Hello Bill & All...
The madness began in 1957 with a clockwork freight set.
1959 I received my first electric train, a Sears/Marx 0-27
1969, I received the
"Greeting from the President"letter. The train was passed on to my 10 yr old nephew.
During the 70 & 80's life & responsibility intervened..
By the 90's the children were grown & time to get back
to trains.
I first acquired a couple of American Flyer S sets that needed
restoration, then the HO bug bit....
I played with the AF's & HO's til Hurricane Katrina hit Mississippi..
My Grand Nephew who lives in Biloxi, lost all his trains, so being
a good great uncle I gave him the HO's & American Flyers.
I did have an ulterior motive, I'd been getting interested in
Large Scale Trains & knew a good excuse to get some when it
occured.. With permission from SWMBO, I began purchasing
Large Scale Trains... 15+ locomotives, 80+ cars, 300 ft of track...
One day SWMBO said she thought N scale trains were cute, so I
got her a B-mann 4-4-0 & some passenger cars. I ended up buying
some N stuff for my self to play with when the weather was too nasty
to play with trains outside.
Within the past few days I acquired a Lionel 0-27 Blue Streak freight
set, making a full circle back to the beginning
All my trains are analog, no RC, DCC or any of the other systems.
I'm just another gandy dancer, kicked back, listening to the clickety
clack of the wheels as the train goes roundy round..
I'm about to retire and begin devoting some serious time to
"Playing With Trains". 
for not requesting a ticket to ride sooner... 