Category: Videos

On Sunday we took our budding engineer & his long-suffering (but not excessively suffering :-)) big brother up to the Niles Canyon Railway for an afternoon of riding the rails and—in Dad-O’s case—flying over them. In addition to the gallery of photos we snapped (featuring Hen mugging with innumerable old cars), you can check out this little installment of Henry Nack Model Train Central…

…as well as some Johnny Cash-flavored touring from the air…

…and a 360º panorama from above.

All in all, a solid outing!

A couple of weeks ago my teammate Buck’s wedding gave us a perfect excuse to visit South Bend with the whole fam. We got to explore campus (including my old dorm) ahead of the Vanderbilt game; grab lunch at the Morris Inn; and attend Mass on Sunday morning. The guys got some new perspective looking up from under the Golden Dome, and we enjoyed watching the marching band step off en route to the stadium. Check out the little gallery from our days on campus.

These days (evenings, specifically) G-Man is fond of asking that we grab our bikes, hit the streets, and head out for some quality trainspotting. His friend Damien, whose grandma’s backyard abuts the tracks, has suggested that she build a rooftop deck just so that Hen can come over & watch the iron horses go by. 😌 Last night we took my drone with us & were rewarded with a great moment!

From a bit earlier, here’s an unplanned abstract shot of Mini-Me & Me awaiting the train:

And ultimately we were rewarded with a wave from the Caltrain engineer:

We’ve taken the boys on the Leadville & Colorado Southern scenic railroad a number of times since they were teeny. This year’s ride was more special than the rest. Grandpa Liggett treated each guy to a trip that included riding in the caboose and in the engine! Needless to say, Henry was beside himself with excitement, and Finn was pretty jazzed, too. The engine pushes the train up the mountains from behind, so the caboose is in the lead on the way up. The boys loved sitting high in the cupola and enjoyed the 360-degree scenic view from the top. The brakeman, Jason, let us ride on the outer deck of the caboose and take in the scenery from there.

When the train made a brief stop at the top, Henry hopped off solo (against the advice of the brakeman) in hopes of finding a stray railroad spike. Just as Henry found one and put his foot back on the step of the caboose, the horn blew and the train started rolling again! On the way back down to the depot all four of us sat in the huge diesel engine and chatted extensively with the railroad owner & engineer, Derek, who’s been manning the controls since he was a teenager (supervised by his own dad back in the day). All in all the day was a blast, and one we hope will provide some happy core memories for both guys.

Here’s a gallery from the adventure, and you can watch the highlights below:

Being a nostalgic guy, I can’t resist posting a vid of the first time the lads rode the train, all the way back in 2011:

That’s the day they got to explore a whole fleet of motorcars with Patrick & Charlie; see gallery & video here:

We’ve always known that on some level, Henry’s always been something of a 65-year-old man 😌. Therefore it’s no surprise that he loved spending the afternoon in the company of such guys, nerding out about all things currency at the Modesto Coin Show. Sticking out so clearly from most of the attendees, Hen was kind of charming & fascinating to them, and folks treated him so kindly, offering all kinds of little goodies. Below you can see the short “haul vid” he recorded after we got home, as well as a handful a photos I snapped during the show.