The "He Still Has A Lot Of Steam In The Boiler" Story

Front page of the paper featuring story on Linn.

It was an ordinary day.  On the front page of the morning paper was a familiar face that popped out at me as soon as I saw the photograph.  Guy by the name of Linn Moedinger whom I met a few years ago when I went to "play trains" with he and my longtime friend Jere as well as a few other guys.  So, what exactly is "Playing trains" you may wonder.  Well, its running the huge HO train layout that Linn has in his multi-bay garage next to his home.  The display is extremely lifelike and totally hand-made by Linn with a little help from some of his friends I assume.  

Some of the detail workmanship on Linn's layout.

Multi-level with so many trains running it's almost too difficult to see all of them running at the same time.  Each one of the guys who showed up the day I went with Jere was given an assignment by Linn who ran the show.  Linn's mechanical skills can be seen no matter which direction you look in his garage turned train yard. I stood, amazed, as each fellow ran his train from point "A" to point "B" without creating a problem for one of the other guys who was doing likewise.  

Linn runs his HO layout from his desk where
he makes assignments and changes to the
schedule as it is running.

Eventually I was given a chance to run one of the trains and I was sweating by the time I got my train to its location without any problems.  Linn isn't new to railroading since he has been associated with the Strasburg Rail Road for over half a century. The Strasburg Railroad is located in Strasburg, Pennsylvania which is classified as a borough in Lancaster County and has a population close to 3,000.  The Strasburg Railroad was started in 1832 and eventually turned into a tourist attraction in 1958 when Linn's parents, William and Marian, as well as 20 some other stockholders opened it to the public.  Linn's first job at the railroad was to clean the toilets as well as the diesel parts of the trains.  By 1976 he was the engine house foreman than the chief mechanical officer in 1988 before finally becoming President of the Strasburg Railroad in 2000.  

Early steam locomotive on the Strasburg Railroad.

And now Linn has announced his retirement as of December 21 of this year.  It was in the late 1970s that Jere began as a Fireman on the engine and got to know Linn while working for the Railroad during summer months when he wasn't teaching and on weekends the rest of the year.  

Engine #91 coming in the main line on the Strasburg Railroad.

As a big surprise, this past week the railroad unveiled a new car they have been working on for over two years, No. 118 which is a former Baltimore and Ohio coach car that needed over 2,000 man hours to restore it.  Linn paid $1 for it, but I'm sure it took quite a bit more to restore it.  He was unaware that the car was to be named after him until he saw it for the first time this past week with his name painted on the side of it.  

Photo taken by LNP photographer Suzette Wenger
showing Linn next to the car that was named for him.

The new President of the railroad will be Craig Lefever who reports that Linn "eats, sleeps and breathes railroading."  Pretty obvious after seeing his HO layout!  Strasburg Rail Road recently announced two annual scholarships will be awarded starting next fall at nearby Thaddeus Stevens College of Technology.  One will go to a student in welding with another going to a student in machining, both necessary skills to be able to work on the railroad.  I don't know Linn as well as Jere knows him, but I'll bet he'll be spending plenty of time in Strasburg checking out what's going on around the train yard.  The smells, sights and camaraderie of the train yard will never leave a guy whose entire life has been railroading.  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.