April 30th- Sue Line Owner Turns 70

Post date: May 02, 2017 3:4:24 AM

 Yes, it is hard to believe, but Richard Kamm,owner of the Sue Line railroad has turned 70.

Richard Kamm (above) has been "playing with trains" since her was 5 years old when he sat in the center of a circle of O-scale track and played with a train for two days straight. Finally his mother and father dragged him away. His grandfather Al G Kamm was an O-scaler in Hartford, Connecticut, who had a good friend named Watson House. Later Watson House mover to Monterrey, California and met up with a photographer who also "played with trains"., the late. great John Allen. John Allen built a hotel structure in one corner of his layout which he named Watson House. With some of the leftover castings, John Allen built a structure which he gave to his good friend Cliff Robinson in Dallas Texas. When Cliff Robinson died, he left me that structure which is on the Sue Line in Jeauxville- John Allen Oil (below). It is a small world.

 Join in the fun for the occasion was-

Rob Robbins, who did a fabulous job as dispatcher for the evening.

Also joining in were-

Danny Garland as the Riverfront Yard Master,

Mose Crews as the Ginnings Yard Operator, and

Jim Willis as the Shreveport Operator.

Rounding out the fixed positions were-

David Durham as the Maryville Operator (MOp),

Marvin Bennett, Jr. as the Sue City Operator, and

Charlie DeVillbiss as the Shreveport Public Belt Operator.

On the mainline were-

Dillon Stokes,

Ken Ellison,

Matt Tessier, back from college, and

Charles Kneipp.

After the session, the group gathered in the kitchen where, as thirty years ago, half went to view slides  of the railroad from 30 and 35 years ago as well as an N-scale version of the Sue Line, and half had refreshments and then the groups exchanged places.

The first Sue Line railroad in Shreveport, Louisiana (Photo by Richard Kamm, digitized by Mose Crews).