Well there aren't a whole lot of us younger guys out there who can claim to be bit by the bug. My parents knew I had a thing for any type of vehicle from when I was very little (my first word was "car") so we used to take day trips to various RR's in the area. My dad used to drive me downtown every Sunday in his '71 Monte Carlo to watch the trains rolling in and out of the then-Chessie System yard and over the bridge to Kentucky. I was scared to death of locomotives and would not go near one, until I was about 5 or 6. The local RR club had sponsored a special passenger excursion pulled by N&W 611. Something clicked on that ride, and during the lunch stop I climbed right up into the cab by myself. Someone was giving a tour of the cab to a few railfans but I ignored them and sat on the engineer's seat. I remember the heat from when the fireman opened the butterflies to check his fire, but most of all I remember looking down that long streamlined boiler at the open tracks ahead. That did it for me then and there. A kind railfan took a picture of me up there in the cab and sent us the photos. Look, you can see it happening!
One of my favorite books had always been one on tourist RR's in the US that my dad bought me when I was really little. We had been going on family vacations in Europe for many years, but then five years ago when I was 14 I got to choose the vacation. I was allowed to visit one RR from that book, and I chose the C&TS because that's the one I had always dreamed of visiting. We became Friends riding from Chama to Antonito, and this has been my 4th year in the work sessions. The best thing was, I was the one who got my parents into the whole NG thing too, rather than the other way around! Our family membership is still in my name.
Last summer I rebuilt my layout on inspiration from the little Colorado trains, and just today I started adding a 3ft line. The layout has always been standard gauge but I operate it as NG as possible, and kitbash most of the rolling stock to have that look that we all love.
