So Why The Nicknames?

I love nicknames! Its a friendly way to have fun and build some camaraderie. I learned this from my fraternity days where if you did something silly or stupid, the name would stick. To this day, twenty years later, all of us remember each other's nicknames and still call them to our face.

In our group we have...

Glue-Bob - One night over at Neil's house Bob went nuts with gluing boards as we built benchwork. We stayed all night cleaning up glue off the floor and ourselves. He still is quite liberal with the adhesive! Bob is a fantastic engineer and is very good at thinking and planning. He always comes up with good ideas.

Concrete Keith - was helping me patch the floor with concrete. He went to great lengths to make sure the new pour was smooth as silk. He stood up to inspect his fine work...and stepped right in the patch with his new tennis shoes. Keith has more model train experience than most of us and is always a great help as he is free with his talents and ideas! He's witty and sharp and gets more done than anyone.

Coalfinger - was busy staining crossties at Bob's house one night and was really enjoying himself. He had a large jar of shoe dye and alcohol mix and was going to town. Ken turned around and pumped his hand and coated himself and the nice Burbur carpet. I think he still has black stains. Ken has a passion for trains like no one else and always has his train shirt on. The passion is the one thing I think I like most about train guys. He's got it in buckets.

Iron Mike - is not called iron because he's tough, although he is. It is really because Mike likes to collect railroad memorabelia and has tons of scrap metal lying around, including a railroad vehicle! Maybe we should call him "scrap iron?" Mike is a railroad whiz and always knows something about whatever you need help with. He owns the train store in town which makes him a valuable asset to any group! That and he's just a great guy, which there aren't many of these days.

Packrat - was a very easy name to come by. Paul has boxes and boxes of train stuff piled to the ceiling. So much, in fact, that we can't build his layout. I think he and Steve-bay need to get together. Paul is a genius. He plays guitar, speaks Mandarin Chineese and can talk on any topic you can throw at him. He's wide background in the military makes him a great storehouse of information and a welcome addition to the evening chat. You are never bored talking with Paul and he has a very high capacity to learn.

Steve-bay - discovered that selling trains on Ebay is fun, so Steve started selling trains as a business. He and Bob will spend hours in the basement just shooting photos. Steve is probably the finest one human being on the planet. He loves trains, the Lord and his family. I'm not sure I trust anyone more than Steve and enjoy building models with him immensely.

Big Blue - the other Steve, is a fellow we don't see much because he works for a large computer company (guess who?) and since he loves them more than us (go figger?) we call him "Blue". I don't know Steve as well as the others because we don't see him much, but when he's here he's a fine fellow and a joy to be with. He has some good club experience.

Rick - doesn't have a nickname yet, but he got really close a few times the other night. You get a few free nights before we name you, but with him it will be soon. He likes to get into the action! Rick is an acomplished modeler and an excellent scenery guy. I look forward to getting to know him better and already find him to be generous and fun to be around.

What about me? Well, I don't have a nickname. See, when you don't make mistakes, you can't earn one!!!! Oh, that statement will get me killed.

You couldn't have a better group of friends!!!