By Bruce Jahn

Author  Bio Growing up travelling the circus circuit and living in a "mobile" home, I didn't have the type of life one associates with being able to have a hobby.

Growing up travelling the circus circuit and living in a "mobile" home, I didn't have the type of life one associates with being able to have a hobby. Working my way through college as a test subject for a major pharmaceutical firm, I didn't seem to have the drive, or time for a hobby. As a young adult in Northern California, my time was spent with kid's sports and I became a regular at girl's competitive softball games and tennis matches.

It wasn't until in my middle '40's that my wife and I happened into a train store as a rest stop on the return trip from a professional conference. The Bachmann 2-4-2 set found it's way to the living room floor, and now 15 years, and 27 locomotives later, I seem to find myself consumed by model railroading.

Although I love riding on my 7 1/2" gauge, coal burning 4-4-0, and I try to find time with my small circle of G scale track in our front courtyard, most of my time is enjoyed with our club's module group, the BAGRS Short Line.

My passion seems to have slid into the area of animation and the fiddling I do with the many modules prove the fact that apparently, I prefer avoiding the KISS principle when possible. The banjo player in the rocking chair, the knee swinging, cigarette smoking county hillbilly, the smoking BBQ's and the magnet driven ATV running around the sand dune are but a few of the scenes that prove I don't run on the same path as others.

I rarely buy a piece of equipment without the thought of a razor saw or air- brush in its future. I generally prefer track power, but enjoy the remote control of my little live steamer as well as a few tiny battery powered "one offs" I've accumulated.

I am a believer that prototype trains are made up of cars of all shapes and sizes, hence I subscribe to the acceptance that mixing the various scales in our hobby is OK with me. I also have no problem running a couple big diesels pulling a string on hoppers on the same track as a Civil War era passenger train followed up by my Deusenberg rail bus with Mickey and Minnie in the rumble seat.

My favorite G scale train is my Pacific pulling the string of five heavy weights, but my little Birdwater and Raspberry (Bruce Bates) train runs a close second.

Although I truly enjoy my time creating and/or altering equipment, my greatest joy comes from watching wide-eyed children at the module setups. We've never passed up an opportunity to display at a children's hospital or street celebration, and watching the kids enjoy these big trains brings overwhelming joy to my heart.

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