I am a new member reentering the hobby after being away since the late 1980s. I barely recognize the hobby their are so many new players and the old players seem to have changed up their game plans. I hope someone here can help me get up to speed. Gary
Aloha and Welcome aboard, Gary. Which island do you call home? We love Hawaii and wish we could afford to live there.
I live on Oahu on the side of the mountain just above the Hawaiian Railway Museum. I am actually preparing tom move back to Texas after living here since 1975. It is beautiful but expensive to live here. Thanks for the welcome
Unfortunately most of our houses in Hawaii are too Small for layouts because real estate costs are so high. We do have a decent HO scale club layout built in an Old navy Box car . the layout is three layers and when properly routed you have to go around three full loops to get back to the starting point. The total run of that loop is almost 100 yards. The draw backs are 3 duck unders for the doorway and two cross overs for return loops, sort of a three tier dog bone shape. The club runs Digitrax which seems okay. I helped build the old layout and we worked on it for 5 years and never got working because of the complex wiring for blocking. The main board looked like and old telephone switching station. This layout is fully operating and fully scenic-ed so it can be fun when everyone cooperates. If you are a Facebook type you can see it at Oahu Model Railway Society. I take it you are an Oklahoman? Is the Tulsan a private road? What ear do you model? Gary
Sounds wild! I am. The Tulsan was a diesel, all-coach streamliner which connected with the Chicagoan/Kansas Cityan at Kansas City, running through cars to and from Chicago. And 1952, respectively.
We have a club meeting this weekend I will try and take some videos to show you. Passenger trains are not my cup of tea. I should have remembered a named Santa Fe train. I am a freight nut primarily transition diesel to the beginning of the double stacks and Dash-2 era. I think the most current loco I have was a GP50 or an SD40-2. I like switchers and road switchers. I am currently building a F7A-B-A set out of old blue Box locomotives. I am undecided if it will be ATSF, MKT or KCS. I might just make it my private road. That way I can add whatever details I find in the drawer.
Welcome aboard, and you are certainly correct about the changes. You might find a lot of catch up and some inspiration browsing through some of the threads already here, particularly those about "Latest Purchase" or "What's on Your Workbench." And I think many would be interested in seeing in-progress photos of working up a Blue Box loco!
Welcome. I've been twice to Hawai'i, the second and latest time to this day beeing my honeymoon trip in 2005... A few days in Oahu living me the time to have a run on Ewa's Hawaiian Railway remnant, and then 2 weeks in Maui (and there I had a run on the Lahaina, Kaanapali & Pacific RR )... My wife and myself did love these islands. A mix of tropical and western feeling, with Harley Davidson renting houses every 50 meters... I remember having seen a free-lanced HO hawaian layout in MR a few years ago, standard gauged with GP9s and this kind of stuff... Very nice. Dom
