I have loved trains for my whole life. My first train was a wooden set that had tracks which snapped together. So even as a child, I was building train layouts.

I didn’t start with model trains until later in my adult life, about the time I was 30 years old. When I was 50, we moved 1300 miles to a much smaller house so all of the model train stuff got packed up and, unfortunately, stayed packed up for about 12 years, except for Christmas 2015 and 2016 when I set up my ON30 Christmas train and village. In October 2025 I set up my ON30 Christmas train again to run on a small double loop around my Christmas village. That was when I realized how much I missed the hobby and decided it was time for me to get back into it again.

I model in HO scale, modern era with a theme based on reality. My primary focus is the Duluth, Messabi & Iron Range Railway, Duluth Ore Docks and the Edmond Fitzgerald. However, the layout is my version, based mostly on space, and is not meant to be a realistic or an accurate representation of Duluth or the ore dock area. I have always been, I can’t say “fascinated” because that doesn’t seem right for such a tragedy, but maybe “interested” or “intrigued” by the Edmund Fitzgerald. I found an HO Scale model of the ship and decided to build my railroad based on and around it. I also have an HO Scale model of the Whitefish Point Lighthouse.