Trains were an escape from the real world back when I was a kid. I used to daydream about my favorite ‘real’ trains when I should have been paying attention at school. Later in life I had to balance building a career and raising children with my trains, making sure that I didn’t spend too much time or money on the hobby. I shared my hobby with my son by taking him with me to watch trains or to measure old train stations which I would then scratch build at home. I also had many other interests equally important to me and I had to balance these other diversions as well. For one, I liked to ride a bicycle competitively and my wife and I put much effort in contributing to the development of a community bike club. At the same time, I also belonged to a modular train club which I was forced to quit because I hated being indoors on a really nice weekend and would rather be out cycling with the club. All the while I had long range railroading projects that I could tackle a little at a time until the job was done.
Today, I am retired, so I have one less act to balance: work. I still enjoy my bicycling (good social and physical benefits), and I enjoy playing classical guitar, also photography, and I spend time dabbling in various computer programming projects. My wife and I also spend a lot of time hiking and exploring and spend evenings with friends and neighbors. All of these interests summed up equals (=) me. And, I wouldn’t be a ‘complete’ me if I didn’t have a long range railroading project on the bench.
-Ed