Is a collection a hobby?
As a child I did not own a model railroad, but I have many memories of playing with them. My brother received one for Christmas, probably about 1958 and all four of us boys spent hours setting up and running his train. Somewhere along the way my Dad brought out his 1935 Marx Commodore Vanderbilt train set, which added to our train set-up.

Like most childhood toys we all grew up and left them behind. At some point Dad’s train found its way to our home as a display piece. It is a great piece with strong evidence that it has been played with, but without any horrible damage. I began this page by saying that I did not need a new hobby at the age of 66, but I have become interested in cleaning up the motor on the locomotive and making sure it worked.

This led to finding a box of “train stuff” in a collectors/antique store in Clear Lake, IA. Near the top of the box was a transformer, which I did not have for the Commodore Vanderbilt. From that find and Dad’s original train, a new interest began. It will take great restraint to manage this interest to prevent it from becoming an unmanageable hobby!