More good points and reflections made.
In the late 90s and early 2000s, the internet was coming along, but the train magazines and the plethora of train shops and their advertisements was where many of us found stuff. The magazines were pretty fat back then.
I recall this fledging forum, where in early 2000 or so, a nice gentleman offered to help me with my first-generation TIU. I couldn't figure it out and had posted for assistance. Back then, a forum member's hometown was listed in their avatar, and because he and I were only about 10 miles away from each other, I was able to bring my DCS over to his house. That location feature along with our names helped facilitate making friends and form local train get-togethers.
In retrospect, I'd hazard a guess that some of these hi-tech trains and their control systems would've never got off the ground without forums and the internet.
