Wittman,
I was born & raised in Shreveport, although the last 12 years I’ve been a railroad conductor in East Texas. My uncle was a KCS railroad engineer in S’port, and my Dad is a big “railfan”. For me, I never had to make a choice to become a railroad historian/collector/photographer/modeller as I was seemingly pre-ordained from birth to have that interest. My Mother’s mother was a technician that worked at the La. state Museum in S’port and helped build all of their original diaramas. She was quite a researcher, also.
With my Dad being a WWII veteran, and me with my passionate interest in history, over the last 54 years I’ve become quite knowledgable concerning all aspects of railroad and much military history. I love discussing RR & Military history with others because I can usually learn from them. I try to limit myself to WWII, but I’ve read a good bit about many other conflicts. I try to limit my “exposure” to the Civil war as that is such a deep subject it can swallow one’s complete interest. I have however been to some of the re-enactments of the Battle of Mansfield and like many others know of the Red River campaign and it’s importance. Because of the battle of Mansfield the “Yankees” never took Shreveport, which at the time was HQ for the Trans-Mississippi Dept. and of the Confederate Government fleeing there from Charleston.
Yep, I’m looking forward to the future and all the railroad and military FUN we can have there. Up till now I haven’t said anything of my plans, but hopefully it’s not too far off in the future.
“Tall Paul”