Contact

Contact Information

Email Address

Corrections? Comments? Please feel free to express your opinions of the site, or correct me regarding any inaccuracies or broken links.  If I don't fix the problem, please tell me again!  This is a large site and it's hard to keep track of all its sections.

Drawing Requests

Let me know if you'd like to see new locomotives or rolling stock in the drawings, or updated versions of old drawings.  I try to fill out requests on a regular basis. I will not take payments for requests, but neither will I guarantee their completion (I want to keep the drawings as a hobby, not a job).

Drawing and Image Use

The drawings and photos are freely available for personal use. For any forms of non-personal use (such as display on other websites) I would ask the following:

• Please provide credit in some way, such as my name and/or the URL of the Trainiax site.
• Please indicate if a drawing has been modified, such as adding to or modifying the label under the drawing. I count on unmodified labels to be indicative of my original drawings. (If you would like to match the original text, it's Arial 10 or 12 pt).

About the Author

My name is Michael Eby, and I've had a lifelong interest in trains. While my initial passion was simply as a "railfan" - watching trains and running HO scale models - I've gradually shifted more toward researching locomotive history and design, particularly how small external details relate to the underlying mechanical parts.

I was born on January 20, 1986 in Sherbrooke, QC, Canada, and I've spent most of my life living in the surrounding area (Waterville, Lennoxville and North Hatley). I spent a year in France in 1993-1994 (in Viroflay, near Paris) where I gained an appreciation for the first-rate commuter rail and metro system around Paris, and I was in Montreal, QC for almost a year in 2013-2014. My immediate family is from Ontario and British Columbia. Although I function primarily in English, I am very comfortable in French.

My interest in trains stemmed from living next to what is now the SLR line, on Rte. 143 across from Courval Rd. near Waterville, QC. As a child, I could watch trains from the house, and by age 13 (in 1999) I started crossing the highway to watch the trains up close. Most of the "distant" sound recordings of SLR trains on this site from 2000-2001 were taken from the back porch of the house. In the following years I rode my bike to watch the trains elsewhere - sometimes racing against slow-moving SLR trains on the Waterville grade to watch them twice - before progressing to farther locations after getting my full driving license in 2005. Following a 2008 re-routing of Rte. 143 at the intersection of Courval road, the house I grew up in no longer exists.

Beyond my interest in trains, I tend to be a "thinker". I ponder my words and decisions before making them (for what it's worth, I'm almost a textbook ISTP personality). My perspectives, while sometimes very definite, also tend to be in shades of grey, which often lands me in a middle ground between political or religious extremes - albeit with a decidedly leftward tilt. I've always preferred function over form, which is very evident in my cars (base-model Subaru wagons or hatchbacks) and my computer (a hodge-podge of new and ancient parts with two monitors and wires everywhere).

Studies

• 2005-2007: Started degree in Mechanical Engineering at the Université de Sherbrooke (Sherbrooke, QC)
• 2007-2012: BA in Environmental Studies + minor in History at Bishop's University (Lennoxville, QC)
• 2012-2013: Certificate in Computer Science at Bishop's University (Lennoxville, QC)

All my schooling up to high school and CÉGEP (a Quebec form of pre-university) was geared toward becoming a mechanical engineer. When I finally did start a mechanical engineering degree, I found the program too narrow and competitive for my interests and mindset. Lacking any other concrete direction, I decided in 2007 to pursue my interests (rather than a direct career path) by going into environmental studies; my childhood interest in trees and the environment in fact predates my interest in trains.

Partway through my environmental studies degree (which had a lasting impact on my devotion to environmental causes) I started taking computer science courses as electives, mainly to improve my web-coding skills. I ended up so enthused by the course content that I learned much of it before it was taught, and immediately applied sweeping changes to the design and code of this site starting in 2009. At the end of my degree in 2012, I took a slew of additional computer science courses to accumulate the equivalent of a certificate.

Occupations

• 2014-: Part-time Physics research assistant at Bishop's University (Lennoxville, QC)
• 2005-: Self-employed doing small-scale construction work, landscaping, computer work and odd jobs (mainly summer)
• 2002-: Sound technician, webmaster and (since 2020) online audio mixer for Plymouth-Trinity United Church.

I started outdoor summer work gradually as a teenager in the early 2000's, mowing lawns to put a bit of money aside (often for model train purchases). Somewhat to my own surprise, the work gradually expanded by word-of-mouth to include a diversity of other jobs - and when I briefly tried to get a "real" 9-to-5 job around 2013-2014, I realized that demand was far greater among my friends and contacts for the work I was already doing.

As a result, my work is extremely diverse, and largely (but not entirely) seasonal. I won't get rich (far from it) but I have a flexible schedule that, among other things, leaves me with significant stretches of time that I can devote to this site.

Hobbies

• Trainspotting
• Model trains - after a nearly 15-year hiatus, I finally built a small layout around the walls of my room in late 2021, bringing out the HO models that had been stored in boxes since dismantling my childhood layout (which took over my parents' basement)
• Photography
• Cycling (especially starting in 2020); bicycle as of July 2020 is a Devinci Hatchet gravel bike Devinci Hatchet gravel bike
  
  

Interests (aside from trains)

• The environment (trees and forests in particular)
• Subaru (and cars in general); daily driver as of May 2019 is a 2015 Subaru Impreza 2.0i manual 2015 Subaru Impreza 2.0i manual
  
  
• Logic and philosophy (a relatively recent interest)
• Music (composition, choir and piano/keyboard)
• Cats; furry and very goofy companion as of 2011 is Rufus Rufus
  
  

Railroad Perspectives

• Locomotives: I'm somewhat of an EMD fan, but I have come to like GE locomotives more than I used to. I also gained a soft spot for MLW locomotives (particularly the M-420) after railfanning them in 1999-2001. With old, rare locomotive models, I favour locomotive preservation or use on smaller railroads over immediate scrapping.
• Railroads: I prefer small railroads. My favourite is the St. Lawrence & Atlantic RR (SLR), which I lived beside until 2008. My favourite large railroad as a child was CN - not coincidentally, because CN owned the SLR line at the time.
• Railfanning: While I've learned not to pass up an opportunity to catch rare or unusual equipment, I alsi try to ensure that I remain on public property. I rarely drive great distances solely for railfanning, in the interests of the environment and fuel conservation. I try at all costs to avoid falling into the habits or behaviours that have (sometimes rightly) earned railfans the scorn of railroad employees.
• Expertise: Despite some work on train restoration I will always lack the practical expertise of a builder or railroad employee. I've attempted to source and research all the information in this site - but feedback from people who are "in the know" has been (and is always) hugely helpful!