I have always had a fascination with trains, clear back to when I was a child.  But then, what kid didn't like trains.  However, the town I grew up in did not have a train.

I grew up in Salmon, Idaho and there was no railroad going to or near Salmon.  The nearest train was probably 90 miles away.  Much to my dismay, I learned there once was a train that ran to Salmon, but alas, it was abandoned in 1940, a full 6 years before I was born.

During my elementary school years, there were some newcomers to Salmon that thought we did have trains.  A friend of mine lived across the street from the school, and he had an old Seaburg jukebox.  Every day after school at 4pm, Allen and I would put on a record of train sounds that lasted about 10 minutes, and play it at full volume from his back porch.  My mother told me once that a lady she knew had asked where the train station was, because she KNEW the train came in every afternoon at 4.  She had heard it!

I did, of course, have a train of my own by then.  At about age 9, I became the proud owner of a Lionel Scout.

Over the years I completely wore out the engine, and the transformer became the basis of many electrical experiments throughout my younger years, until, it too, gave up the ghost.  But, thanks to E-bay, I have been able to restore the Lionel Scout to its original condition, with exactly the same model engine and transformer I had as a kid.  One of these days I will set it up permanently so I can once more enjoy the childlike joy of being my own engineer.

And so we pass it along to the next generation.  Aaron, my step son, has recently taken a liking to trains as well.

This past Christmas (2006) we got him a basic HO set.  In the past month we have been adding a few items, and while it is no where close to being completed, he is enjoying working with it.

There are many reasons this is a wonderful thing.  Aaron, adopted at age 3, was found to have learning disabilities connected with prenatal brain damage due to his birth mother's alcoholism and drug use.  Aaron is now 22, and has, with constant guidance, exceeded any early expectations for his ability to cope with the world.  While still functioning as though he was in his early teens, I am proud of his efforts with the train as a hobby.

 We work together on a lot of it, but he is learning a lot and has some ideas for building up the rather basic layout we now have into something he will deservingly be proud of.

It may never take on the full detail that some serious RailRoaders achieve, but it wil soon be moving beyond being just a toy train.

As it grows, I will continue to add more here for all to see.