Getting Started... again.

It has been just over three months since I packed up my bags in Virginia and moved to Ohio where my then Fiancee was waiting for me to start our new life together. The prior weekend, I had run my last train at the Chesapeake Bay & Western Model Railroad Club (pictured above), of which I was proud to have been a member during my time in Hampton Roads. That night, I began to pack away my hopper fleet, the last of my models to box up. A week after my move, my new wife an I were off to NYC for a honeymoon. Needless to say, modeling and trains were far from my mind (minus the NYC subway system, but I digress).

When we returned to Ohio, the Christmas season was coming, and with it, many local open houses. Knowing my love for trains, my wife asked if I would be interested in an open house at local train club housed in an old depot. I said yes, though honestly, I did not expect much. I have been to many museums and restored depots where the model railroad is mostly an afterthought to entertain the kids too young to fully appreciate the history surrounding them. But the Cuyahoga Valley & West Shore Model Railroad Club was something very different. I've read many accounts of modelers who sheepishly claim to have stuffed a 10 ton model railroad into a 5 ton room, but the CV&WS has done so in 5 ton restored NYC Depot. To be fair, the east waiting room of the depot houses an O scale layout that is conservatively built for the room in which it sits, as is a small N scale layout house in the half of the main waiting room.

The freight room and other half of the main waiting room however have a about as much HO scale layout as could be squeezed in them. To complete a full circuit of the double-decked layout actually entails you traversing up and down the same helix. To maintain the historical depots original shape, a pair of duck-under and narrow aisles make the layout feel quite tight. However, there are numerous towns and industries, and options for switching and operating abound. However, most of them are butted up right next to each other, with few scenic-ed areas for extended runs. Surprisingly, I met someone at the club with whom I shared a mutual friend back in Virginia. I decided to come back to there first business meeting the following Thursday and signed up to be a member.

Fate or something intervened the following weekend as I attended my first operating session at the club. A good time was had by all, and I did more switching than I had done during most of my time at the CB&W, although the reasons for that could be the subject of another blog. That night however, I suffered two seizures, my first since graduating college over three years prior. It would seem that I had missed my medication that day. For those not familiar with seizures, especially those that start when you are an adult, you are basically put on medication and told not to drive until you are seizure free for a period of time (per the local state law).

Since then I have made it out to the CV&WS for only one run session. It was good to add some Western Maryland layout, and I received several comments that they did not have often have WM representation around the club. February came and with it their bi-monthly business meeting and my "second reading" where prospective members are offered the opportunity to become full members (if they show up). I was hesitant about joining given my travel limitations, but Ron, with whom I had had made a connection via our mutual friend convinced me to stay.

I am hoping this will be a good outlet for my hobby interests, and allow my models to see some daylight now and again. Hopefully I can weather some before they get boxed back up. So far, just my Intermountain F7B #408 has gotten that treatment recently, but I also have a few buildings on the "workbench".

For those who know me, and especially those who don't, this may be a strange way to start off a blog. However, I do not think that you can separate your personal life from your hobbies. With that in mind, I may delve into the personal issues keeping me from the hobby or pushing my love forward. Hobbies are personal things/releases for us as humans, and I believe we need to maintain that idea as we build our "basement empires".

I hope to use this blog to record my progress with several ongoing projects related to the WM's New Line, including a module of Rockwood (station). I feel like I know a lot about this hobby, but there is always a lot more to learn and be inspired by. I have had several Facebook groups, private layout websites, and blogs inspire me on my journey to this point. Hopefully, if you are reading this sometime in the future, you have been drawn in by the various posts I have written about my progress. Just remember to pass on that inspiration to others, just as I hope to do here...