I started buying HO steam engines, rolling stock, track and all that stuff about 45 years ago, but it's still in boxes that I recently rescued from the attic.  I never had a place or the time to build a layout, so I consider myself to be a novice.

I actually worked for ConRail back in 1976, but I didn't stay.  I ended up working at a coal-fired power plant in SE Michigan for 18 years before being forced into retirement at age 50 with ventricular tachycardia that I contracted from a deer tick bite; Lyme disease. 

Then I had time to play, but I got involved in local politics. 

Word to the wise:  Political activity is a lot like hitting yourself in the head with a hammer...it feels so-o-o good when you stop.

I plan to model the power plant where I worked and a random coal mine in West Virginia.

If successful with either of these projects, I want to model yard a hump and classification yard.

I want to try using a 3-D printer to make the walls, dumper building, thaw shed, screen house, locomotive house, etc.

I've got a ton of pictures, so I hope I can design this stuff.  

Hmmm...Old Man, so we'll see if I can learn new stuff.

Any suggestions (on the 3-D projects)?