Where do you all live?

[bogaziddy]

I notice that when I'm on this chat at night that I'm just about the only one on this board, meaning most everyone else has already gone to bed if they're from the Midwest or East.

I'm from Mount Shasta, California. I was wondering about where the frequent posters to this board are from. Are there many West Coasters on this board? What, I wonder, is the geographic distribution of this board's frequent participants?

I wonder too If the colder climes are more conducive to interest in the toy and scale model train hobby ( an indoor hobby ). How many of you maintain your interest in this hobby throughout the Summer months?

[dougdagrump]

Sunny San Diego [:D] [^]

[TurboOne]

John, I am also in Sunny San Diego, although this just issued a flood watch here.

Not even raining or cloudy. Hmmmmmmmm

Tim

[Dr.Fu-Manchu]

The Evil Doctor Is In !!! I live in Alameda, Ca. (where we used to keep nuclear wessles)
I am on line at night because due to congestive heart faiure, I nap during the day. Then I don't go to sleep till the late hrs.(go figure) Does that help you?
Till My Next Missive, I Remain The Humble, Yet Strangly Evil Doctor !!![}:)]

[willpick]

East coast of Florida.

[spankybird]

We are in NE Ohio, 15 miles east of Cleveland

[ben10ben]

Frankfort, Kentucky, about 60 miles east of Louisville, 30 miles west of Lexington.

[Buckeye Riveter]

Roger's Corners, Ohio
Elevation 936 ft

(Roger's Corners is located NE of Columbus, Ohio about 15 miles. It is not on any maps. Columbus is located dead center in the State of Ohio. Spankybird lives about 3 hours northeast of here, near the lake and he gets most of the snow.)

[brianel027]

Used to live in Ithaca where they still manufacture college students by the thousands at Cornell University and Ithaca College. Ithaca is a tad on the expensive side (with a lots of crime and drug activity too) to live in: currently 4 years at CU is $125,000 for tuition.

Moved to Corning (possibly biggest mistake I've ever made). Don't move here: there are NO jobs unless you have a masters degree in ceramic engineering, bio-tech engineering and chemistry. Then Corning Inc. will pay you to move here. We did make the national news a short time ago as being one of the 10 cheapest place in the entire US to buy a house.... lack of jobs could be contributing to that one.

On the upside, the Finger Lakes are beautiful with the parks and the views. Fall is wonderful with all the splendid color. Fishing and hunting are both good. Yeah, gets cold in winter, but makes you appreciate the spring! We haven't been short on water like other areas of the US, and there are still lots of trains rolling through here... saw a BNSF / Santa Fe / NS lash up last week.... wow!

[ChiefEagles]

Confederate Rebel North Carolina [that was for the Buckeyes] where there is eastern NC pork bar-be-que [vinegar based], sweet tea, yellow cole slaw [mustard in it] and grits. [:D] I live in Rolesville just north of Raleigh [the state Capital].

[Big_Boy_4005]

My profile says St Paul MN, but I actually live about 15 miles east of the city, about 2 miles from the Wisconsin line. Don't let my midwestern time zone fool you, I can and have posted at all hours of the day.

[laz 57]

MILLERSBURG, PENNSYLVANIA
25 miles north of Harrisburg,Pa.
laz57

[FJ and G]

Near Bull Run, and that ain't no bull!

[Anonymous]

Used to live out there in Newport Beach until I grew tired of the corporate world and started working for myself. At which time I moved back to Ohio and got my beloved dogs that I couldn't have in an apartment there. This also brought about my return to this hobby due to having space and some money to spend. Now I have a 30'x32' garage that is pretty much empty and I finally started working on my benchwork last night :-)

[Anonymous]

I live out on the Canadian prairies in the small (pop. 1000) town of Langenburg, Saskatchewan.

As for your mention of toy trains being more popular in colder climates, I think that they're universally popular everywhere. However, one point in favor of that theory is that Canada has the most toy trains per capita in North America. What do we Canadians do during our long cold winters? We play with trains, eh!

We actually do get pretty warm summers here. I'm just as active in the hobby in the summer as in the winter. I don't have any school, so I've got a lot more free time and plus during the summer we go lot of places and so there's a lot of opportunities to buy trains. I've yet to go on a vacation and not come back with some trains.

[Anonymous]

Silver Spring, Maryland

Hey Chief: You ever been to Madison, NC? They have a place there called
Fuzzys BBQ, best I ever had anywhere!

[Anonymous]

I'm just east of the DC line in Prince George's Co. Maryland.

This is a terrific place to be a train nut. I can hear horns from my house as the CSX freights come down through Hyattsville/Bladensburg on the Alexandria Extension. My three year-old and I then have about 10-15 minutes to make the two minute drive to our "spotting spot" just before the bridge over Rte. 50/John Hanson Hwy.

We're also very close to the Riverdale, MD MARC station that sees a ton of commuter and freight traffic. There's a farmer's mkt. there in the warmer months so we often combine shopping and railfanning.

45 minutes to the B&O museum isn't bad either!

The closest place, of course, is the basement with his Thomas layout!

Best,
Jeff

[FJ and G]

Sask,

They toy trains are probably more popular in cold climates for several reasons, not the least of which is more basement space. For some strange unknown reason, basements are not built in much of the southland.

Also, names like NYC, PRR and UP, names that are very popular, were the stuff of most PW trains, thus the popularity.

[Anonymous]

Mwether, actually I am in Beltsville, most people have heard of SS.
We can watch all the trains going through Sunnyside to Laurel when I have time.
Other times we just have to wait on the rains to pass through to get across
the tracks.

[railfanespee4449]

huxley. (i'm moving soon to Ames, though)

[cnw1995]

In an sprawling suburb of 36,000 about 45 miles from Chicago. Yes, there is a real 'Crystal Lake' here too... formed by a long-ago glacier.

[4kitties]

Baltimore, within earshot of but not nearly close enough to the Northeast Corridor mainline. [:D]

Joel

[johnsgg1]

Springfield, VA, just outside the DC Beltway and I-95. (at least as long as I'm stationed at the Pentagon)

[Anonymous]

Eastern Cincinnati, Ohio...I may live here but my roots are in Eastern, Kentucky! (Natural Bridge)

[1688torpedo]

I live in Willoughby,Oh. 15 Mi N.E. of Cleveland and Tom (Spankybird) lives one Block south of me..................Keith

[jimhaleyscomet]

Houston, TX (actually just outside of Sugar Land which is just SW of Houston).

I have a BNSF rail that mainly has UP loco's on it. It is next to my neighborhood but I rarely hear the trains. I do however get to see them all the time when traveling Hwy 90. Once is a while we get to see an Army train (pulled by UP) or an Amtrack passenger. Once we saw a circus train. Those are always a treat.

Jim H

[andregg1]

I live far far away I think
I live in Ashdod, Israel 20 miles south Tel-Aviv.
WOW, this is an old post. And I found myself when I was living in Israel.
Now I live in Delray beach Florida.

[donl409]

san diego county (Vista - north of san diego city )

[Back2Trains]

I live in southeast Florida (West Palm Beach area). When we moved here from Michigan 3 years ago, I was amazed to see CSX running down the coast. I used to live in Plymouth, MI and CSX has a major north-south/east-west crossing in the middle of town. It can take you half an hour to get form one end of that little town to the other if CSX is in a bad mood! I even vaguely remember the Pere Marquettein the 1940s.

[CB_Fan]

Fairhope, Alabama on the Eastern Shore of Mobile Bay. We're home to the annual Fairhope model train show the third weekend in March during the annual Fairhope Arts & Crafts Festival when the streets of the town are filled with artisans showing and selling their wares (no cars allowed downtown that weekend).

The show, this will be our 13th, is sponsored by SWARM (South West Alabama Railroad Modelers), an all-scale club that happens to own a modular O-gauge layout (about 14 x 36 feet). The area also boasts BARR (Bay Area Rail Roaders) with their brand new modular O-gauge layout featuring TMCC operation and large locomotives.

An added attraction this year, for those who come, is the Dead Sea Scrolls Exhibit at Mobile's Gulf Coast Exploreum Science Museum -- see www.scrollsmobile.org for more information. This is the only exhibition of these original scroll fragments, etc. scheduled for the southeastern US. Especially for Alabama, one of the scrolls contains the 10 Commandments.

Come see us!