By Roland "DOC" Smith

Author  Bio I remember occasionally accompanying my Mom when she would go to pickup my Dad from work in Chester, PA. Diesels and the occasional Steam switcher would shunt cars through the sidings either delivering raw materials of shipping out finished products from the Scott Paper Company.

I retired from the U. S. Coast Guard, after twenty years of service in 1994. I retired as a Senior Chief Health Services Technician, formerly known as Hospital Corpsman. The nickname "DOC" follows most Corpsman if they are trusted by their shipmates. It's sort of a verbal confirmation of their faith in your abilities. I am proud to say that I have answered to the name "DOC" since I was twenty years old.

As far back as I can remember, growing up in the suburbs of Philadelphia, PA, Christmas time meant trains! My father would always set the American Flyer set under the Christmas tree. One year, in the mid-sixties, I remember waking on Christmas morning and finding an HO scale Army train parked under the tree.

I remember occasionally accompanying my Mom when she would go to pickup my Dad from work in Chester, PA. Diesels and the occasional Steam switcher would shunt cars through the sidings either delivering raw materials of shipping out finished products from the Scott Paper Company. It was hypnotic, as I remember.

Of course, watching the GG-1's flying up and down the Northeast corridor is etched into my memory forever!

Taking an almost twenty year hiatus from model railroading I happened to visit a Greenberg show in Virginia Beach and saw the Tidewater Big Train Operators display. I was hooked again. Now a home owner in Tidewater Virginia, with space in the backyard, I began to plan the Deep Creek & Crystal Springs Northern Garden Railway.

If I ever truly retire, my Pike may get all the attention and energy I would love to devote to it. I run track power and live steam. The journey is what does it for me more than the destination. I love planning and building components for my trains. Anytime I can keep my mind busy with problem solving and keep my hands busy with tools I'm happiest.

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