When I was 7 or 8 years old (Yes, they had electricity way back then) my father set up a circle of tracks and an American Flyer electric train set around our Christmas Tree.
I was (and have been since) fascinated by model trains, and it has long been a dream of mine to set up a realistic model train layout.
On September 20th 2011, about 2 months before my 69th birthday, I decided that I had waited long enough, and with the blessing of my fantastic wife I cleared a 14 X 9 foot area in my basement.
By October 10th the "train room" had been constructed so I went to Train World here in Brooklyn and purchased a load of track, a locomotive, a power supply and a bunch of other goodies and began to build. There's still a long way to go, but on December 29th I uploaded my first video to www.YouTube.com
The camera wasn't too good, so I got a High-Def Video recorder, and on January 13th (about 3 months after I began) I shot my first video with the new recorder and uploaded it to YouTube.
It's in High Def, so maximize the screen and be sure the sound is on once it starts.
Click this link to go to my YouTube Page.
Click this link to see my most recent (September 20th 2012) YouTube Video which was uploaded on the one year anniversary of the day I started working on it.
It's no longer 14 X 9, it is now about 25 x 11, and I think I am done expanding (but I thought that in January, so who knows?) I hope you enjoy watching them as much as I have enjoyed making them.
I now have a total of 12 videos on my page (Paulietree1) at www.youtube.com One is about a replica I made of my store on McDonald Avenue. It is titled "Building Bonsai of Brooklyn in H.O. Scale."
Two others are about A)- An elevated N.Y.C. Subway line I added to my layout, and B)-About the station & platforms I built.
The "F" Train runs from Queens through Manhattan, into Brooklyn (underground for the first few miles) and then becomes an elevated line and runs right down McDonald Avenue, the location of my nursery. Once my store was there, the subway was the inevitable next step, so I couldn't help myself.
A recent video deals with the additions (An Amtrak Acela Express line, and enhancements to the boardwalk & beach including real water) to the layout, and the most recent video is a recap of the first year.