When I was a little guy, my father took me to watch trains while he was in medical school at Ohio State. When he graduated, we moved to Lima, Ohio, the home of the Shay locomotive and Balwin-Lima-Hamilton, the steam locomotive manufacturer. Virtually every railroad -- B&O, PRR, Nickel Plate, DT&I, N&W -- ran through Lima, so we saw lots of trains.
I left this hobby as I grew, as so many of us have. I spent over 16 years in college, professional and graduate school and had little time for a hobby. After practicing for years and raising a family, I was re-introduced to railfanning. I was lecturing in Australia in March of 2003 and became very ill. I made the long flight home and was hospitalized and nearly died. After major abdominal surgery, I was told to rest for 6 weeks (I rested 10 days!). My wife told me that I needed something to do before she killed me, so I investigated railfanning in Ohio and came across Fostoria.
Fostoria has literally become my second home since. In fact, as Dave Lindsay has said many times, that's where I get my mail <G>. In Fostoria, I met several people, three of whom became very good friends. Tim Lawrence, who has gone on to be with the Lord (he accepted Christ as his Savior just the week before he died!). Jimmy Thorp, who knows everything about everything in Fostoria and Darrold Zink, a good friend and expert railfan from Toledo. I have made another very good friend, Bob Spreitzer, who is also a brother in Christ, who has recently moved all the way from Long Island, New York, to Findlay, just to be with us, watch trains and enjoy the more normal life in the Midwest. Other great friends are Kevin Tucker, Eddie, Dave, Bob Herman, just to mention a few.
Today, I have many more good friends, many of whom are you who will read and use this web site. One of the greatest parts of railfanning is spending time with good friends and making new friends.
Because I've been fortunate to lecture around the world, I've been able to take pictures of trains all over the US, South Africa, England, Germany, Wales and India. I want to share my pictures with you, my railfan friends.
Wesley Shankland, Ferroequinologist