Two months ago I was invited to be the guest speaker for a group of operating engineers based in Massachusetts. Last evening was the designated meeting for my presentation. This group was founded some 20 years ago and at it's start, it was formed by engineers who built "live" steam engines as a hobby. This group has widely diversified and now includes a variety of interests with projects made from metals and various hardwoods. There are several current members who are actively involved with steam engines. The group numbers around 160.
The topic for the evening was model railroading as a hobby. I first asked the group for a show of hands for those who at one point in their life owned a model train. Virtually everyone raised their hands. I then asked how many had an operating layout now. About 1/3 of the attendees then raised their hands. I was very surprised by this response as I expected only a handful.
I offered a history of our hobby and of course most of the discussion was in regard to O-Gauge Model Railroading. Many thanks go to our good friend Alan Arnold who supplied photos of his fabulous layout. I thought this would be a good example of our hobby for a group of engineers because of Alan's BIG city and the many other custom-built aspects of his railroad. I also presented photos of my layout.
There were many questions and a substantial interest in our hobby. The audience could really relate to trains and my planned program of one hour went to an hour-and-a-half when the closing of the meeting place ended my presentation. This was a lot of fun for me personally as I really enjoy presenting our hobby at every opportunity. It was well worth the six hour round trip.
