By Elaine Haggenbottom

Author  Bio Elaine Haggenbottom owns and operates a "seasonal (Christmas only) railroad and village for the past eight years, with the wonderful help of her partner and husband, Warren.

Elaine Haggenbottom owns and operates a "seasonal (Christmas only) railroad and village for the past eight years, with the wonderful help of her partner and husband, Warren. We live in Palm Harbor, FL, which is west of Tampa and north of Clearwater, very close to the Gulf of Mexico.

We've been married for 40 years and have two grown children: Lynne(the mother of our only granddaughter, Julia, aged five) and Andrew. Before becoming "transplants" some 22 years ago, we were born in Phila, a thriving "train-oriented metropolis, with the PRR and the RR near by. Even after marriage, we lived beside the railroad track for the West Trenton Local of the Reading Railroad.

Warren had been lucky enough to receive an American Flyer, as well as a Lionel train set in the 40's. (Being a girl and poor, I had to wait until I was grown to have such luxuries..Believe me, I have been more than compensated!) In the early 80's we decided to recapture the art of collecting with o-gauge Lionel. When they made the jump to "G-gauge" we did too.

However, over the years we have dabbled in most of the different gauges and I still make "HO" vignettes, when time permits. I(we) have been members of many different train-related groups: FECRS, the NRHS(Tampa Bay Division), Secretary-Treasurer of the FGRS (Tampa Bay Div) and "Raffle Queen" for the Central Division, LGBMRRC, and of course, LSOL for over a year now.

I started my life in the banking business as a bookkeeper and secretary, wife, Mother, then upon moving to FL, I entered the retail business in "Jewelry" and Quilts. Finally, ended our working existence, in our own business, as Real Estate managers, but have been retired since 1999. On the side, Warren worked at a hobby shop, so our fingers were always busy with "trains"... A wonderful hobby for men or women.

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