I was born in Europe, Switzerland to be exact, Zürich to be extremely exact. This was in the year 1959. So that makes me really still young at this point.

Our family came to the US the first time when I was about 5. I remember one thing about that trip in particular. We took a train to Genoa Italy to hop on a boat called the USS Constitution. I remember getting on a train in Zürich, a sleeping car to be specific and waking up at some shipyard. Amazing what a kid can sleep through. We stayed in the US for about 6 months, courtesy of IBM (Yes, "big blue") and of course my dear dad.

The parents made the decision that this was the place to be, and hence, within a couple of years we immigrated permanently. This time I remember a bit more about the trip. I do remember getting on the diesel TEE consist called the “Edelweiss” which later was sold and became the famous “Northlander”. This was a beauty, and I knew it meant something special to be riding on this particular train. I also knew that deep inside I was fascinated with trains. It was a cool thing to ride these things. It was even cooler to ride this particular one! A set of RAm 501 & 502 (SBB) with 3 DE IV (NS) was the typical consist. This baby could travel at up to 140 km/h! That was fast for those days.