Era Modeling by Age Group?

[rgengineoiler]

I was born in 1943 in the Midwest and a neighbor of our's was an Engineer for the Rock Island.  My Dad was a Journalist and started a Great Western HO pike in the basement.  Our neighbor would have my Dad and I come down to the rail yard and show us all around the steam engines and explain them.  I was probably 7 or 8 at that time and do remember some F units siting there also.  As I got older and did my four years in the Air Force I decided to start a small layout.  It was HO and Steam.  After a few moves with my family and in a career I ended up on the front range of Colorado where I am today.  Retired with a small acreage and in the Black and Gold transition era of the Rio Grande located in a medium sized bedroom area of the house in N scale. 

I have been in N Scale over 35 years.  MY motive power is about half and half Steam and Diesel.  When Kato came out with the SD70Ace's painted for Rio Grande to pay tribute to the Rio Grande I just had to buy two of them.  I am all DCC with Digitrax system and have been stuck in scenery for several years now but I do love to do scenery in the hobby.  Being "rgengineoiler",  comes from watching our neighbor and the firemen walking around their steamer with large squirt oil cans before they left the Rock Island yard and my dad and I waived goodby until the next time.  The transition era time was something to live in for a very young boy.  I'll never forget the smells and sounds of that yard...   Doug,  AKA,  "rgengineoiler".

[cne_craig]

Born in 1955 and started my train interest in HO from those early teen years.  There was a significant dry spell from late high school till my late thirties, then the bug hit again and my focus became current day scaled in N.  A couple of layouts later modeling the Palmer MA area and another epiphany hit and I changed eras significantly to the 1890's modeling the Central New England and Western and I'm loving it.  The fact that N scale has little product for that era doesn't bother me and keeps my wallet happy.  I get to procrastinate on whether to attempt stub switches in N or stick to Unitrack.  Historical research became a significant portion of the hobby as my current layout gets buried under empty boxes that the wife constantly stores like acorns to squirrels (gotta get me some squirrel repellant.) 

So here is the Black Swan N scale modeler for your survey.  Still have tons of modern era (well, 1990's anyway) to liquidate but no hurry.

Cheers
Craig

[Rossford Yard]

It all seems pretty random, doesn't it?  Some retain memories as kids, others when they discover or rediscover their love of trains.  Thanks for the responses.

[R L Smith]

Late arrival...

Born in 1960, received my first train set for Christmas 1968 (an Arnold Rapido Union Pacific FA starter set) and have been in N ever since. Currently model the EL in 1970 in the Southern Tier with a secondary interest in the transition era (although, judging by my equipment roster, "secondary" might not be accurate...).


This has been an interesting thread!

Ron

[Bryn]

Born 1986, England

No family interest in railroads, but received a Intercity 125 Hornby set as a child. Around my early teens I traded in my OO scale collect to start again in N Scale.

From the late 90s modelled N Scale UK scenes of the post privatisation era. Around 2008 I made the move to 2mm Finescale (www.2mm.org.uk) and I'm currently modelling north Wales in the 1980s.

Last year a friend posted Blair Kooistra's video about the end of the Milwaukee Road and I was hooked! The atmosphere and locations of the prototype really have drawn me in and has started my new interest in N Scale Milw from the 1970s onward.

[Bruce Bird]

Born 1965 in Boulder, CO.  Grew up in statistically the flattest part of Illinois, 2 blocks from a crossing of 3 Class 1s and 60 trains a day.  The ICG and the MP had the most traffic but I favored the branchline uniqueness of the B&O/Chessie.  One day I heard this beautifully-sounding horn cranked way up, rode my bike the short distance to the tracks, and watched a Western Maryland F7 lead the daily westbound.  I was hooked.  Now the WM fills my basement. 


But I have a weakness for the D&RGW too.


Bruce

[Freight Train]

Born in 58 in Michigan City, Indiana and grew up in a hot bed of railroading. Just a couple of houses down the street was the NYC double track and saw the merger with Pennsy and the after effect of the Penn Central railroad and the pulling up of the second main line. Parallel to the PC was the Monon railroad. Adjacent to that was the Pullman standard plant where my great grandfather retired from. To the east I had Nickel Plate. To the south I had the South Shore & South Bend . Further south was the C&O/B&O line. In 1995 while living in Anaheim, Ca. I constructed a modern day layout with a Santa Fe theme and moved that layout here to Az in 2006. Layout fell out of flavor, reconfigured it and scaled back time. Model the Monon railroad and the area I grew up in Indiana. Guess I regressed back to childhood memories. Layout lasted until to 2014 . Now have a more smaller easy to manage N Scale layout but still run fallen flag roads. Can't seem to get the past out of my system. 😯

[draskouasshat]

1983- in Kansas city=
grew up around the santa fe and up(more santa fe)
ATSF/UP/Frisco/wabash/N&W railroaders in the family

Model ATSF/UP in cajon pass 1947. started with transition era and moved back as my steam modeling skills progressed after getting back into the hobby in 2005.

Drasko

[paultccrn]

"Barely in my 60's"for another 4 months.
Model Era: 1890-1910.
A freelance of West Michigan's Grand Rapids, Newaygo & Lakeshore Rwy, whose route eventually ended up as CSX 150 years latter.