A new chapter is about to begin
Background building
Dog park update
Weathering a covered hopper.
Corrugated fence, part 3
Corrugated fence, part duex…weathering
Building a corrugated fence, Oct 17
Building a girder bridge
The Layout track plan, October 11
Working on the railroad, October 11
Railroad Update, October 10
INTRODUCTION
I have been a model railroader for more years than I can remember. Starting with a Lionel set up in our living room. Dad built a very large table out of 2 by 4’s and had several trains running at the same time. I was never a huge fan of Lionel only because they are not scale trains. To me they are toys. I prefer something more to scale. So when I got old enough I switched to HO scale. 1:87 for those not familiar with model railroads. I think I have had probably a dozen layouts over the years ranging from simple ovals to over and under to a double decker. Then I discovered the fun of operations. Switching cars in and out of industries. Moving products as the real railroads do. But I’ve never had the desire for a basement type empire with miles of track. Spaghetti bowl, some call it. I prefer linear, where a train only goes through a scene once. David Barrow comes to mind. Also Lance Mindheim .
I also don’t like to get stuck to a specific era or time period. Proto freelance is whats thats referred to. Modeling a prototype but being somewhat free to develop the scenes and the operations. Since living in Florida I focused mainly on Atlantic Coastline, since they were very prevalent in this area. Then they became part of CSX. Modeled CSX for a while. The layouts got smaller and smaller until they were basically shelf layouts going around the walls of the room. While that may sound boring to some who prefer mountains, valleys, rivers and forests, I prefer the simplistic approach. My latest effort dealt with Milwaukee Road and the Goose Island area of Chicago. But now I’m off on a new venture, one I hope that will last until I am Tango Uniform. I have no plans for it to be prototypical to anywhere. It will be designed with all of the things I like and have attempted to model over the years. Stay tuned.
Johnny B's Model Railroading World 