me by cancer in April of 2006. Although I still enjoy the trains and work on the layout a bit, it has lost some of its attraction. It is a bit lonely working in the backyard by myself doing what we used to do together.

With my union, my wife's union, my work friends and my new Car club friends keeping me busy, I have trouble finding time to spend with my Upland Garden Railroad Society friends at open houses and such, much less planning one myself. It is and always will be our railroad but it does not run as much as it used to.

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