Bob Schaefer, Secretary of the RGM&HS, grew up in Phoenix, Arizona, and his childhood experiences included attending Chuck Schlosser’s O gauge club layout with his father Ed, in the early 60’s. Also profound at this time was a visit in 1964 to the Durango & Silverton, where he found a great love for these narrow gauge engines. Fond times were also found at Webster’s Hobby Shop on Camelback Road, and at Coronado Scale Models on 16^th Street, visiting Stan & Sheldon Schwedler.

Returning from the army, Bob was a member for a time at the Scottsdale Model Railroad Club, where he learned how to scratch build turnouts working side by side with the old-timers, and met people like Earl Knoob, who would later work for the C&TS as the safety officer. It is a testament to Bob’s craftsmanship that shortly after leaving the club, all scratch built turnouts were replaced with manufactured ones!

January 24, 1976 was a red-letter day for Bob, as it was his 21^st birthday, and he and his father journeyed out to Buckeye, Arizona, to welcome the 4449 pulling the Freedom Train. Early morning light was starting to show in the East, and the GS-4 had just arrived from that long desert passage from Los Angeles, simmering in front of a diesel that had provided the real motive power. And then she came alive! Who can forget the pack of 30 cars blasting through the small towns, running red lights (right in front of cops!) as they tried to keep up with an 80 inch drivered GS-4, easily loping along at 80 miles an hour! Or the smoke so thick it looked like it would lift up the Central Avenue bridge, as the 4449 approached the Phoenix train station. Or the crunch, crunch, pop, crunch, of the GS-4 pulling into its siding in Tempe, as the GS-4’s tires ran over literally hundreds of pennies that had been laid upon the track! Or the departing 4449 and her unknowing engineer careening around the tight curve east of Tempe, probably doing 40 miles an hour, where no hogger in his right mind did over 15!

Bob loved the desert, and he and his father would often explore the areas around the Valley of the Sun, including one time when their excursion took them south of Phoenix, to the site where an Espee 5000 class had inexplicably blown itself to kingdom come. They were able to find bits and pieces here and there of the tragedy, piles of lagging, firebricks, a water bucket.

Graduate school took Bob to Columbus, Ohio, where he earned MBA and Law degrees.

He currently lives in Columbus, with his wife Theresa, and kids Brendon and Elise. Occasionally, Bob and Elise visit the Kingsdale O gauge railroad club, where they get to run some of Bob’s Union Pacific steam. In addition to O gauge UP, Bob’s main interest is in modeling the D&RGW, narrow and standard gauges. Bob’s current project is to model every narrow gauge engine and piece of passenger rolling stock that the D&RGW owned as of December 1939.

Bob’s Internet endeavors include the D&RGW Narrow Gauge Passenger Car Roster that he prepared for the D&RGW Home Page, and buying and selling train stuff on Ebay, where he does business under the name "drgwnut."