The Overland Western Lines

MEMBERS OF THE OWL

HOME		The current membership of the OWL is comprised of 12 members:
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	MARTY HINTZ is 42 years old. He graduated in March 1997 with a BS-BA (marketing) degree and is currently employed as an engineer for the Canadian Pacific Railway and works out of Portage, WI. He is married to his wife Gretchen, and they live in Endeavor, WI. "I got started in model trains at age 8 with my uncle's Marx O27 set, which I still have. (I) converted to HO scale in 1976. Only one home layout, a 4x8 which is still in the rafters of my father's garage. Joined SOME in the fall of 1983 (don't do the math...), and was instrumental in the design of the second C-Building railroad. Served as SOME VP-PR somewhere in there, and I think I was also VP once, too. " Marty was instrumental in the MILW Airslide project for SOME. He also designed the current OWL paint scheme, and painted 8 units and 4 cabooses to set the standard. Marty also worked at Walthers, a well known supplier and distributor to model railroad stores and hobbyists, for nearly 8 years, 5 of those years as the Terminal Hobby Shop Manager. He also worked a 17 month stint at Dreamers Hobbies. Marty is currently a member of North American Prototype Modelers. As an accomplished modeler, his work recently won third prize in the Walthers Modulars contest for his freight house that resides on the present OWL layout. His current railroads modeled include Milwaukee Road, CB&Q, and Great Northern, as well as fictional Milwaukee Western Railroad and, of course, the Overland Western Lines.

	DARIN UMLAUFT developed a love for trains at an early age by watching the trains of the Milwaukee Road and the Soo Line on the Milwaukee’s Menasha Branch. Although he didn’t live trackside, the tracks were only a half-mile away. Darin’s official start in model railroading was with a Marx 027 train set that he received from Santa at the age of five back in 1970. Unofficially, it started with a Fisher Price “Huffy-Puffy”, also from Santa years earlier. He developed his Sherwood and Forest Junction with this 027 set. When playing with his train, he would often “interchange” with his brother, “as the real trains changed cars all the time.” The switch to HO scale came when Darin was in High School and the Marx set was starting to show its age. The first HO layout was a 9 x 12 L-shaped layout in a room shared with his brother. Soon, a separate room was cleared and a 6 x 16 foot version of the Sherwood & Forest Junction Transportation Company soon appeared. After two years at the University of Wisconsin Center – Fox Valley, Darin started attending MSOE in the fall of 1986 and joined SOME that Fall. This was the first Model Railroad Club that he joined and he has never looked back. This is where he met Marty Hintz and Greg Drewiske (a year later). Soon the hobby (habit) of model railroading took a new meaning as he was introduced to Walthers (more on this later) and the “Code 2 Junk Box”. Darin started to get serious about the hobby as well as railroad photography and railfanning. It was during this time that his favorite road of choice started up: The Wisconsin Central. He last attended MSOE in the Fall of 1992 While a member of SOME, Darin held the office of Vice President for two years and he helped the club build their new layout in the basement of the C Building and supplied them with late Friday Night pizzas. After several jobs while attending school, Darin started a part time position in the shipping department at Walthers in November 1991 for the 1991 Holiday Season. That changed everything. After two years in the Shipping Department, he became a full time employee and moved to the New Product Development Department at Walthers in September 1993. In his new position, he started doing artwork and designing various Walthers products on the board. Soon, the department was computerized with Darin becoming the primary CAD designer of Walthers rolling stock, both freight and passenger. To this day, he is still at that position and enjoys everyday of it. As he says, “Where else can one play with toy trains all day?” His position also set the stage for his secondary love in the hobby, Freight Car Photography and Modeling. Darin kept his ties with MSOE and SOME and got to know Jeff Hanson, Paul Ericksen, and Russ Goodwin along the way. In 1996, Darin’s girlfriend purchased a house in Milwaukee and offered the basement to him. Not wanting to “let this one get away,” he proposed and Darin and Debra were Wed in September 1997. Soon the 18 x 25 foot double-deck version of the Sherwood & Forest Junction started to take shape. It started with one of SOME’s famous “Layout Party’s,” as the benchwork was completed in just one day back in January 1997. Darin’s family grew by one in 1999 as Andrew was born in March. Darin enjoys “Train Washing” Andy as the two will go off railfanning and attending various train shows together. Debra tends to get a little annoyed with her “two guys” as every trip to and from Grandma’s house must included a side trip past the yards in Fond du Lac. The members of the OWL also enjoy having Andy around as he is just content on watching the trains roll by.

	GREG DREWISKE holds the #3 spot on the Overland Western Lines Seniority List. His 25 years (and counting) as a model railroader started in 1976 with a Tyco trainset from Santa Claus. The simple figure-8 grew over time, eventually encompassing 2 sheets of plywood. That would have probably been the end of the story, but in 1987 he started attending Milwaukee School Of Engineering to study Electrical Engineering. He claims he was OK until he got to MSOE and got involved with SOME (Society Of Model Engineers) people who knew what they were doing. Greg was part of the SOME group that built "Modules I" in 1987. He hand-laid enough track on the now defunct "C-Building" layout, that he has sworn off hand laid track. During his 4 years with SOME, he spent a year as VP-Public Relations and two years as President. Greg graduated from MSOE in 1991 with a Bachelor of Science degree in Electrical Engineering. He is currently a Senior Electrical Engineer for the Stora Enso (formerly Consolidated Papers) Wisconsin Rapids Paper Mill. As an added bonus, his office overlooks the railroad tracks so he can watch the Canadian National (formerly Wisconsin Central) switch his mill. In 1995, he purchased a 1750 sq ft basement, which he uses to model the (ex-MILW, ex-SOO, now ex-WC) Valley Sub. His Tomahawk Southern Railroad covers the majority of the basement. During the course of abandoning his previous layout, someone mentioned how much fun it would be to get the group together to rebuild the TS in its new home. Since it seemed like a good idea (and Greg really didn't want to wait 2 years to get his layout up and running, like his previous layout,) in the spring of 1996 he gathered a group of SOME Alumni and friends for a weekend to help him build the layout. They began about 7pm Friday night with a bare basement. From there, they installed all of the benchwork, backdrop, roadbed, track, and feeders on the 120' mainline, and had trains running shortly after 6pm on Sunday!!! That "Layout Party" concept has been successfully duplicated on a number of different occasions including at least 5 other layouts. After many years of searching, Greg finally found and married (in 2001) a model-railroad compatible woman. Rebekah is a full time "Domestic Engineer". In July of 2003, daughter Julia joined the family. She definnitely has the "RR Gene." In September of 2006, the arrival of daughter Kara forced a retrenchment of the south end of the TS to make room to move the office/stamping area. Kara also seems to have the RR Gene and the layout is being partially double decked to accommodate the lost portion of the layout.

	TIM SCHMITZ started model railroading somewhere around 1975 with a HO Sante Fe GP9 Tyco layout kit consisting of a single loop on a 4’ square wood box. Later, he graduated to a 4x8’ sheet of homasote which allowed for great experimentation in layout design including: loops, figure-8’s, dog bones, and up-and-over designs. After joining the Spring Valley 4-H club in Ripon, WI, Tim participated as a charter member of the Fond du Lac County Model Railroad 4-H project. Based upon the standard Ntrak style 3-track module scheme, Tim built his first module and was hooked. Eventually, Tim went on to build a complete 12x8’ modular layout. With this layout, Tim won 5 Blue ribbons and 3 Best Of The Fair Merit Award ribbons. In addition, Tim also built Bruce Chubb’s computer interface, as detailed in Model Railraoder, as a high school senior design project. Tim then went to the Milwaukee School Of Engineering (MSOE), where he eventually completed a Bachelor of Science degree in Computer Science & Engineering. While at MSOE, Tim participated in the OWL Society Of Model Engineers, when he wasn’t programming his brains out. While at MSOE, Tim created the Ripon Central Railway, a non-prototypical railroad, purely out of Tim’s imagination. In 1990, Tim met Tricia. In the early 1980’s, her father built a 4x8’ HO scale layout that she could not get enough of. Also, since Tricia was raised one block from the CNW mainline where the old National Ave passenger station once stood, and drove past the Soo Line (ex Milw Road) on the way to Grandma’s every Saturday, Tricia understood and shared Tim’s love of the railroad. In 1995 the two families merged. In 1998 Jonah was born. His two favorite things are TrainFest and going to Barnes and Noble to play with the Thomas trains and track there. Aidan was born in mid-2001. Although she can not yet talk, we can see it in her eyes that she loves trains too. Currently, Tim is an Associate Research Scientist with Kimberly-Clark Corporation in Menasha, WI where he gets to play with computers much of the day. Tim is also completing a Master of Science degree in Engineering Management, also from the Milwaukee School Of Engineering.

	JEFF HANSON has lived with trains for most of his life. He grew up in Owen, WI, one block from the SOO Line (later WC, now CN) main line. In 1980, at the age of eight, he received his first HO scale model railroad set. After this, the railroading bug only got worse. As he continued to expand his model railroad, he also became very active in a 12 inch to the foot (real) railroad in Duluth, MN, in 1984. This railroad, a tourist railroad, the Lake Superior and Mississippi Railroad (LSMR), led Jeff to his summer employment on a dock in Duluth repairing and replacing railroad track. At present, Jeff is still active with this railroad as the Vice President of Engineering (in charge of the track), and as a licensed engineer, and conductor. In 1987 through 1989, Jeff entered models in the TLR division of the National Model Railroad Association, and won Youth Contest Awards and first and second places in the model categories. In addition, he is two models closer to being a Master Model Railroader. In 1990 Jeff started attending MSOE, and joined SOME in time to learn the same lesson Greg Drewiske did about hand laying track (He swore it off unless absolutely necessary) from the same layout. In 1991, Jeff was among the group that started the first CC building layout at SOME, and was the guilty party for creating the large arched bridge (each arch was 2 feet long, and 1.4 feet high, and there were three of them) which was never completed in “Hanson’s Gap”. In his time at SOME, Jeff was President and Treasurer. In 1995, Jeff graduated from MSOE with an Electrical Engineering degree. He is currently working for Westfalia-Surge Inc. in Galesville, WI designing the electrical portions of milking equipment and accessories. In March 2003, Jeff was married to his railroading-compatible wife Melissa, who is just waiting to try some scenery on the layout. Through the marriage he has a daughter, Emalie, and in December 2003, a son, Zackari, was born. Jeff is currently in the process of preparing his basement in Melrose, WI for his model railroad layout (and for another one of those springtime Layout Construction parties), which will include the never finished St. Croix river high bridge (the one described above). He models the Great Northern Wisconsin Central Railroad, which is actually the SOO Line and Great Northern railroad in the fall of 1969 through the Spring of 1970.

	PAUL ERICKSEN grew up with trains; he always remembered an HO layout in the basement. This is because Paul’s father had an S scale set since he was 10 years old, but switched to HO sometime before Paul was born. In 1978, when Paul was five years old, his family moved to their current house in Racine, Wisconsin. One of the first things he and his father did was go to work building a new layout. It was an 8 x 12 foot L shaped design, but the track plan looked too much like a bowl of spaghetti, the trains never ran very well, and both of them lost interest in the hobby for several years. Then in 1991 Paul started attending the Milwaukee School of Engineering. He joined the Society of Model Engineers, which was one of the best decisions he ever made. He learned a great deal about the hobby in his five years, even serving as President for two years. The biggest thing that he learned was that his favorite aspect of the hobby is the wiring and Electrical control aspects of the layout, which he found is not very common. Most people like to do scenery or lay track, or build exquisite replicas of some prototype; but those that know Paul will say that he is happiest when underneath the layout with a wire cutters and a voltmeter. “I enjoy looking at a super-detailed brass locomotive as much as anyone else; but building something like that is simply something that I’m not very good at doing, and the other guys in the club keep me so busy keeping the trains running that I don’t have time to learn anything else!” Paul graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering Technology in May of 1996, and one year later, he and six other alumni from the Society of Model Engineers formed the Alumni group, now known as the Overland Western Lines. In the middle of 1998, Paul and his father tore down the 8 x 12 L shaped layout that has been sitting idle for several years, cleaned out the basement, installed some lights, and built a basement-sized layout (about 20 x 40). Paul and his father, together with Paul’s uncle (his father’s brother), did most of the benchwork on their own. Then on October 23, 1999, one of the infamous “layout building parties” was held, but this time only track was laid – a doubletrack, 220 foot long mainline was laid (440 feet of track total) in one day, and trains were running at 11:00 pm Saturday night. A second party was held at a later date to lay the sidings, and the first formal operating session took place in November of 2000. Paul recently converted his layout from Cab Control to Digitrax DCC. Paul is currently employed as a Manufacturing Engineer for a "Big Three" automotive company at one of their engine plants.

	RUSS GOODWIN began his model railroading experience back in the early 1970’s, when his dad bought him Tyco’s “Spirit of ‘76” train set. The first layout was an L shaped oval on the attic floor. In high school a move within Richmond, VA prompted growth to a 4’x8’ layout, the Tyler Mountain & Beaver Creek, found in the Nov. 1982 issue of Model Railroader . Russ joined SOME in 1992. While a member of SOME, he served as Vice President of the club for a year. He also made the “mistake” of working at Cudahy News & Hobby to “support the hobby,” but it got too expensive to go home after working there for two years. Russ finally graduated from MSOE in 1995 with a BS in Architectural Engineering. After graduation, he moved to Chicago, where after less than a year he was transferred to Dallas, TX. He and his wife recently moved to Atlanta, because his wife is in law school at Emory University. Russ works in the construction industry in Atlanta. Though his true railroad love is the Richmond, Fredericksburg & Potomac (RF&P), Russ models the Norfolk Southern, from 1993 to 2000. The line he models is the former Norfolk & Western’s famous Pocahontas District mainline, between Williamson, WV and Bluefield, WV. He was originally going to model the former Interstate Railroad, now part of NS, but there are very few non-coal movements over that line. Russ decided to model the Pokey mainline, but have branch lines from all over the Pokey Division, including lines from the former Virginian Ry., the Interstate Railroad and the Louisville and Nashville. One of the branch lines to be modeled is the DeLorme Branch, where Russ, Darin Umlauft, Greg Drewiske and Jeff Hanson got to operate a modern coal flood loader, while on a trip to the region a few years ago. While living in Texas, Russ did not have a basement, but he did purchase one when he moved to Georgia. Plans are underway to build a 1,300 + s.f. layout in the basement. Construction is expected to begin within the next year. Russ helps support the hobby by writing regularly for Railroad Model Craftsman magazine, and he has also been published in Model Railroader magazine. Russ typically can be found near the local NS mainline during his free time, and has photographed trains in most all of the states east of the Rockies and in Alaska.

	GALEN FROMM began railfanning as a first-year student at MSOE (December 6, 1991) to fill the time on Fridays that semester in which he had no classes to attend. Lacking a car at the time, a stroll down to the rail yards of the Menominee Valley was just the thing to relax, and soon he began going down twice a week. In addition, the real crucible to focus the interest in the hobby was a term paper, which (while requested to be 12 pages in length) ended up being 48 pages of body text and 12 pages of end notes. Photography ended up being the direction followed, with parallel quests to photograph all railroad passenger stations in the state of Wisconsin, and all locomotives of the Wisconsin Central, being undertaken the following summer. With the acquisition of a vehicle with which to railfan at school in the fall of '93, Saturday afternoon visits to Duplainville commenced shortly thereafter, along with involvement with the Soo Line Historical and Technical Society (SLHTS) and the MSOE Society of Model Engineers. Galen was Secretary, Vice President and President of SOME at various times through his remaining years in Milwaukee, and began authoring the "Wisconsin Central News" of the SOO (the quarterly journal of the SLHTS) February 18, 1995. He graduated in May 1997 with a Bachelor of Science degree in Electrical Engineering, Communications Specialty, and currently works as an Electrical Project Engineer for Molex, Incorporated of Lisle, IL. With this career, Galen travels approximately 70,000 miles each year on business, allowing for railfanning in many locations in the US, along with Japan, Korea, Hong Kong, Taiwan and the People's Republic of China, where his company has manufacturing facilities and customers. For fun, he drives about 35,000 miles each year on various research and photography trips to keep tabs on the railroads of the upper midwest, and attend functions of the Board of Directors of the SLHTS, of which he is a member. As a member of the Electrical and Control Systems Committee of OWL, Galen provides design insight (along with 0.093" crimp connectors) to the group.

	RAY MEYER like most model railroad enthusiasts became involved in the hobby at a rather early age in life. At age 4, he was a proud owner of a "Life-Like" trainset nailed down on a standard 4 x 8 sheet of plywood, complete with city, mountains and tunnels. While his first layout is no more, he continues his involvement in the hobby through active memberships in the METRO Model Railroad Club Ltd. and the OWL group. While at MSOE, Ray was a member and past president of the Society of Model Engineers. He graduated in 1999 with a Bachelor of Science degree in Electrical Engineering Technology and now currently works for Dana Corporation in Milwaukee, WI Ray likes to spend his free time during the autumn, winter and spring taking pictures of trains. Since purchasing a digital camera in 2000, his interest in railroad photography has likely overshadowed the amount of time spent on modelling trains. His model rolling stock collection is representative of a conglomeration of railroads, mainly those that traverse (or have traversed) Wisconsin. His favorite are a pair of SD60's in Chicago and Northwestern colors. Ray's current model railroad project is working on the Digital Command Control wiring and installation on the METRO club's layout. While the wiring and controls have been functional for some time, there's always new additions, features and automation that give rise to some neat experimentation.

	MIKE DALEY is one of the younger members of the OWL group, having just graduated from MSOE in November with a BS in Architectural Engineering. Mike is currently working in Naperville, IL (on the right side of the border, finally) for Phillips Swager Associates in Naperville. Mike got his start in the hobby when he was 7 when Santa left him a Lionel train set for Christmas. As often as possible the family room was taken over and transformed into a model railroad world, at least for a few days at a time. 1990 was a year full of changes, first a new house (this one had a basement!) and a switch from Lionel to a Bachman HO scale train set. With a mostly empty basement came one of the infamous 4x8 plywood central layouts. It served as a good learning tool but as life went on and High School started Mike lost interest in the hobby. Plywood central was dismantled and stored in the rafters of the garage. Then in the fall of '97 Mike made the mistake of choosing a school that had a model railroad club. (The dues to the club were rather steep but the free education was definitely nice) It didn’t take long before he found the club and his interest in the hobby returned. He spent countless hours, and even skipped a few classes, working on the layout. During his stay at SOME Mike spent a year as Secretary (we wont get into the countless other terms used to describe the office), and two years as VP – Public Relations. Now his favorite parts include detailing and painting locomotives and rolling stock for the two railroads he models, the Milwaukee Road circa 1974 and his own proto-freelance Chicago Milwaukee & Western railroad.

	JON POFF is another one of the younger members of the OWL group, having graduated from MSOE in June of 2002 with a BS in Architectural Engineering and a BS in Construction Management. " I got my start in the hobby when I was 12 by purchasing the notorious Life-Like and Bachman train sets with the money earned from my paper route." The railroad obsession quickly began to take over the home of Jon's parents. "I first started with a 3 x 6 layout in my bedroom, then graduated to a 4 x8 in the garage." Both of the layouts were the typical "plywood central" layouts. "I joined a local model railraod club where I was a regular member until I got married and started living in Milwaukee year round." Currently, Jon has a 12 x 12 layout in the basement that is DCC equipped. This layout serves as a test bed and kid entertainment for Jon's two boys.

	STEVEN HAGMAN graduatatedfrom MSOE in November of 2001 with a degree in Achitectural Engineering, specializing in Building Environmental Systems. Steve works at Christopher Kidd & Associates, designing heating, ventilating, air conditioning and plumbing systems for commerical and industrial buildings. He recently purchased a house and now calls Wauwatosa home. In his hometown of Reeseville, WI, Steve grew up watching trains on the Milwaukee Road mainline from Chicago to Minneapolis. Every so often, "little" Steve would wave to his dad, a conductor on the Milwaukee Road/Soo Line, as he passed through town. Steve's interest in model trains started as a toddler. Steve's dad collected post-war Lionel trains and every year would set up a Lionel set around the Christmas tree. The tree would come down at the end of January, but the train remained until summer! When he was eight, Santa brought him his very own Lionel train set, with Pennsy steam turbine number 671 as the locomotive. Though over time, Steve realized how much post-war Lionel cost and decided a move to HO scale would better suit his paper route income level. Several family vacations out East spurred his interest in Eastern railroads which is now reflected in most of his HO collection . Steve joined SOME as a freshman and later served a couple years as treasurer for the student organization. Having really enjoyed the good times and the friendships he made at the club, he only found it fitting to join this club comprised of Alumni who also had their own involvement in SOME.