I have been into model railroading since my early teens, but took a break for college.  Got back into it with an "innocent" wood reefer kit I bought when I was in graduate school earning my Ph.D. in Biophysics.  My interest is in prototype modeling with a focus on the C&O in the late 1940s before their steam and heavyweight passenger equipment started going away.  I am building a portion of the New River Subdivision centered on Thurmond, West Virginia.  I really enjoy researching the prototype to inform how I operate my railway and have been a longtime member of the C&O Historical Society and the NMRA.  My basement railway features all hand laid track and scratch built structures from actual C&O plans. There is a C&O accurate signaling system interfaced to a dedicated PC to help recreate the feeling of the traffic on the road in 1949.  I enjoy working in brass and wood and hope to develop enough of my skills to completely scratch build a steam locomotive.