Hello everyone

[sauced07]

I've been out of the hobby for about 10 plus years now. My wife and I just bought a house with a basement so I'm taking the plunge! I worked for various railroads for around 10 years doing everything from trackwork to locomotive engineer.

 

[montanan]

Welcome to the forum. Congrats on the new house, especially one with a basement. What scale are you interested in and what area of the country are you interested in modeling. We do have some very experienced people on the forum and former railroad workers we are learning a lot from.

If you have any questions at all, don't hesitate to ask. Glad to have you with us. Stop by the Coffee Shop and visit. Just a place to visit and shoot the breeze about anything (except politics).

 

[sauced07]

I modeled HO scale and plan to stick with that scale. I've been working on something plan wise in the back of my mind, a what if scenario. I used to model between Pittsfield and North Adams MA in a kind of protolance way. I recently poked around the old Housatonic and realized that the Housatonic actually ran that segment for a while in the 1800's. The what if part comes in when I wondered what it would have turned out like had the Housatonic kept running that segment into say the 60's or 70's. Then I wondered how things would have turned out had the Housatonic took over when the Rutland had their problems. That would have somewhat created a line loosely parallel with the Central Vermont. That's where I am at right now. The basement project is dueling with my wifes ability to peel wallpaper and take half the drywall with it and my 85 gmc squarebody wanting attention. You know, the usual problems, lol.

 

[montanan]

Sounds interesting. Sounds a bit similar to what I did for my layout. I grew up with relatives working on both the Milwaukee Road and the Northern Pacific and was lucky enough to have ridden with them. Not having the room to model even part of a subdivision of either railroad, I freelanced and model the area right where I live connecting to both railroads going through actual towns out here and putting industries into the towns that either existed or could have existed. I chose the transition era, 1957 to be ecact because I did have the opportunity to have ridden in steam locomotives plus I really like first generation diesels. My layout is a point to point layout built mainly for switching, but does have the capability for continuous running by using hidden staging tracks. You can click on the link in my signature for a video tour of what I have.

I have read a bit about the railroad in New England and there are a lot of opportunities for you to work your magic and build a nice layout. There are so many small industries in that part of New England that could use rail service. Looking forward to see what you come up with. Good luck.

 

[sauced07]

The only issue I'm having now is I'm about to be a grandpa. The thought occurred to me that it would be kinda neat to name towns on the railroad after my daughters son to be and my wifes sons daughter. I yelled at myself for thinking of that. I could hear erasers in my head erasing track and towns on my for now thought up track plan. Grrr... lol

 

[montanan]

I know a couple of people who have done that. Wait until they're old enough to run the trains. I have a little grandson who is only 5 and he loves switching and running trains. He has figured out how to use Kadee delayed couplers and does a heck of a job.

 

[sauced07]

I told my daughter I would name a town after her but no work would get done in that town.

 

[santafewillie]

Welcome to the forum sauced07. Sounds like an interesting scenario to be modeling. I model "flatlands" Santa Fe. I use Santa Fe equipment that is true to my very broad era of 1978-1994, but I have named most towns after relatives, offspring and grandkids.
As Chet said. come visit in the Coffee Shop just to get to know some of the forum members...it's not a requirement though!

Willie

 

[Trussrod]

Hi Sauced, Welcome to the forums here, glad you posted, like Willie says be sure to stop in at the ANPL/ Jeffreys' Dinner down the line a ways. Jeffrey was very active on the forum and died way too young of a stroke and other complications, so the Coffee shop, 'an old coach remodeled into a Dinner' as I picture it with two waitresses Flo and Francine, was named after him.

We're always glad to see new folks getting into or back into the hobby. You might find Joe/Boris [Grumpy Joe] from New Jersey, an Engineer for the RR there and interesting to talk with also. Chet has done some really nice things with his layout as well and his videos show that. Garry from Kentucky also has a very interesting layout as does Willie, Ken in Md. CXS road Slug, Rex in Alabama, Karl in Absurd, Ray in NY., and numerous other guys on the forum and we even have a couple of ladies who are interested in model railroading.

As for me, I'm model the 1890 to 1915 era in HO/'DC' and have been working on a layout in half of my garage which about 10' x 21' in size with hand laid track and switches in code 70 & 55. I've been working on it for a long time but living in the country as well as taking care of my parents as they aged until they passed along with other things that arise as your also aware takes it toll from productive RR time. Just being on the forum can be very time consuming but very enjoyable too!

You should find the place to be very enjoyable and may be able to add to our overall knowledge about various things.

Welcome aboard!

 

[sauced07]

It would be nice to chat with folks who worked the job. I was injured, Blew my knee out getting off a locomotive. Miss being in the seat every day!