Happy Birthday, Frank!

Frank is celebrating his birthday on his honeymoon in the Caribbean. Here's an earlier birthday when he only got to go as far as IRM!

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Happy Birthday!

Today is blog founder and fearless Hicks Car Works leader Randy Hicks' birthday; he's turning 39, just as he has for the last 20 years. Seen above is evidence of his longstanding affinity for looking out the doors of railway equipment.

As his son, I feel kind of ashamed - all I got him was a card, but all of YOU who donated to the Trolleyville Fund got IRM two more CA&E wood interurbans for my father to add to his "to-do" list! Who could ask for a better birthday present? A giant thank you to everyone who contributed to the Trolleyville Fund to help preserve these historic CA&E cars!! (And if you want to get in a late birthday gift, we still need donations to help move and house the Trolleyville cars - just click on "Help Protect the Trolleyville Cars" in the upper-right corner of your screen to help out!)

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Happy Birthday, Frank!

Here we are celebrating Frank's birthday in 1985. This must be IRM, but a lot of things have changed!

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Happy Birthday, Dad!

Today is the birthday of Randall G. Hicks, PhD, founder of the restored Hicks Locomotive & Car Works and head writer for this blog as well as Project Manager for CA&E 308, 309 and 321. His actual age is a closely guarded secret. While there has been speculation, based on his affinity for Victrolas, the Three Stooges and the collected works of Harold Lloyd, that he was born sometime around 1905, the above photograph of him is actually believed to have been taken during the 1950's. Note too that the correct hand signal for "come to me" is being demonstrated.

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Happy Birthday, Frank!

Frank was a child prodigy in the railroad preservation field. I started bringing him out to help at age 4. At age 8, he completed his first painting project (underbody equipment on the 309). At 11, he published his first article in Rail & Wire. And so on!

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Happy Birthday, Esther!

Here we see Esther (3) and Frank (5) playing in the 321 about 1987. This Saturday, she will be graduating from Indiana University with a Master's Degree in Non-Profit Administration, and I'm very proud of her, of course. She has several job prospects but hasn't made a decision yet. So if anybody can think of a non-profit organization that could use some professional management expertise, please let me know. :) Thanks!

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