About Kevin
 


“Invention” fascinated me from an early age.  History is full of moments when a new idea changed the way the world worked.


Modeling early railroads has brought me into view of the bubbling world of “new” ideas, when trains and railroads clearly showed the touch of the “hand of the inventor”.

 
 

When I was five they found me on the basement floor, coloring, cutting and folding typewriter paper into boxcars and engines. That Christmas, I found a new train table in the same basement location.


Trains have been somewhere in my life since then. Riding a bicycle through the hills of central Maryland, I studied the old roads, the cuts and fills, and how the roadbeds worked into the terrain. When I worked in technical theater, in school, and then professionally, I ran stage wiring with a confidence I learned under the layout. Dashing around Baltimore as a closed circuit video technician, I built control panels just like I’d built for my trains, and ran around the old track filled streets of the city. As the technical director of a solar and wind company, I designed solar controls and heat systems, with visions of boilers and superheaters foremost in my mind. As a carpenter, contractor, and ultimately homebuilder, I designed and built full-scale models of the tiny trackside structures my dad helped me put together when I was a kid.


As I moved into the world of computers, the models came back out. Tiny HO narrow gauge rails run on a shelf around my bedroom, through the wall and into the bathroom. Garden rails loop the front yard, with tunnels, trusses, and trestles. The recent offerings in O scale narrow gauge are the perfect size for the new sound systems, and they are the focus of my Berrett Hill Modules


Needing a break from the computer screen, I looked for a way to share my experience, I tripled the size of my cabinet shop, and now offer my skills and services to the modeling community with Berrett Hill Trains.


Through modeling I have gained great insights, opened new doors, and met many worthy folks who have added breadth and depth to my life. At least, so far...


Kevin Hunter

September 16, 2009

 

How trains changed my life...

When I envision a new rail line, or a string of recently installed utility poles, I think about what that world was like the day before that train, or telegraph, or electric line arrived.

Each new model sparks a million questions: Where is it going? Why is it here? What are the problems in getting there? How can those problems be solved?