The Beginning-Final Chapter

The model trains were ignored during my teen years and it wasn't until I spotted a magazine at the newstand in 1976 that I my interest was re-ignited. I'm not sure if it was Railroad Model Craftsman or Model Railroader but I just remember being amazed at the level of artistry I saw in some of the photos of layouts as well as the new equipment that was becoming available. I was married by then and living in a small apartment so I was going to build a small layout that could be rolled under the bed. I never got much further than laying half of the track before we moved. We found a basement apartment that had enough room and I put up a 4'x8' up on a table but soon after laying the track, we once again moved and by then I had given up trying and lost interest. It would be another 15 years later and after my divorce that I once again found a magazine in the hobby shop and decided to use my spare time to build a layout. I never did build it but over all those years I remained an armchair modeler. I continued to subscribe to modeling magazines, read books and also started observing and occasionally photographing trains. I accumulated some items that I hoped would eventually end up on a layout . The photo above is one kit of a handcar shed that I painted and built several years ago. That is basically the story. In my next posting I will try to explain why it has taken over 11 years to finally get started since I bought the cabinets to go under where I eventually planned to build.