First, let me warn you that this is a long post!! Today I got to slow down a little. No overtime at work, no computer problems, no schedule. This hobby has sure changed for me.
I began running trains on Christmas 1975, I think. My Dad gave me a starter set that year, and then when we went to my Grandparent’s house, we picked up his old scout set. Later a friend loaned us his train stuff, so I had a major empire going. A sad thing later happened, about 5 years later, when the friend wanted his train stuff back. Dad then took me to the only real train store around here, and I bought my first diesel engine. Dad then set up some plywood in the basement, and bought some camoflauge material, put wadded up newspaper under it for mountains, built a tunnel, and stapled it all down. I was in heaven!
Later, Dad fixed up the big room in the basement, and built a table of 3 four by eight sheets of plywood. Huge (bigger than I have now)!! Lot’s of trains running on O-27 used track, all of them of the starter set variety. Scenery was becoming more and more important to me, but girls were becoming more important!
Fast-forward to about 5 years ago. I now have a wife, good job, and some extra money. First I started buying all the MPC Lionel I had dreamed about as a kid. Second, I started working on making realistic scenery. From there we bought a house, finished the basement, and the current layout began. I pride myself on the scenery, although the layout is still “toy”. Almost all the scenery is done now, and trains run problem free.
Well, about 2 months ago, I started re-lettering and re-painting rolling stock. I got lucky and found a couple old Williams kits, and some undecorated cars, and have been able to paint and re-letter to my favorite railroad.
Just when I think I have done about all I can do, I find something else that interests me. My layout is small, but I think I can add an On-30 line somewhere, just to finish the scene… I think that this hobby will always be here, as l