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Another custom built structure.This time a two-stall brick enginehouse.you could have something for $2500 or more. I’vedone museum pieces well in excess of $3000. Theaverage railroader isn’t going to spend $3000 on astructure. They’d rather spend it on an engine. Idon’t build the big dollar items on spec. I buildthem if someone requests them.OST: But you wouldn’t look down your nose at a$100 job?RA: Oh, no. Some people that’s all they canafford. I had an individual who called me up andwanted a diner and he had $100 to spend. I told himI didn’t think I could do it for $100. He wanted a50’s style diner. But I said I’d look at the [York]show. And I found a couple of pieces I was able tomodify into a diner for him. The pieces cost meabout $20 or $30 and I told him I could make adiner for about $150. He said he was glad I calledbecause he’d bought a diner kit and it was horrendous.It was not what he expected. Pictures can bedeceiving in catalogs. So, I built the diner for himand charged him about $150. It was a little morethan he wanted to spend but I couldn’t do it for anyless with the pieces that I bought. And, he wantedan interior done.OST: Gee, that sounds like a good price.RA: It was a great price. I felt bad he bought thatother kit. I don’t want to burn anybody. I’ll workwith them if I can.OST: What kind of backlog do you have?RA: I put some stuff on hold so I could buildsome structures for sale at the show here so I canpay some bills, but I have enough work for the nextyear.OST: So, if someone walks up to you here at theshow and wants you to build something, it’s a yearbefore you get to it?RA: No, because a lot of those buildings may befor one individual. I try to accommodate everyone. Imay be working on two buildings at one time and itmay be something I know I can finish in a shortamount of time. Of course, a project that might twomonths of building time is going to take a while.OST: So, it depends on what the customers wantswhether you can accommodate him now, later ormuch later?RA: Yes. And it depends if the person needs itright away. They want it for Christmas or they needit next month because some people are coming tolook at the layout. I try to accommodate their schedules.OST: Is this what you do full time?RA: I am trying to get into it on a full time basis.Right now it’s probably 25% and 75% somethingelse that I’m doing. I’m an accountant by trade andI retired from accounting. I have a MBA in accountingand that’s what I did in the 70’s. Eventually Idecided I needed to do something more creativethan this [So did, apparently, some other accountantswho stayed in the field. -Ed]. I’ve always putteredaround and worked on my house but never tothe extent that I do these structures. I like workingwith wood. I like working with my hands and I likebuilding things. It was a natural thing for me.OST: Have you ever considered freight cars?RA: I just have no interest. I have a few cars thatpeople want me to weather for them, I will do that.But to build something from scratch... I did somework for a museum. It was an exhibit that was intheir back room from the 1940s. It was a dioramathat was just falling apart. The cars were scratchbuiltand I think the engine was scratchbuilt, too. Itneeded a lot of work. The glue, being about 60 yearsold was all dried out and the cars just collapsedwhen I lifted them up. So, I had to rebuild those.After I did that I felt I didn’t want to be doing cars.The kit-bashed/custom diner as described in the text.It has a full interior.O Scale Trains • 25