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Well, like in many other cases, it was my dad, who had been a train nut all of his life. He used to spend his time helping a gate keeper tend to the gates at a grade crossing on the mainline from Breslau to Berlin rather than wasting his time at school, which earned him a sore backside from my grandfather. He started a Marklin HO layout in 1936, but was never able to finish it as Marklin ceased to manufacture trains (and toys in general) with the outbreak of WW II. In 1945, the family had to flee from their home, and the train set was not a thing to take along. My dad used to take me to the train station when I was a toddler. Steam was still king in those days and these trips spawned a life-long interest in me. At the age of 5, Santa brought a clock work train set for me, just a circle of track, a fantasy loco and a coach. It didn´t last long, but it was all my parents could afford those days. Most German people were still quite poor 15 years after the war had ended. At the age of 7, I graduated to my first "real" train set", a starter set made by Marklin, consisting of a 0-6-0, two tinplate coaches and an oval of track. Over the years, it grew into a humble and simple empire on a ping-pong table. I sold all of it in a frenzy, when my interest waned at the age of 16, but the bug was still in me, waiting to break out again - which it did nearly 30 years later, when after a long period of armchairing, I started to build a layout again. My current layout, a tiny 3 by 5 ft. affair based on a railroad in the Swiss Alps, will be my last layout. Due to ill health, I am no longer able to handle small things and having to give up a hobby, which has been a life-long companion, is tearing my heart out.
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