Three months ago – I could have died…

It has been a while, more than three months actually since the last and in fact the only post so far in 2019. And so, there is a little bit of a need for a reboot on this blog, something I was thinking about as early as last spring, before things happened.

My last post was about the T-scale (1:450) layout I have been slowly building for the Central Model Railway and Historical Society Club and its second public show. About the time of the last post, I was planning how to get it ready for its third show last April. I missed the warning signals for a derail.

I had been seeing a doctor for being tired – nothing unusual there for those who know me. It is not like I have been known to not only burn the candle at both ends, but to also light it in the middle for good measure. But even for me I was tired. Four months of testing had suggested that I had some significant allergies. But we ran one more test. And that one came up with a result that sent me to a specialist. The specialist suggested another more definitive test, indicating that this was likely a false positive, maybe something relatively minor, but admitting that it could be more serious. So, a couple of weeks later, we ran the next test in the hospital.

It was supposed to take about an hour, and my wife settled down to wait for the results. Fifteen minutes later, the doctor was out, and simply said, “He needs surgery and we want a particular team of doctors to do the surgery, but they cannot do it until next Friday, so we are keeping him overnight to see if he can wait that long.”

A week later, I was checked into the hospital for open heart surgery. I hadn’t had a heart attack, but I was on my way to one, and it would have been a big one. The surgery led to a triple bypass, from which I have been recovering for the last three months.

While recovering, I have had a lot of time to think and to look at my priorities. I love model railroading, but it has always been something that has been something that I would immerse myself in later in my life. After this experience, I no longer am willing to wait for the perfect space, for the rest of my life to fall into place, or to let current uncertainties prevent me from enjoying my hobby. I want to do more than the limited things I have done for other clubs or projects. I want to build parts of my own railroad empire, even if those visions may not come to fruition as planned. Finally, I also recognize that model railroading is a major stress reliever for me, and that I need to prioritize that more in my life going forward as I recover from surgery.

So, what does this mean for the blog? Well, I hope that it means a new life for it. I plan on revamping it a bit. I am going to shift some of the posts on the T-layout to a separate blog for the club, and I am going to continue that layout. I am going to continue a number of the projects I started last year and to pursue my Master Model Railroader certificate with the NMRA. But I am also going to try to publish more regularly on this blog, and in other venues about my planned railroad. Three months of recovery has given me some time to think about and plan a layout. So, that is where I will begin the story, with the development of the plan. 

I don’t know if it is what I will build, or when it might be complete. But I have decided that there are plenty of tasks I can start doing to build parts of it. And rather than waiting to know that the final product can be built as I plan on building it, I am going to simply imagine the final product, and build while I await the other parts necessary for the layout to fall into place. In the meantime, I will enjoy the journey. So, all aboard for the journey. We are going Thru the Rockies…Not Around Them In 1:160.

All Aboard!

Cameron Turner