The good news is I pretty much have the critical, non-railroad distractions behind me now, having just completed several rounds of cancer surgery and treatment over the past year. Not a day too soon from my perspective, as with this and the seemingly never-ending pandemic, growing inflation, domestic political disfunction and international geopolitical tensions in eastern Europe and central and east Asia drives one towards hobbies, drink (or both) in a vain attempt to maintain one’s sanity.
Losing myself in my basement train room is as good a tonic as
any, where life’s problems can be left at the doorstep, and where everything in
my HO scale world “just works” and I’m back to the simplicity of youth (or is
it blissful ignorance?). Either way, I can escape bedeviling problems like
unreasonable clients, demanding bosses, bills, taxes, leaking plumbing and
other seemingly unsurmountable problems in life by immersing myself in DM&M
territory. Downstairs… it is always early Autumn in mid-Michigan, and CP and
Amtrak trains are on the move.
As I revert this blog back “on-topic” and document the
continued journey of construction and operation of the Detroit, Mackinac and Marquette
Railroad’s Saginaw Sub to refresh everyone’s recollection and to ground any
newcomers to this blog below are the key foundational posts that outline my layout theme. If you haven’t yet read through the opening chapters and history of my proto-freelanced HO scale railroad I recommend you reach back to the above links and catch up. If anything, it will allow the reader to better understand the reasons and rationale behind this alternate world I’m creating in miniature.
A
great east-west route through Michigan
In my next blog post I’ll expand a bit more on the
operations and design of the DM&M - for 1:87 scale construction details consider visiting my model railroading blog at Model Railroad Hobbyist magazine. There I am blogging the actual building and modeling journey in more detail, whereas this site will focus more on the freelanced prototype, as if the DM&M was an actual operating railroad in the real world. (Well, it is - at least in my mind. Otherwise, why would we all bother with all this enjoyable fantasy, anyway?)
