The Biographies Of Important People.

 1. Nikola Tesla----One Of The Greatest Inventors Of The 20th Century.
 2. Johann Strauss Sr. And Jr.----The Two Waltz Kings.
 3. Albert Einstein----The Greatest Thinker Of The 20th Century.
 4. Edgar Rice Burroughs----My Favorite Author.
 5. Joshua Lionel Cowen, Louis Marx And A.C. Gilbert----The Three Electric Train Kings.
 6. Andre' Rieu----The Greatest Orchestra Conductor Of The 20th Century.
 7. Rudolf Diesel----His Diesel Engines Are Commonly Used Today



        1. Nikola Tesla----One Of The Greatest Inventors Of The 20th Century.

      Nikola Tesla was born on July 10th, 1856 in Smiljan, Lika which was a part of the Austo-Hungarian Empire. His Father was a Serbian Orthodox Priest named Milutin Tesla and his Mother's name was Djuka Madic. She was an inventor of several household appliances. Nikola Tesla studied at three colleges: the Realschule Karlstadt in 1873, the Polytechnic Institution in Graz, Austria and the University of Prague. He started out in physics and mathematics but he ended up becoming an Electrical Engineer. His first job was at a telephone company in Budapest in  1881. In 1883 he joined the Continental Edison Company in Paris and at this time he designed and built a prototype induction motor and it ran successfully.
     Nikola Tesla came to America in 1884 and began working for Thomas Edison in New York. Edison was working with Direct current and Tesla invented Alternating Current. These two got into an argument as to which current was better. Edison's motors and generators all ran on DC current. Tesla started a whole new electrical empire by building motors and generators running on AC current. Tesla had 40 U.S. Patents on his system and AC current was favored over the DC current.
     George Westinghouse, an inventor got a hold of Nikola Tesla and visited his laboratory. Between the two of them the Westinghouse company had it's beginnings and the nation wide use for AC Electrical Energy in Americas had began.
     Tesla's AC motors were being recognized by companies all over the world in building household appliances.
     Tesla's greatest invention was his Polyphase alternating current system. Alternating Current became the major power in America in the 20th Century and Tesla designed and built the First hydroelectric power plant in Niagara Falls in 1895.
     In 1891 Tesla invented the Tesla coil which created over a million volts of Electricity. This coil was used in many radio and television sets as well as in many other electronic projects.
    Nikola Tesla is the inventor of the fluorescent light, the laser beam, wireless communications, wireless transmission of electrical energy. remote control and robotics, Tesla's Turbines and the vertical take off on airplanes. He is the father of radio and the modern electrical transmissions systems. He has over 700 patents worldwide and this included solar energy and Sea Power. Tesla also invented a pump that runs at extremely high temperatures.
    Tesla built an experimental station in Colorado Springs in 1899 to experiment with high voltage and high Frequencies. His Tesla coil could make sparks that were 30 feet long and it could be seen ten miles away. He found out that the earth could be used as a conductor and it would be a tuning fork to electrical vibrations of certain Frequencies. Also in using the experimental station he was able to light up over 200 lights that were 25 miles away without using wires.
     Sometime between 1901 and 1905, Tesla built the Wardenclyffe Laboratory in Sherman, Long Island. Attached to the Laboratory was a 187 feet high tower and it had a 68 foot copper dome in which on the inside was a giant magnifying transmitter. This was the first giant transmitter of high frequencies. These frequencies could be heard all over the world. Tesla claimed that his transmitter would even be received if a person were to make it to the moon or the near by planet Mars. In 1917 the 187 foot tower was taken apart for wartime security reasons. But the 100 feet deep foundation is still there too this very day. The Laboratory still stands and it is in good condition.
    In 1894 both Columbia and Yale Universities gave Tesla the honorary doctorate degree. In 1934 the City of Philadelphia gave Tesla the John Scott award for his polyphase power system. In 1915 both Thomas Edison and NIkola Tesla was to be awarded the Nobel Prize for Physics, but Tesla turned it down because he was bitter at Thomas Edison. The Nobel Prize was then given to another.
    Nikola Tesla died on the 17th of January 1943 living to be 86 years old. His last ten years were spent at the Hotel New Yorker in Room 3327 on the 33rd Floor. A Funeral was held at the St. John Divine Cathedral in New York City. Over 2,000 people attended the funeral including the First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt and the Vice President Wallace.
    Two Government Scientist who worked on secret government projects that they were not allowed to talk about, their names were Fred Kueppers and John Von Newman. Fred Kueppers was the man who invented the timing device for setting off the atomic bomb which ended World War II when Japan surrendered. John Von Newman was the number one Electrical Engineer at Montauk Air Force Base on the southern most part of Long Island. John Von Newman inventned the very First vacum tube computer in 1940 at Princeton University. He was the head scientist on the " Philadelphia Experiment " for over ten years. Both of these scientist claim that Nikola Tesla was also involved in these secret projects. He was involved in the Rainbow Project from 1936 to 1942. Tesla was working with magnetic forces and radio frequencies and also a few Tesla Coils and he was making whole train cars disappear. In other words he could make these boxcars completely disappear and then make them reappear. When the Military people heard what Tesla was doing,  they wondered if Tesla could do the same to a Battleship. If a battleship had disappeared and it could not be detected on radar, it would give us a great advantage in winning World War II. Tesla tried this experiment on some of the smaller boats and it was a success. So they planned on using a full sized destroyer called the USS Eldridge. To Tesla's surprise they were asking him to do the experiment with a full crew. Tesla felt his experiment was okay for solid objects, but people, that was another story and he wanted more time saying he felt his experiments would harm people. But the military did not want to wait and so they released Nikolas Tesla from the experiment and they put John Von Newman in his place as the head scientist. Tesla was going through a lot of worry and stress at this time and then he died on January 17, 1943.
        The military personel continued with the experiment called " The Philadelphia Experiment " and on August 12th, 1943, they did the experiment on the U.SS Eldridge.  They claimed that there was an open window in the Time continuel  every 20 years like August 12th 1963, 1983, 2003 and the next one will be in 2023. They did do the experiment on the USS Eldridge. It disappeared and then they successfully brought it back. The ship was a great success but as far as the crew they all died except for about 4 of them. Fred Kueppers was also a leading scientist in this experiment and he said they continued doing research and experiments until 10 years later in 1953 they made a full sized air craft carrier with all of it's planes and a full sized crew with several hundred people completely disappear. It reappear 3,000 miles away and everything was OK  including no harm was brought upon it's crew. The experiment was a total success.
   


                        2. Johann Strauss Sr. And Jr.----The Two Waltz Kings.

      Johann Strauss Sr. was born on the 14th of March 1804 in Vienna, Austria. His Dad's name was Franz Borgias Strauss and his Mother's name was Barbara Dollmann. They both ran an Inn in Vienna and as a little boy of six years old Johann Strauss would play the violin to the customers at the Inn. When Johann  was seven years old his Mother died of " Creeping Fever " and at the age of 12 his Dad drowned in the Danube River. Some friends of the family took care of the boy and taught him their business of bookbinding. In his spare time Johann took lessons on how to read and compose music.
      When Johann turned 22 years old he had already composed several waltzes and he left the family and joined the Joseph Lanner Band. They played at many of the Inns in Vienna and also at the weekend dances. In 1826 Johann quit the Lanner Band and started his own Orchestra. They would play at all the popular restaurants and people liked them at the weekend dances more then the did the Lanner Band. They would play the popular music of the day and also the waltzes that Strauss had written. Because of popular demand he successfully toured several countries and ended up in England playing for the Royal Family. They liked his music so much that they gave him the title of the " Imperial And Royal Court Ball Music Director " in 1846. Johann Strauss Sr. composed 251 pieces of music and 151 of them were Waltzes. Two of his most famous works was: a waltz called " Lorelei Rhien klange  Op. 154 " and the " Radetzky March ". He died a happy man in 1849.
      Johann Strauss Sr. had 6 children. Their names were: Johann Jr. ( 1825 to 1899 ) , Josef (1827 to 1870 ) , Ann ( 1829 ) , Therese ( 1831 ) , Ferdinand ( 1834 ) and Edward ( 1835 to 1916 ) .


      Johann Strauss Jr. was born in 1825 in Vienna, Austria. His Dad wanted him to be a businessman but Johann loved music more then anything and he composed his first waltz at the age of six. Against his Dad's wishes his son took violin and composition lessons in secret.
      In 1844 when Johann was only 19 years old, he started his own Orchestra, and they played at the popular Inns. He had already composed several waltzes and so he would play them and also the music of his Dad. When his Dad died in 1849, Johann combined both Orchestras and then took a very successful concert tour of Austria, Poland, Germany and Russia.
      In 1862 he married Herietta Treflz who was a singer. About a year later he was made the conductor of all the imperial court balls in Vienna, and his Orchestra would play all the popular waltzes. Also during this time, he wrote three of his most famous waltzes: " Tales From Vienna Woods " ,  " Voices Of Spring "  and the  " Blue Danube ". Also during this time his Orchestra would play concerts in Paris, London and Italy.
      In 1872 he resigned as Post Conductor and they all went to the United States and did several concerts in Boston and New York City. After Strauss had returned to Vienna he began to compose operas. Three of his most famous operas were: " Die Fiedermaus " also known as " The Bat "  written in 1874, " A Night In Venice " written in 1883 and " The Gypsy Baron " written in 1885. People of all ages loved his operas because Strauss would play such happy tunes, Polkas, Gallops, Marches and waltzes.
      After the death of his first wife he then married Angelica Dietrich and then they divorced after 5 years. His third wife stayed with him until he died in 1899. His Orchestra no longer exist but over 25 years ago an Orchestra was formed and it is called the " Andre Rieu Johann Strauss Orchestra ". They play Polkas, Gallop Music, Marches, Waltzes and music from operas and musicals. If you would like to hear a sample of their music then punch in on Google Search: " Andre Rieu Plays The Bells " or " Andre Rieu And The Yackety Sax " or ' Funny Moments With Andre Rieu " or " Andre Rieu Plays Anvil Music ". You will fall in love with them. They are very, very good.


            3. Albert Einstein----The Greatest Thinker Of The 20th Century.

      Albert Einstein was well known for making theories about our world and the universe. His theories included such things as gravity, energy, the inside of an atom, matter, light, space and time and that all of these factors are related.  Most scientists had their own Laboratories, Einsteins's Laboratory was in his head.
      Albert Einstein was born on the 14th of March 1879 in a small town called Ulm, Germany to Jewish parents. One year after he was born his family moved to Munich to where his Father ran a small factory that made electrical supplies. Albert was a shy boy that was slow in learning and he was slow in speech. When the teacher would ask him a question he would slowly think it out before giving an answer. This made many of his teachers mad at him and to make matters worse Einstein would always ask the " impossible to answer questions " and no other student even came close to what was going on inside of Einstein's mind.  He did not like to memorize facts and rules and with the strictness that went on in German schools the teachers would call Albert a trouble maker and he was not happy with them.
      When Einstein was 17 years old he entered the Polytechnic Institute at Zerich, Switzerland. He studied both Physics and Mathematics. He studied very hard all the time and graduated in the year of 1900. He then asked if he could be an assistant in the Physics Department but his request was turned down. His first job was in a Swiss Patent Office in Bern. He married one of his friends that he went to school with and they lived in an apartment in Bern. Einstein loved his job. He enjoyed looking over other people's inventions and he was a fast worker. During his spare time he would read a lot and then talk to his educated friends about his theories. One theory that he became famous for later on in life was the theory of Relativity. But it was many years before his theories could be tested and accepted as truth.
      Universities had heard about Albert Einstein and they asked him to come and lecture on his theories. In 1913 he was asked to come to Berlin and be a part of a scientific research center. His wife was not happy about moving to a new town and she wanted him to get a regular job like everyone else. But moving to Berlin and being a part of this research team was of great importance to Einstein so he separated from his wife and two sons and went to Berlin. He moved in with a widowed cousin who had two daughters and later on he fell in love with her and married her.
      In 1919 World War One had come to an end. Also in March of that year there was a total eclipse of the sun. Scientist wanted to test Einstein's theories about light rays. It turned out that Einstein did predict correctly. From that time fourth Einstein became a popular figure in the scientific world. He was recognized then to be a Genius. Einstein was now invited to lecture at universities all over the world. In 1921 he was awarded the Nobel Prize for Physics. For the next ten years Einstein lived in Berlin and he only left when he gave lectures at universities.  Most of that ten years was a quiet life working out his ideas and playing his violin in the evenings.
      In 1933, Adoff Hitler became a dictator and he was at the head of the Nazi Party. They wanted to get rid of all the Jews in Germany. For the first time in his life Einstein was in great danger, so he packed up his bags and moved to the United States. He then accepted a position at the Institute For Advance Studies in Princeton, New Jersey. Everyone there was free to follow after their own ideas and to do research on their own time. This made Albert very happy. He was an excellent teacher and he always found time to help any of the students with their problems.
      In 1939,  the Nazi Party was building an Atom Bomb, so the US Government got a hold of Albert Einstein to help them also to build an Atom Bomb. This project was a success and a scientist from the Montauk Air Force Base named Fred A. Keuppers was the one who invented the timing device for blowing up the bomb. This bomb was dropped onto an island that was controlled by Japan and it caused them to surrender and World War Two came to an end.
      Einstein lived in Princeton, New Jersey for over 20 years. He hated formal clothes and he would not wear them but he was a familiar figure walking the streets of Princeton with his white hair and college sweaters. He died on the 18th of April 1955 and up to the day that he died he was still looking for laws that would solve the mysteries of the universe. He was truly one of the greatest thinkers of all time.


                        4. Edgar Rice Burroughs----My Favorite Author.,

      In High School we had to read books by several different authors and the two worst ones was a book called " Tale Of Two Cities " and books written by Zane Gray. They were some of the most uninteresting books I have ever read. I finally bought the comic book for " Tale Of Two Cities " and it was very interesting to read. I was able to answer all the questions on the test and I got an " A " on my book report. I am sure glad that the teacher did not know what I did or I would have gotten a bad grade. Believe it or not about one half of the boys in my class did the same thing as I did.
      Then one day I was introduced to two books written by Edgar Rice Burroughs and they were called " Tarzan Of The Apes " and  " A Princes of Mars ". Holy Cow !  They both were the most interesting books I have ever read. Once I started reading either one of them they were very hard to put down, and when I had to quit for some reason, I just could not wait until I was able to get back to them. There were 24 books on the Adventures of Tarzan and I read them all. Several of theses 24 books I have read several times. Then one can read the adventures of John Carter on Mars. A movie came out called " John Carter " but the books are way more interesting to read " A Princes of Mars " followed by " The Gods of Mars " and " The Swords of Mars ". Then there are the books called " The Chessmen of Mars ", " A Fighting Man of Mars " and " Llana of Gathol ". These were my favorites from the eleven books written about John Carter.
      Then you have the adventures of Carson Napier who built a space ship on earth and he was planning to land on Mars but the rotation of the earth made his ship go to Venus and he crash lands on that planet  only to discover that under all those clouds is a world full of people and strange animals that are not found on earth. There are five books on the adventures of Carson Napier. Again these books are hard to put down once you start to reading them.
      Edgar Rice Burroughs also wrote five books about a land that exists inside the earth and the way that you can get to this land is through openings in the earth at both the north and south poles. Of the five books, my two most favorite books was the Tarzan series # 13 " At The Earth Core " and the 2nd one was called " Back To The Stone Age ". Because most of his books were written before the 1950's,  the books of this author are no longer in print. But many Libraries around the world, they do carry his books or you could get them through the " Inter Library Loan Program ".  I hope you will enjoy reading the books of Edgar Rice Burroughs as much as I have.

      Edgar Rice Burroughs was born on the 1st of September 1875 to a Chicago businessman named George Tyler Burroughs. His mother was named Mary Evaline Zieger Burroughs. His two older brothers saved up their money and together they bought a cattle ranch right next to the Raft River in Idaho. In 1891 a Influenza Epidemic hit the Chicago area and so the parents sent Edgar to Idaho to live with his two brothers for 6 months. In 1895 he graduated from the Michigan Military Academy and he was assigned to the 7th US Calvary in Fort Grand, Arizona. But in 1897 he was given a medical discharge because he had a bad heart. He went back to Idaho to work with his brothers on their cattle ranch and in 1898 he began working in Pocatello, Idaho as the manager of a department store. In 1900 he quit his job and moved back to Chicago and married his childhood sweetheart Emma Hirbert. For the next several years he lived on low wages being a door to door salesman. Then he tried a job that paid more money selling pencil sharpeners wholesale. In 1911 while still selling the pencil sharpeners he began to write short stories for several magazines. One of the editors wrote him back and said that he really loved his stories and told him that he would make tons of money if he began to write his own books.
      In 1912 Edgar Rice Burroughs wrote his first two books: " Tarzan Of The Apes " and  " A Princes Of Mars " and people really loved his first two books. Over the next few years he wrote 24 Tarzan books and 11 books on the adventures of John Carter on the Planet Mars. Then he wrote 5 books on the adventures of Carson Napier who crash lands on the Planet Venus. He also wrote 5 books on the adventures of several men including Tarzan who went to a land on the inside of the earth.
      As far as I could find out, Edgar Rice Burroughs had only two children. A daughter named Joan ( 1908 ) and a son named Hirbert ( 1909 ) . Joan later married the very first Tarzan actor named James Pierce and the very first Tarzan Movie came out in 1927. In 1919 Edgar Rice Burroughs was making so much money from his books that he bought a large cattle ranch north of Los Angeles. It became known as the Tarzana Ranch. Friends and relatives began to move in all around his ranch and in 1927 the town of Tarzana had it's begining. Today,  Tarzana, Ca. is a town of some wealthy homes that start at 350,000 dollars clear up to 8 million dollars.
      In 1923 Burroughs started his own publishing company called  " Edgar Rice Burroughs Inc. " and from that time forth he would print all of his books. He wrote over 68 books and hundreds of short stories for magazines. Edgar Rice Burroughs had a lot of health problems and he died on the 19th of March 1950. He has a grand daughter named  " Texas Ann Burroughs Anderson " from Houston, Texas and a great grandson named Wes Anderson who today is an American Film Director and also a screenwriter.


  5. Joshua Lionel Cowen, Louis Marx And A.C, Gilbert----The Three Electic Train Kings.

      Right after I got married we had 100 dollars in the bank and at Christmas time we took that money out and I took 50 and my wife took 50. I dropped her off at a clothing store and I headed for the local thrift store. I asked if they had any electric trains. They pulled out from under the counter 3 mix-match boxes of Lionel Trains, and they were 15 dollars a piece. Two of them had diesel engines and the other one a steam locomotive and I bought all three. On the way back to picking up my wife I saw an American Flyer Train Set in the window of a pawn shop for only 10 dollars. When my wife climbed into the car she just smiled at me when she saw the 4 boxes. She thought that I too had bought clothes. When we got home my wife left to go and visit her friends and I got busy and set up all them trains and I had them running though the living room when she came home. She put her hands on her waist and said:  " Is that what you bought for Christmas ?  Why you are nothing but a little kid. Yep, a little kid ".
      About a year later we went to a garage sale and they had a box full of Marx Trains for only 20 bucks. There was two steam locomotives and a diesel engine, over 100 sections of track, two transformers and about 20 freight cars. I had bought my first Marx Train Set and when I got home I set up two track lines in the living room and they ran very well. I now had 6 train sets to set up at Christmas time or when ever I felt like playing with them.
      Playing with electric trains is a big hobby for both adults and children. There are train shows that are put on for people all over the world. You go there to watch others play with their trains or you can buy both new or used trains at a fair price. Or you can buy mix-match train sets in any gauge for a fair price. The last time that I when to a train show I only took 80 dollars. I bought 6 Marx train cars for 50 dollars and a mix-match American Flyer set for 25 dollars. If you took a 1000 dollars or more you could buy some of the more high-cost quality trains or you could go for the bargains like I did.  The three main train companies that people would buy into was Lionel, Marx and the American Flyer S-gauge trains. Other train companies that had their beginnings after the 1970's were K-Line, Tyco, Bachman, 3rd- Rail and Weaver trains. Both the LGB and the Bachman Train Companies would make indoor-outdoor trains that you can run through your garden. These were called Number One Gauge Trains and they ran on a brass or nickle plated track that will not rust. They also make a stainless steel train track. There are also a 7 inch gauge model trains that you can ride on an outdoor track. These trains are very expensive to buy but some people are crazy enough to buy them anyways and they greatly enjoy them. The other most popular gauges that are bought are 0, 027, S, HO, N and Z gauge in which I believe was the smallest.

      The Lionel Train Company was started by Joshua Lionel Cowan in 1902. He was born in 1877 and he made his first train set at the age of 7 years old. Through the years he kept making improvements on his train but in 1899 he attached an electric motor to a train and with the help of a homemade transformer the train would run on a track all by its self. In 1901 a manager of a department store had heard about Joshua's train and he asked him to display one in his window to attract more customers into his store. This plan did work but people were more interested in buying the train more then anything else. So the store manager asked Joshua to make more electric trains to be sold in his store. As fast as Joshua could make the train sets they all got sold. So in 1902 The Lionel Train company had started and a group of employees were mass producing those train sets to be sold all over the world. In the next few years Joshua Lionel Cowen became a multimillionaire. As the real trains were designed and built  Joshua would design and build toy trains to match them. In the 1920's and the 1930's  Joshua would make tinplate O-gauge and Standard Gauge trains and they were popular toys bought by the people. During World War II all metal was taken for war time use. During this time the Lionel Company made paper and cardboard trains and they did get sold. After the war all diesel engines and freight car bodies were made out of plastic with metal motors and metal wheels. These were known as Post-War trains. These were 0-gauge trains and they did get sold.  In the 1950's  Lionel began making 027-gauge trains that were sold at a much lower price then the O-gauge. The quality of all of the Lionel Trains were very high. They would run and run and run with no problems. The Lionel Company made a lot of money because it made such a good product.
      Sometime during the 1980's the Lionel Company had a change in it's owners and the new owners moved the train company to Mexico. The quality of the trains went downhill and people quit buying them. The Lionel Train Company was about to close their doors when in the 1990's a new owner bought the Lionel Company and moved it back to the United States and rehired many of it's old employees. Not only did they make the present day trains but they also began to make the tinplate 0-gauge and Standard Gauge all over again. They also began to make Post-War Trains also. They also bought out the American Flyer Train Company and began making S-gauge trains all over again. By the year 2000 the Lionel Train Company had once again become a company making billions of dollars. Today the Lionel Company still puts out a Train Catalog every year showing the trains that they will be making the following year.

      Louis Marx was born in 1896, and at the age of 12 years old he began his first job working with the Strauss Toy Company. He worked for them for several years then he enlisted in the army during World War I . After the war was over he began to design and build wooden toys for a toy company. In 1919 Louis Marx and his brother David started the " Marx Toy Company ".  Their trademark on all their products was a MAR with a circle around it and a large X. They had bought a lot of unwanted toy moldes from the Strauss Toy Company and they would redesign them and make their own toys. By the time that Louis Marx was 26 he was a multimillionaire. During the great depression the Marx Toy Company would still be making profits while other companies made very little. For instance in 1928 the Marx Company made a yo-yo and they sold over 100 million of them. Also compared to other companies Marx toys were the best and their trains were more durable and they were sold at a lower price.
      Before World War II both Lionel and the Marx Company would make tinplate engines and freight cars, but after the war these were both made out of plastic. By the 1950's the Louis Marx Company was the largest toy company in the world. Two things that kept the company alive was the electric trains and the action figures. These were made to go with the series shows on TV like " Roy Rogers " , " The Untouchables "". Cowboys and Indians, Fort Sets, Knights from the round table, Civil War Soldiers and World War II Army Soldiers. All of these toys were sold at department stores like Montgomery Wards, J.C. Penny's, Woolworths, Spiegel's, Western Auto, Macey's, Walgreens. Sears  and Firestone Stores. Today these toys and trains are very popular to the collectors.

      The American Flyer Toy Company was started in 1910 by two men who were in the hardware business and they got together and started this toy company. Their names were John Hafner and William Coleman. For the first ten years it was just a toy company and then in the 1920's they began to make 0-gauge tinplate trains that ran on 3 rails. These trains became very popular and they would sell them as fast as they made them. During the great depression their sales came to a stop and they were hurting for money.
      In 1938 a man name Alfred Carlton Gilbert bought the company with some money that he had saved and it became known as " The Gilbert American Flyer Company ". He had invented in the 1930's the " Mysto Magic Sets " for young magicians and he sold over a million of them. He also was the inventor of the " Gilbert Erector sets " and he sold over a million of them. The Erector Sets were popular until the 1960's. Gilbert began making S-gauge electric trains in great numbers. Most of his diesel engines had two motors on them for extra pulling power. Then he invented the Pull-More motor and he would put this on all his steam locomotives. Even the 4-wheel drive steam engines would pull more freight cars then other steam engines. People were really impressed with his trains and in no time Gilbert became a multimillionaire. In the 1960's Gilbert retired and the making of S-gauge American Flyer Trains came to a stop, until the Lionel Train Company bought them out in the 1990's. Today one can buy brand new American Flyer Trains through a Lionel catalog or you can go to a train show and buy the old Gilbert S-gauge trains.

      Today all three of these train companies and the Ives Tinplate trains are very popular collector's items and all trains that were made before 1960. I may have a few trains that were bought at garage sales but the price that these collectors pay for these old trains is way too rich for me. So I enjoy what I have and leave the more expensive trains to those who can afford them.


            6. Andre' Rieu----The Greatest Orchestra Conductor Of The 20th Century.

      I was born and raised in northern Ohio, USA, and while attending grade school we were invited 2 or 3 times to go to a concert performed by the Cleveland Orchestra for children. Some of the songs were familiar but most of the music was boring to listen to and I wished that I was somewhere else.
      As a teenager I was invited to learn Ballroom Dancing from some friends who had taken some dancing lessons. We learned to do Waltzes, Foxtrots, Swings, Tango, Cha-Chas and the Polka. I fell in love with the many Artists who played this type of music. There was Boston Pops, Percy Faith, Mantovani, Andre' Kostelanetz, Bert Kaempfert and Billy Vaughn. I would record from LP records onto a recorder and play my favorite songs over and over again. All of the concerts that I had attended were very serious. You could not clap your hands until several songs had been played.
      Then I was introduced to a Musician and Orchestra Conductor named Andre' Rieu. Wow! I really fell in love with his orchestra music. I bought both a CD and a VHS video tape of his music and to my surprise I enjoyed every song that was played. The interesting thing about his audience, they are not serious like people are in other concerts. These people in Andre's concerts are enjoying themselves. I mean they really enjoy themselves. If they feel like singing they will do so. Or they will get up and dance in the aisles. Often balloons are dropped during a concert and people will be popping them. While the music is playing the audience will laugh, cheer and clap their hands after every song. When Andre' Rieu played in Mexico City the people there sang to almost every song. No matter what people do for happiness, it never makes Andre' Rieu mad. He just smiles at them and the concert goes on. Also Andre' Rieu has his own violin and he plays along with all the orchestra numbers. You will never see this with other conductors. Andre' started his own orchestra in 1987 with only 12 members. Today his orchestra has over 150 members and they have played in many countries all over the world.
      Andre' Rieu was born on October the 1st, 1949. At the age of 5 years old he began taking violin lessons. His teacher was a beautiful blond and Andre' fell in love with her and he would stare at her more then he did in playing his violin. As he grew up he became an excellent violin player and he played in two different orchestras until he started his own orchestra in 1987.
      Andre' Rieu is married and he has two sons and grandchildren. He lives in a multi-million dollar home and he has a special room that is like the  " Garden of Eden ". What really makes this room very special and one of a kind are the living butterflies. Each one of them are different and they are all very beautiful in color.
      Andre' Rieu is a very friendly man and he is very well liked by everyone. But most of all he has a world's famous orchestra that will melt the hearts of anyone who listens to his music. His music will make you feel like you are floating around on " Cloud 9 ".

      If you wish to listen to his music then punch in on Google Search: " Andre Rieu plays the bells " or " Andre Rieu plays anvil music " or " Andre Rieu and the Yackety Sax " or " Funny moments with Andre Rieu ". You can listen to individual songs or you could listen to a full concert performed somewhere in the world. But most of all Enjoy Yourself with this wonderful music.


              7. Rudolf Diesel----His Diesel Engines Are Commonly Used In Today's World.

      Rudolf Diesel was born on March the 18th, 1858 in Paris France. His Mother and Dad were both born in Germany. Rudolf loved science and he would spend much of his spare time in Museums. In the 1870's War began between France and Germany and during this time the Diesel Family moved to London, England. When Rudolf became the right age hie Parents sent him to College in Germany.He studied Engineering at the Munich Polytechnic Institution, and one of his Teachers was the famous Carl Von Linde. Linde was the one teacher who really brought a strong interest into Rudolf's mind when it came to engines. Linde said that the best engines they had at that time was the steam engine but they only used one tenth of it's fuel and the rest of the energy went up the smoke stack.
      After graduating from College, Diesel began to work for Professor Linde who owned a Refrigerating Machine Company. In those days there was no Kitchen Refrigerators, and so Linde's company would make the ice that was sold door to door to people to cool their food in insulated wooden boxes with doors on them.
      As Diesel would watch the compressors make ice, they would become very hot and so he came up with some ideas for a new kind of Motor. He wrote his ideas and theories in a popular science newspaper that was read by many. Those who read his articles said that he was crazy and that his machine would never run. So Rudolf Diesel designed and built a one cylinder motor to test his theory. This motor ran off of coal dust. His motor did start but the engine was made from cheap material and after it ran for several seconds with a loud noise it blew up in his face and it just about killed him. When he healed up from his wounds he still felt that his engine would work if it was made out of stronger material. So he went to a Cannon Maker named Fredrick A. Krupp and the two of them redesigned his engine with some stronger materials so that it could with stand all the pressures. The new motor ran on oil and it would start without a spark or a flame. The motor ran beautifully and Diesel began mass producing this engine in 1898. Before to long Diesel became a millionaire, but he only enjoyed his fortunes for 15 years. In 1913 he accidentally fell overboard from a passenger ship that was in the English Channel and his body was never found.
      His Diesel Engines did not come to an end. Engineers from many countries would develop better Diesel Engines from better materials with a more efficient design. But the theory that Rudolf Diesel started with on his first motor is still the same today as it was in the latter part of the 1800's.
      By the 1920's the Diesel Engine was light enough to be used in buses and trucks. Diesel Engines are also used in farm tractors, in road construction equipment, in train engines and also ships. Many of you people out there are driving both cars and trucks on highways everyday that run on Diesel Engines.
      Rudolf Diesel, what a guy, and we are all enjoying the fruits of his labors.