Howdy from Utah! I am relatively new to model railroading (started in Dec 2017) though I've been interested since at least the mid-90s when I collected a bunch of N-scale Arnold catalogs from Germany, and since 2003 I've been looking at Japanese N-scale every other year when we go to Japan. But lack of funds, space, having kids, etc. meant I couldn't pursue it until now. We did start my son with Japanese PLA-RAIL when he was 9 months old (he is now 16). Kids are a bit older, we have a bit more space, and while funds are never enough, I splurged some last year. I have been active on JNSForum.com for about 15 months under the same username. I have started a blog (and twitter, Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube) under "@DenshaBahn" or densha-bahn.com . Densha is the Japanese for train (actually short for electric train) and Bahn is German (short) for railroad (and other assorted similar things). I am mainly interested in Japanese and German and surrounding country railroading since that is my main experience with railroads. My wife is from Japan and we visit about every other year and ride trains almost daily while there. And in the mid 80s I lived in Germany for almost 2 years and rode trains several times a week, and also lived there 18 months in the early 90s, though I had a car then and did not ride much. Have also ridden the rails in Europe since on sporadic trips. So for me the emotional attachment to rails is for Japan and Europe and means adventure, vacation, trips, etc. I appreciate US railroads, but have no strong emotional attachment. I have ridden some commuter rail in my life, from 80s Massachusetts to 2000-201x in California a couple times. And the light rail here in Utah a handful of times. And I occasionally see a Union Pacific freight train here. So I appreciate and like to see what others do with US railroads and models / layouts, but personally have no interest in doing it myself. I am not a "rivet counter" as for me the illusion and emotional journey that models bring me is enough. But I greatly respect the detail modelers and like to learn from them and see their stuff, even if it is not a high priority for me personally. I like fiddling and stuff so am into DCC a lot and converting everything I have -- figuring out how to convert stuff not DCC friendly, etc. I've also been involved with designing a lightboard for passenger wagons that anyone can make on the cheap. Thanks for the opportunity to participate here.
Thanks! Eventually. I have a small stable of Shinkansen from both KATO and Tomix. (Actually, as so often happens in this hobby, I have a small stable of a lot of things)
Welcome aboard! Where in Utah? The Salt Lake City area has some heavy duty railroading, and if you enjoy mountains, the climb to Soldier Summit is just about an hour east. Hard to find harsher railroading than on 2.4% grades!
In the Salt Lake Valley. When we head up to Wyoming we often will see the freight trains going up the canyon, and occasionally you see one in the valley at a level crossing or bridge. Mostly I see the commuter rail FrontRunner.
