When I was 9, my father, gave me a Lionel Milwaukee GP-7 train set consisting of a Baby Ruth box car, a NYC gondola, a tank car, and red caboose.  I still have the set and it still runs.  In the years that would pass, I constructed a 16 x 26 walk around layout in HO in the basement of a new home.  It operated flawlessly.  Then a change in employers had me traveling all over North America.  This left little time to be home or operate the layout.  The layout was dismantled and over two dozen locomotives and some 400 cars were packed up and stored.  But once a model railroader, always a model railroader and a number of craftsman kits were built in various parts of the United States then shipped home to someday be placed on a new and improved layout complete with DCC operation.  In the years of traveling I was fortunate enough to meet a number of great modelers, many who remain as friends today.  I also had the opportunity to see and even operate a number of excellent HO layouts. 

I favor the Western and Maryland Railway, which generations ago my ancestors held stock in this railroad, along with the Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad. 

I am a member of Railfan.net and a contributor to its Forums http://forums.railfan.net/