| WHO IS MOUNT VERNON SHOPS? |
| JOHN FRANTZ OWNER, DESIGNER, MAUNFACTURER |
| John, enjoying a brief moment in the cab of one of the steam engines on the Walt Disney World Railroad. |
- John was born in the late winter of 1984, and wasn't even a year old before he had his first train
trip. It was on a special excursion riding the Maryland Midland along the PRR's old Frederick
Branch. Although he can't remember, he rode behind N&W 611 when it was still under steam.
John does distinctly remembers when PRR K4s came to York, PA in August of 1988. He kicks
himself now when thinking about it, but the day his father had a chance to fire on a trip, he could
have been in the cab, but was deathly scared of a big, loud, noisy engine.
Since receiving his Eagle Scout award, graduating High School and completing a two-year
program at a local technical school with an Associates Degree in Architectural/Civil Drafting, he
worked for a period of four years in Baltimore, Maryland at Custom Model Railroads. John
currently does consulting for various enterprises on a part-time basis as well as graphic design
work too.
His favorite railroads encompass those that served York County, as well as a few others. They
would be the Pennsylvania Railroad, Western Maryland, Maryland & Pennsylvania, Reading, Penn
Central, Conrail, and the Baltimore & Ohio. He regularly attends operating sessions in Eastern
Pennsylvania and is a member of the Miniature Railroad Club of York and the NMRA. Also, John
belongs to the Pennsylvania Railroad Technical & Historical Society and The Conrail Historical
Society.
Although he currently has no layout of his own, when John has time, he runs on his fathers free-
lanced Northern Central/Frederick Branch layout in HO, the layout of the Railroad Club in York
(HO) and at the home of friends in the area. John enjoys modeling a picture and making the past
come alive on a layout, with accurate buildings and surroundings.
John hopes to introduce prototypically correct buildings and decals for the PRR and other roads,
that have yet to be produced otherwise. Merging into the market with the YORK tower kit he's
become known by doing "what hasn't been done before". He enjoys pushing the boundaries on
modeling and knows that through proper application of the old sciences combined with those of
new, something great can be achieved for future generations of modelers.
