What a hobby!

Well said Mike, and it is one of the friendliest hobbies I've known. This forum is proof of that.

TJ

Nice thoughts, as we are laying in bed thinking about the hurrican that will hit us in a few hours. I'm wondering if my trains are going to be safe. Trains have been my life and comfert all my life. Don

Mike, I totally agree with you. 

In addition to the fact that our hobby is so multi-faceted, people can be engaged in at many different levels and simultaneously make a great connection with each other.

Here is a classic example. An adult can be involved at a very advanced level and be with his very young child, maybe an infant, who is just playing choo choo. The two of them can make a strong connection or bond with each other because they are together with the trains and layout, and be fully engaged in what they are doing, which may be very different things. In other words, the adult is not just pretending that he is engrossed in what he/she is doing with the trains or layout; he/she is genuinely engrossed. At the same time and place, the child can be mesmerized doing the simplest child like train activity.

One of the most moving examples of this was an article in a leading toy ltrain magazine (it could be OGR) about Neil young and his son with a disability (it might be cerebral palsy). The article shows the boy having a great time running trains in the train building on Neil's property, and the scenery on Neil's enormous layout includes redwood tree stumps that were used to make O Scale mountains. I don't know very much about Neil's model train skills, but my guess is that he is an advanced model railroader. Everyone knows that Neil Young is a prolific songwriter, and a very creative guy.

Arnold

@Mike Wyatt posted:

It occurred to me that  we are VERY lucky to have this great hobby.   Where else can you find a hobby involving  art, mechanics, electronics and electronics AND "just running trains" as the paint dries??  I have never had so much fun!!

Well said Mike, and if I may, add "Track and Layout planning" to the wide range of cool activities in this hobby!  -Ken

Plus there may also be a history lesson or two when you are researching a prototype.

After I received my MTH F-3's FEC 20 years ago, I went out and bought a copy of "Speedway to Sunshine". It was very interesting reading about the Florida East Coast history.

@Arnold D. Cribari posted:

Mike, I totally agree with you. 

In addition to the fact that our hobby is so multi-faceted, people can be engaged in at many different levels and simultaneously make a great connection with each other.

Here is a classic example. An adult can be involved at a very advanced level and be with his very young child, maybe an infant, who is just playing choo choo. The two of them can make a strong connection or bond with each other because they are together with the trains and layout, and be fully engaged in what they are doing, which may be very different things. In other words, the adult is not just pretending that he is engrossed in what he/she is doing with the trains or layout; he/she is genuinely engrossed. At the same time and place, the child can be mesmerized doing the simplest child like train activity.

One of the most moving examples of this was an article in a leading toy ltrain magazine (it could be OGR) about Neil young and his son with a disability (it might be cerebral palsy). The article shows the boy having a great time running trains in the train building on Neil's property, and the scenery on Neil's enormous layout includes redwood tree stumps that were used to make O Scale mountains. I don't know very much about Neil's model train skills, but my guess is that he is an advanced model railroader. Everyone knows that Neil Young is a prolific songwriter, and a very creative guy.

Arnold

The model RR video on YouTube with Neil Young and the young ones and the interaction was amazing.    What a personality and what character . 🙄

Sometimes you wonder if any place in the US is safe..hurricanes far west, east, and south, l've watched tornados go over me in Kansas, and Montgomery, Ala., and several clobbered west Dayton and western Ohio this year.  Calif. has forest fires, as did Durango and SW Colorado, musta been a flood somewhere. ..wonder how big a cyclone cellar l can build?  And all the hapless dinosaurs had to worry about was asteroids ....

Those dinosaurs, poor creatures, had no model trains. It's amazing that they survived as long as they did without them.

I agree with all of the above!  :-)

@Arnold D. Cribari posted:

Mike, I totally agree with you. 

........I dont know very much about Neil's model train skills, but my guess is that he is an advanced model railroader. Everyone knows that Neil Young is a prolific songwriter, and a very creative guy.

Arnold

Are you kidding? He would run circles around most techs here. TMCC sort of crawled out his music's custom digital equipment experience while he was part owner at Lionel.  If they don't make something he wants in life, he'd likely try to make his own is my impression.

That Ol Story Teller drives old cars for the character in them; come on..   Ten bucks says he's given a human name to at least one and slept at the bench too often 

I was a fan of both Lionel and Neil long before I saw him talking about Lionel & TMCC trains on tv.  I even saw him play solo with the "Tranz" equipment a couple of times, (but prefered the awsome acoustics and SILENT Detroit audience at Meadow Brook.. and the guy on the hill that took on the harp peices well enough Neil let him carry it for a few numbers )

All together it's one big grin for me. I'm not starstruck. I likely could have met him if I tried, my buddy used to walk the dog with him for a few years when in town. He also invited a girl I grew up with to sit and have a coffee with him after she proffessed being a fan and attempted a polite and fast "sorry to bother" exit.  

He makes me proud that I'm fan.