Team Member Corner: Tiny Trains, Big Impact: A Closer Look at a Meaningful Hobby

Hi! My name is Jason Trezza. I’m a Senior Knowledge Manager on the US Army Training and Doctrine contract team supporting the Office of the Chief Knowledge Officer (OCKO) at Fort Eustis, VA. I’ve been with AMSG for 13 months and thoroughly enjoy working for AMSG and the TRADOC team. This is one of the best teams I’ve worked with and by far the best company I’ve worked for in sixteen years of being a defense contractor. I am an Army veteran, serving 8.5 years active duty and 2.5 years Army Reserve as a Signals Intelligence Analyst, having supported Operation Iraqi Freedom in its entirety, as well as intelligence support to EUCOM/AFRICOM/CENTCOM area of operations. I deployed to Ramadi, Iraq in 2008 as part of a Joint Task Force with US Joint Forces Command.

I’ve been married to my awesome wife, Christine, for 23 years (in June). We live in New Kent, Virginia and have two sons. Our oldest, Camden, is an Eagle Scout working on his associate’s degree at Rappahannock Community College and is looking to transfer to Virginia Commonwealth University in January and study video production. My youngest, Mathieu, is also an Eagle Scout, and a senior at New Kent High School, graduating on June 5^th. He has enlisted in the US Navy and will be going to Nuclear School after boot camp. He’s excited for an elite opportunity in the Navy and is looking forward to every minute of it, as he’s currently in the delayed entry program and ships out in August. To celebrate his achievements, Mathieu and I are taking a father-son trip to Acadia National Park in Maine, in June, for a week of exploration and quality bonding time. We are also animal lovers and have three cats (Orange Juice, Roxxy, and Wednesday) and our rat terrier dog, Luna.

When I’m not working or in full dad-mode, I volunteer my time as a Merit Badge Counselor for Boy Scouts, Troop 562, and as a reserve assistant scout master and Eagle Scout counselor. I’ve been involved in scouting for fourteen years and it is the most rewarding experience since having served in the Army. For fun, I enjoy camping, hiking, backpacking, fishing, surfing, and traveling, but my hobby is scale modeling.

Like so many during the COVID pandemic, I took up a new hobby and it has taken on a life of its own. I started with 1:87 (HO) scale train models, but my attention was mostly on the train layout design. I’m taking an unconventional approach, modeling scenes from my home state of Maine and designing the train layout around it, in the steam and diesel eras. I love the attention to detail with plastic kits, weathering and modifying (kit bashing) and creating my own buildings. I’ve taken to creating my own Christmas-themed rolling stock and expanded into trying out new methods for Halloween themed trains. I’m also a history buff, so it’s been fun learning about the railroad industry in the U.S., particularly in Maine, with its strong logistics connections to Canadian Pacific for lumber imports, and how Maine has become the link from the Canadian Pacific to the Atlantic Ocean, with the merger of the Maine Central, CSX, and Pan Am Railways. I know it’s nerdy but I’ve come to really love it as I build up my workshop. It’s been a great help with my PTSD. I never thought I’d become a train nerd but it’s happened and there’s no turning back. Thank you AMSG for the awesome hobby program! It’s helped take my skills to a new level and thanks for giving me the opportunity to share.

Written by: Jason Trezza