Introduction

Welcome to MRN Express, an online supplement to Model Railroad News magazine! I'm Steven Goehring, MRN's Associate Editor, and I'll be writing this blog to expand on reviews and columns in the printed magazine. Model Railroad News, published by Lamplight Publishing, is a news and product review magazine for the hobby of model railroading, covering all scales in much greater detail than most of the rest of the hobby journalism world. As I start this, MRN's staff is preparing a new website with many different forms of online news and writing content. This MRN Express blog is my personal effort, on behalf of the magazine staff and with their blessing, to jump into the world of writing on the Web.

Now, let me introduce myself, for those of you who do not read MRN regularly. To summarize myself in a single sentence, I am a 20-year-old college student with an appreciation for American railroads, a liking of most things reminiscent of the '40s or '50s, and a fair amount of pent-up creativity. I write for Model Railroad News while also studying Information Technology, planning for a useful career in America's railroad industry, and enjoying life in my home state of Pennsylvania.

I don't want to ramble on too far, but I should post a clarification here, particularly for any employers who ever read this. Anyone with a model train blog must be a railfan, right? Wrong, and I offer myself as proof. Like a lot of little boys, I played with toy trains as a kid and loved them. That never really went away, but a more serious view slowly took hold as I grew up. That began with my aunt taking me for rides on SEPTA in and out of Philadelphia. My father has commuted by car into New Jersey for work every day, and I saw the traffic problems he faced. I wondered where the trains were in all this.

I reached a decision point in my mid teens when I was working at a hobby shop: I could choose to let it all go and become a just-for-fun railfan, or, I could moderate my interests to shape myself into a good candidate to do useful work for the railroad industry. I chose the latter course, and am glad I did. Railroads are a very important industry, and obsessed railfans do not make good job candidates. So now, you'll never find me by the tracks, watching trains, but you may find me volunteering around the Rockhill Trolley Museum, gaining experience I hope to put to work later for my own career, for the support of the railroads, and for the betterment of America's future.

And in the meantime, I'll be working on my model trains, which are by far the greatest creative outlet I know. I'll be writing about it here and in MRN, and I hope you read both and enjoy them.