I started with Lone Star Lectric 000 (Treble 0) in the early 60s. My older brother built a 3 X 4 foot layout on a piece of plywood for me. Painted wood, blobs of lichen moss glued to pads of card stock were the scenery along with a few crude buildings folded up from sheet metal. By the time this shot was taken I had found out Arnold Rapido made some German prototype stuff that would also run on my track. Was also about the time of "Snoopy and the Red Baron." You can see his Sopwith Camel behind him along with a Soviet helicopter model.
With the space I have, size attracted me most. I can run long trains with big power without it chasing its tail. I can also model industrial scenes with large factories as well as vast scenery. I've always had an attraction to N scale and this is my third venture into it. My first was in the seventies and the second in the eighties. In those days it was still pretty bad and selection was very limited and I lost intrest quickly. This time, I'm here to stay I think. Thanks to computer controlled tooling and die making, today's N scale offers very realistic, finally detailed, reliable engines and rolling stock. The detail in structure kits is amazing too.
There are several who dabble in it. I started a railroad company once with four other guys. I had to call a connecting short line to borrow its locomotive, negotiate a rental agreement, and then drive the train crew over to pick it up! A decade and a half later, was outbid with some others on over 300 miles of former CSX (ex SAL) trackage in Georgia. After I retired, represented a UK financier in an attempt to buy the Bangor & Aroostook. Spent 36 years in the railroad business.
Does volunteering to do restoration work at a railroad museum count? I have irons in the fire at two different museums. Here we finally got one of the diesels to fire up.
I work as a CYC, (classification yard coordinator) running a hump yard, and a PDC, (pulldown coordinator) building outbound trains from the class yard. I must say, the model version is much more fun! (And less stress!)
Igot into N scale because of the size of space i was allowed to have. It had to fit so that my mom could get her car in.
My grandfather started in HO than Nn scale was evolved and he quickly turned to it for his lack of space he loved it and when trains got smaller He decited to stay with N because " N is small enough to appreciate and Z is to hard to dictate". He passed his Model railroading down to his children with an HO set for each at christmas but they all wanted what he had so they got in to N. so needless to say when My grandfather realized that I wouldn't leave his toys alone he got me my own. So I guess it's safe to say my blood line is N although I also have O arround the roofline of my house but N to the heart and the O will go before the N.
