Hi,
I joined the forum last night after visiting for a period of time. I live in Upper Michigan, and I am a Letourneau loader mechanic in the iron mines here. (I've read about the problems with the reliability of some of the new trains, and the same thing goes for 7 million dollar front end loaders! Unreal.) I'm married, 39 years old, and we just had our first child. Although my brother has been into Lionel since childhood, I just got interested last year. I wanted a post war set for our christmas tree, and it snowballed in a big way after that. I've amassed a decent collection in the past year, and the bug is still going strong. My other interests include Tesla coiling, history, putzing in my garage machine shop, etc. Wife permitting, I hope to build a layout in the future, and am hoping that my son will share the enthusiasm. Understandably, none of my interests have been "cheap", but I don't buy snowmobiles , Harleys and sports cars either. If anyone is in the Marquette-Negaunee area of the UP, please let me know on the forum. I'd be interesting in meeting up.
John Richardson