Just joined and getting a start in Large Scale.
Brief overview of my Train nerd hobby background: Modeled in HO scale from early days until High School, during which time built a lot of diorama's, buildings, kitbashed everything..etc. Had a side hustle while working in a local hobby store of selling custom built/weathered buildings (several of mine are still on club layouts around the area). During this time was an avid photographer and spent many, many days at the rail yards documenting everything that I saw (lots and lots of dirty SP SD9E's) and hanging out with the crew working on the SP 4449/SP&S 700..
After High School, got in to cars, street racing, radio DJ'ing, club DJ'ing, putting on underground raves, back to radio, broadcast engineering, getting married, back to college, IT, software development, a kid (or two), running, wheel to wheel auto racing, and collecting 80's BMW's.
All the while, I have kept my interest in railroading in the background. Mostly just picking up books that catch my eyes, and hanging out on forums I come across. The biggest time was spent on .carendt.com. All the while, dreaming up small layout/diorama idea's that someday I might find some time to fulfill.
Fast forward to this last year, and I find myself hitting the middle ages and while I still enjoy car racing, I hate having so many car projects that require all my time/finances (anyone interested in an Alpina B6 2.8/1 project?) So I am starting to unload.. Meanwhile, my other interest (Trains and Halloween prop building) are starting to take more of my spare interest. The wife, lately, has been all about freshening up the back yard/garden and suddenly and idea pops in my head!
So long story longer, I convince her that I can take the bane of our backyard (a 50ft retaining wall with an ugly cyclone fence on top) and plop a garden railway on top! Hooray for me?
This will allow me to get my train fix, be something the girls can enjoy and help with (none of them wanted to help as pit crew for the race team for some reason...), and make that ghastly retaining wall a focal point!
I'll attach photos of what I got to work with, but the basic concept is a single track with two tight (under 4'/1100mm dia) loops at each end. I've settled on mountain traction line in the vein of Bob Hegge's Crooked Mountain Lines, which I saw as a youngster in magazines and books, and it always stuck with me. This means a lot of what I will be doing is not off the shelf; but luckily, I own a 3D printer and know how to use it (not a threat).
Any whoot, hope to contribute more as time goes on, cheers!
Brief overview of my Train nerd hobby background: Modeled in HO scale from early days until High School, during which time built a lot of diorama's, buildings, kitbashed everything..etc. Had a side hustle while working in a local hobby store of selling custom built/weathered buildings (several of mine are still on club layouts around the area). During this time was an avid photographer and spent many, many days at the rail yards documenting everything that I saw (lots and lots of dirty SP SD9E's) and hanging out with the crew working on the SP 4449/SP&S 700..
After High School, got in to cars, street racing, radio DJ'ing, club DJ'ing, putting on underground raves, back to radio, broadcast engineering, getting married, back to college, IT, software development, a kid (or two), running, wheel to wheel auto racing, and collecting 80's BMW's.
All the while, I have kept my interest in railroading in the background. Mostly just picking up books that catch my eyes, and hanging out on forums I come across. The biggest time was spent on .carendt.com. All the while, dreaming up small layout/diorama idea's that someday I might find some time to fulfill.
Fast forward to this last year, and I find myself hitting the middle ages and while I still enjoy car racing, I hate having so many car projects that require all my time/finances (anyone interested in an Alpina B6 2.8/1 project?) So I am starting to unload.. Meanwhile, my other interest (Trains and Halloween prop building) are starting to take more of my spare interest. The wife, lately, has been all about freshening up the back yard/garden and suddenly and idea pops in my head!
So long story longer, I convince her that I can take the bane of our backyard (a 50ft retaining wall with an ugly cyclone fence on top) and plop a garden railway on top! Hooray for me?
This will allow me to get my train fix, be something the girls can enjoy and help with (none of them wanted to help as pit crew for the race team for some reason...), and make that ghastly retaining wall a focal point!
I'll attach photos of what I got to work with, but the basic concept is a single track with two tight (under 4'/1100mm dia) loops at each end. I've settled on mountain traction line in the vein of Bob Hegge's Crooked Mountain Lines, which I saw as a youngster in magazines and books, and it always stuck with me. This means a lot of what I will be doing is not off the shelf; but luckily, I own a 3D printer and know how to use it (not a threat).
Any whoot, hope to contribute more as time goes on, cheers!
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