Never had a blog but now seems just as good a time as any to start one. I think that I never really had a good subject to write on but chronicling the creation of my first layout seems like a good place to start.
When I was in high school my parent moved to Japan and I went from a suburban neighborhood to living in an apartment in Tokyo. I had always looked forward to November which is when my dad and I would pull out the boxes of train parts to set up a layout for Christmas. Each year the boxes seemed to grow with more and more stuff but they couldn't make the trip with us to Japan. That is where I discovered Marklin Z. I purchased a basic starter kit and amazingly it fit on the register that was under my window in my room. I was hooked.
While in Japan I collected a few more cars and the T1+T2+T3 and E expansion sets. I even brought some of them along to college and set them up during Christmas. The real excitement came later when I discovered eBay. Years had passed between college and that moment and I had all but forgotten about my trains. After a friend had showed the eBay to me I had fun poking around at all the vast diversity of items available. That is when it hit me and I quickly did a search on Marklin. I was astounded at the listings, over 100 items!
Over the next several years I purchased items here and there and stashed them away in my basement. The trouble began when my wife found the collection. I was surprised and a little embarressed at how large it had grown. And thus I was given and ultimatum, do something with them or get rid of them!
It has been nearly two years since that statement and I have finally begun to create. Where it will lead, only time will tell . . .