My first train layout (at 5) was an oval with a single siding in HO... but my Dad had half a basement full of HO. By age 12, I had a decent-sized N layout with multiple reverse loop connections and an MRC transistor throttle.

Dad also had a pair of heavy steel file drawers full of MR and RMC magazines. I kept the mags, expanded my collection to nearly every print issue ever published and even replaced the entire collection once, until MR finally released the DVD set. I also have the White River NG&SLG set, and I'm still hoping that Carstens will release a RMC DVD set.

I haven't allowed myself to spend a lot of time with my trains since high school, given the demands of career and family, but I've come to realize that model railroading is an island of sanity in a crazy world and it's a lot better un-stress therapy than either shrinks or mood-altering substances. Some of my best friends are my MRR friends!

I credit my model railroading imagineering for my 30+ year success in embedded computing and the Internet of Things, because what is a better example of "systems of systems including humans" than the many railroads that helped build this great nation? If you think about it, too, the very concept of model trains as miniature representations of real things and systems taught me some very deep concepts that today are the core of "object oriented programming" (OOP) in real life.

I do a little bit every single day, and my dreams and happiness sustain me for the rest of each 24x7.

Although my Dad was set (stuck?) in the MoPac "transition era" that he grew up with, my interests are more eclectic. Currently I have some Ow5 traction, freelance Sn3 and 3/8"n20. Although the traction is Roaring Twenties, most of my active modeling is pre-1900.