About Us

This was taken during Railroad Reality Week at the Nevada Northern Railroad, August 2023 on former Southern Pacific SD-9 #204.

My name is Steve Paris and I live in Greenville, SC with my wife, Pat. I am the train nut / railfan in the family but I labeled this page "About Us" because I could not do this without Pat. She has been understanding, supportive and encouraging about my hobby as well as the time and space it takes up. I will say that she was forewarned early on in our relationship. One day after church we came up to a grade crossing and I stopped as soon as the lights started flashing. When she asked why I stopped so soon when the train was still far away, I told her so I could count the cars. Fortunately, it was a short train so she wasn't too put off by this new revelation concerning her new boyfriend.

The great thing about railroading as a hobby are the many different aspects. You can focus on models, photography, collecting, etc. After leaving the Marine Corps many years ago, I hired on with the Norfolk & Western in their management training program. I had been interested in trains since I was a kid and had an HO train set and took pictures of trains. In Roanoke, I couldn't believe I was being paid to pursue my hobby. At N&W, I discovered employee timetables and rule books: the maps, rules and procedures that brought order to the railroad, moved the trains over the road and kept the railroaders safe. I started collecting them, initially focusing on the Norfolk Southern and predecessors, N&W and Southern. Eventually I branched out to collect whatever I could pick up.

After my railroad career, I continued to collect over the years. Eventually, I saw the opportunity to make a business out it, so here we are with an inventory of well over 10,000 different pieces including over 4,600 employee timetables, a website and happy customers all over the USA and five foreign countries.