I have had a great time this week at the National Model Railroad Associations’ 2015 annual convention here in Portland! It’s been great to see friends from all over the US, and world for that matter.

On a special note, I was honored that they asked me to present a clinic, which I gladly did! The topic was “Time Table Train Order Operations made easy, for guests“.  About fifty attended and nobody left early so I guess that is a sign of success.

For those that really know me, you know that I love to operate a model railroad and I have had some experience doing it. In fact, before my layout was put in storage several years ago, we ran regular operation sessions. It is so much fun to have folks with a passion for trains and model trains connect and move trains over the line.

My railroad, the Oregon Trunk line of the SP&S, is modeled in the late 1960’s. Back then, trains ran under the authority of time table and train orders. When the digital command control came along in the ’90’s, allowed us to begin running our trains in a realistic fashion. Combining that technical ability with our creative ability to model our layout after how real trains ran back in the 60’s, brought a whole new meaning of railroad operations. We  regularly wore ourselves out running the trains on our layout. 

Hundreds of us operated on the Oregon Trunk. It was a true joy to behold. And today, the joy stems from seeing longtime friends again, and making brand new friends while connecting over this great hobby of ours!