Found this on a college student’s blog. Every year, the Chicago Museum of Science and Industry hold nights just for folks this age, kind of like a private party. His was an interesting reaction:
“Chatted for a while with the crazy old dude who does the signal electronics for the huge railroad set in the musem. It’s a representation of Chicago and Seattle with a mountain range in between. It’s pretty cool really. I probably would have been heavily into model trains if I had been born before computers were invented. That or HAM radio. This guy told us about how many relays were in there, and how they had to fudge the scale in certain places, and how the train has gone around enough times to add up to the actual distance from Chicago to Seattle. He probably would have kept talking all night if I had continued being interested. It was cool that this guy had found a way to take this hobby he was obviously so passionate about and turn it into a career. I love crazy old guys like that. I want to be one someday.”