I have been a member for two years but have limited my participation to a few months per year due to other activities. Without saying, this year has been an anomaly. OGR has been a respite from the madness and I am indebted to the staff and our members here. THANK YOU!
I'm glad you resurrected this thread Marty, I somehow missed it before. Excellent points made by all, and it's been a wild ride. I'm somewhat of a "Johnny come lately", having been here about ten years, but they've been very good years. 
I'm really missing the personal contacts from "way back then" when there were train shows, but seeing friends old and new here helps fill the void.
Thanks Marty
You said it well ! I agree 100%
Thanks Marty for putting this up!
Its is people like you and many others here that make this a joy to visit and see what is going on and to get HELP! LOL I have been here just over 8 years now and when I came here I knew nothing about model trains just they went round and round. Boy was I wrong! Thanks to this forum and many of the members here I have learned so much, more then I ever knew went into the hobby. The funny thing with all the great people here nobody told me about the large amount of $$$$$ it takes.LOL
I really love this forum and the folks here that run it, all the wonderful advertisers, the post from which I learn from, But most of all the friendships I have built here.
Thanks again Alan and Marty for bring this to the front again!
Well said, Marty. 
Thanks for bumping this one, Marty.
There’s no question that 2020 will go down in history as a lousy year. The China Virus, riots in many cities, political games being played on both sides to the detriment of all of us, and the final insult...Jim Barrett’s passing. Yet with all of that, this forum soldiers on, with new and interesting posts every day.
I’ve said this before, and it bears repeating: this forum enjoys the fellowship of a truly great group of people! And make no mistake...it is YOU FOLKS who make this forum such a great place to be. Alan, I, and a few other moderators have to do a little “housecleaning” once in a while, but that’s a small price to pay for enjoying the company of such a great group of folks.
Many thanks to all of you, and Happy Thanksgiving.
Thanks for the reminder, Marty. This forum is as much a part of my day as going to the train room is. Most of my train room is the result of knowledge taken from the forum and applied there. I feel like I have a personal relationship with many members and all the staff, even though never having met them. My thanks to them all. The best way to really say thanks to OGR is to put one of those blue banners up next to your name. Let's get to it.
Everyone above me has said it all, this is the most fun place to be when time allows. There’s so many great folks here, so much knowledge, so much creativity, so much of simply everything related to our train hobby. Thank you Martye for bringing back this fun to read thread and thank you Rich Melvin for all of the hard work and years of service to this hobby, you are truly a leader and ambassador of the hobby, and to everyone at OGR for their time and contributions, you all are Amazing. Happy Thanksgiving Everyone, we are truly blessed.
Well if nothing else, I'm bumping this thread again to thank the OGR Forum staff, sponsors, and especially the members for making this the Best Place on the Web to talk toy trains. I think we can take for granted the shear number of participants here and the number of threads and replies a day that get posted. I can only imagine what a huge task it is to keep everything running smoothly.
This forum has the ears of the manufacturer's and retailers. They actively participate and are a big part of what makes the forum chug, chug, chug along.
A lot has been written in the posts before this. I encourage you to go back and read them. I also encourage you to support the forum either through a subscription, being a supporting member, buying from the sponsors, or just letting folks know about it.
As we are hopefully coming out of a rough 2 years, trains and the OGR forum family has been a big help in passing the time. Again thanks to all!
Well said Marty. Thanks for all your contributions to the forum over the years.
I've been a member since 2004. That says it all. Great place. Mark
i've been a member for about a year and a half, i've learned alot by asking questions and reading the posts and from the incredible photos by all the members. thanks to all
Well said, Marty.
(And, you're one of the good guys here)
Well said!
Peter
Marty well said!
This forum is the best , i call this my peaceful happy place.
Alex
My CAB2 was updated because of this forum after seeing your invitation on here a few years ago, @MartyE.
Thanks again!
@MartyE posted:Well if nothing else, I'm bumping this thread again to thank the OGR Forum staff, sponsors, and especially the members for making this the Best Place on the Web to talk toy trains.
Not just "toy" trains, but scale stuff as well. 😊
The interest in vintage 2 rail seems very strong here, with lots of very knowledgeable people. 👍
Mark in Oregon
@Captain John posted:Well said Marty. Thanks for all your contributions to the forum over the years.
@Larry Mullen posted:My CAB2 was updated because of this forum after seeing your invitation on here a few years ago, @MartyE.
Thanks again!
Thanks. The thing I like the best is there is no lack of willingness to help here from everyone. The entire forum benefits from it's own membership.
Marty Thanks for the bump! we forget sometimes what we have here.
I checked and I just passed 15 years as a member! Even when I'm not active(no layout) I login to see what is going on and check out what the sponsors are doing always going to the sponsor sites from the banner. I think I can safely say without this forum I would have left the hobby once again as I did as a kid. It has kept my interest going through good times and tough times.
I am actually retiring on April 15th. Working on building my crappy basement layout in my 107 year old house.
@MartyE, I couldn't agree more. Recently a bunch of us have been talking about gearbox issues on Lionel's K4 engines, and that it also seems there are others in that mix as well. H10's and Mikado's and probably also Pacific's. The gearbox seems to have play on the gears inside and will eventually lead to a messy end.
If I wasn't following one of those that I follow, this would have been noticed by me quite a while later, and probably would have been a major fix when that later would come. I plan on sending out my H10 along with one of the newest Pacific's to have it get looked at. The H10 will definitely need the fix as the gearbox is in the fail category since it is the old K-Line design like the K4'S.
This all has to do with these particular engines being of the old K-Line variety and a modified gearbox which allows slippage on the gears and such. Some models may be affected more than others depending on a lot of factors, mainly how much they turn on their perspective layouts as well as usage. Hopefully when mine gets down to where it is going, further assessments and updates will be noted and solutions put in place.
God I love this forum.
