Throughout the years, I have a series of hobbies, or perhaps merely interests.  When I was a teenager, I was really into modeling cars, planes and especially ships.  I probably produced another model (plastic of course) weekly.  They were on window sills, on the TV, everywhere through the house.  They are now gone – victims of age.  Plastic glue doesn’t always last forever.  I tried collecting coins.  I had a penny collection.  I still collect, but not avidly.  I usually pick up coins in whatever country I am visiting.  I raised tropical fish.  Many aquariums were purchased and filled.  I mounted 40-gallon aquariums in the wall.  I raised fire-mouth cichlids, Lake Nyasa Cichlids, Barbs of various varieties.  Tetras, Killies, Many varieties of Catfish, Mollies, Platys. Danios, Gouramis, even Guppies and Goldfish.  I no longer have an aquarium, although I am considering getting back into the hobby.  Probably the silliest collection was miniature liquor bottles.  Now I don’t drink, but I flew on airlines every week for two years.  The stewards would collect the bottles during a flight, bag them and give them to me.  I ended up with over 250 varieties.  I then placed colored water in them to look like full bottles.  I had them on window sills.  I even bought some exotic bottles – porcelain and even burlap.  Strange collection for a non-drinker.  Eventually I have them to my sister who passed them on to her son.  I also collected music CD’s, especially Celtic music.  I collect books, especially coffee-table books, books on history, religious books and fantasy.  Today, my hobby is railroading.  I collect books on railroad history, have published articles about railroads, and when I can, I love to ride trains.  I especially liked riding trains in the British Isles.  An aspect of this is my interest in model railroading.  I started this at age 12 when I received my first Atlas train set for Christmas.  Over the years, I have had several layouts, both in N-Scale and HO-Scale.  I really love to build models of buildings.  I find great pleasure in customizing kits, adding details to houses and business building.  I like railroad car and locomotive kits.  Actually I find the building of the layout, the design and construction more exciting than actual operation.  The best thing is that a layout is never finished.  There are always improvements.  The hobby continually changes in technology and new companies are always emerging.