Where do I start... Fall of 1960. November I left Chappaqua and went to Tucson Arizona to be with my grandparents for the winter.. I came back in the spring of '61 to spent the summer with my Dad in his electrical business. That fall I enlisted in the United States Air Force. and became an Airborne Instrument Navigation Tech.. I spent one year in Mississippi at Keesler AFB. Then off to Dover for a year with MATS. I was then sent TDY to Travis AFB in California and spent two years there. I was requested to "re-up" but got out and spent two years in the reserves. In December of 1961 I went to work for the Xerox Corporation as a Copier/ High Volume service Tech. Worked for Xerox at IBM. Pepsi, and American Can for 5 years as a corporate repair rep. Then became a roving trouble shooter in Westchester county. In the fall of 1969 I got involved with a group of Wall street commodities investors and began volunteering to build and repair live steam engines to run steam excursions through out the north East. This was a hobby. At the same time I became a partner in a company called Windom Springs ski homes, in Vermont. We built 7 ski homes near Magic Mountain Vermont. I also spent several winters on the ski slopes as a Ski patrol member. In early in 1969 a friend an I drove my Chevy 2 wagon across the United States chasing a Steam train to Promontory Point Utah for the Driving of the Golden Spike ceremony. (On Vacation from Xerox at the time. ) In 1971 I took a leave of absence from Xerox for one year and attended Letourneau College in Long View Texas. Was unable to stir up enough money to continue so I want back to Xerox.

In 1974 I was working for Xerox as a tech when I got involved with the steam engine people again. I was part of a 4 man team to find a Steam engine large enough to pull a 14 car display train through out the United states for the American Bicentennial. It was called The American Freedom Train. I wound up heading up that engine project and because Corporate Pepsi was one of my service accounts for Xerox I was requested by them (at the approval of Xerox) to take a leave of absence from my position at Xerox and hire on to the American Freedom train as part of the concept group and locomotive crew. (Pepsi was one of the sponsors of the train). On my birthday September 5 1974 I went to Portland Oregon to inspect a locomotive in a city Park called Oaks Park. It was a huge 600 ton Steam locomotive with 80" drive wheels and 6000 horse power. The engine had been sitting on display in Oaks park outside of Portland for nearly 30 years. With a friend, Allen Phillips, we went over the engine and made notes of what it would require to rebuild and run. I returned to Katonah where I was living, I wrote my estimate and made copies with pictures for the people at the American Freedom Train Foundation. That week I drove to Washington, DC and made my presentation. In less than a week, I got permission to find a crew and go back to Portland. By early December we removed the engine from the park and prepared it for its journey across the country for the Bicentennial. The project was a $20,000,000 adventure. The train visited 145 cities all over the US. Today my only claim to fame is my name on the wall of the Oregon Rail Museum. It would seem I was one of the only persons most responsible for the 4449 Daylight locomotive being chosen for the trip. The engine is still operational and runs several excursions a year.

After the train was over in the fall of 1976, I returned to Portland and after a short time went back to work for Xerox as a successful new business copier sales rep. I worked as a sales rep in several cities through out the pacific north west, and Arizona for 12 more years. I left Xerox in the fall of 1987 after 22 years. I was now married and had a young son. I moved to Kingman Arizona and opened a Copy shop called K-Max copy I lived in Kingman 10 years.  In 1999 I shipped my kid out to Humboldt County to go to college. In July of '99 I went to Humboldt county to see him and wound up in a messy car wreck. I spent 11 weeks in the hospital. I was unable to return to Arizona and my K-Max copier business. It was closed that September of 1999.

In the fall of 1987, After several years of study and lots of money I achieved my FAA private pilots license. I am still current. In 2001 at an air show in Arlington, Washington, I became a member of the EAA (Experimental Aircraft Association) Shortly there after I began building a (home built) Coot amphibian aircraft. I also opened a Volvo car repair center. I retired from that business in 2018. Unable to sustain a reasonable place to live at a price we ( my new wife, Debbie and I) wanted, we moved to Palestine Texas on a chunk of land, a large barn and a nice home. I am still building my Coot and travel in my motor home to air shows through out the US.. Oh.. I still spend time with the steam locomotives at the Texas State Railroad.

Andy

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