Model railroading is one of the most popular hobbies in the western world, and for good reason: it's fun. One writer once described model railroading as a jack-of-all-trades hobby, where one gets to be an architect, artist, builder, an amature business manager, and many other things. There is something in the hobby for everyone. Granted, some people take it far too seriously, and most rail shows sport the occasional fanatic. But, such types can be found in all walks of life, so take them with a grain (or bag) of salt. Besides, even they can help keep things interesting.

My model railroad story is a very episodic one. My original model railroad was a 4x6 HO-scale flattop layout in my parent's garage. High humidity in the summer and extreme cold in the winter made this a highly inconvienent location, but I still managed to have some fun with the layout. The peak period for this never-named layout was 1981-1983, during my High School years. I never did any real scenery work on it, because I was constantly moving the track plan around. My primary interest was in operation and layout design, so it made no sense to construct an elaborate, permanent layout, knowing full well that I would want to re-arrange the track again in short order.

When I went away to college, the layout was largely dismantled. The various compenents were pulled away from their plywood moorings and placed in storage. At the time, I was thinking in terms of building a permanent layout "at some point in the future," and the various HO components would be returned to active service when that day finally came. Throughout the early 1990's, I made several half-hearted attempts at returning to the hobby, but none of them came to fruition. My last foray into the world of HO was in 1997, when I was briefly involved with a local railroad club.

I wanted a layout of my own, and I had a certain kind of layout in mind. I had to choose between waiting until I had the space to build and store the layout I wanted, or move to a smaller scale and have a layout within a smaller time frame. Reluctantly, I chose the later. Over the next few years, my HO equipment was sold off to various individuals and vendors, clearing the way for me to start fresh.

The obvious choice for me was N Gauge, but I couldn't shake the notion of N gauge being "too small." So, I considered HOn3 first. I have a book by Malcolm Furlow that descibed the construction of his delightful HOn3 San Juan Central, and that struck me as a good compromise route. Further research, however, determined that while modeling in HOn3 is easier now than it was in the past (thanks to the pre-fab components Furlow used), it was still a difficult gauge to work with. You either had to invest large sums of money on highly crafted brass equipment, or large sums of time into scratchbuilding. The high-end brass models were out of the question, and while I'm not afraid of scratchbuilding, my available spare time tends to be uneven. So, I looked again at N Gauge.

For a time, I was involved with a local N-Track club, but having no N-gauge equipment of my own, my participation was always irrigular. More immediate concerns, like career and family, kept putting model railroading into the siding track. It wasn't until I got married that I started making a real return to the hobby. My wife, Lisa, enjoys model building, so she could appreciate and understand the appeal of those cute little n-gauge trains. I've since discovered that having a spouse who tollerates model railroading is rare; having one who actually enjoys the hobby is rarer still! As a joint Christmas and birthday gift for 2003, she bought me an N-gauge starter set: a Bauchman Iron Duke. By that time I had already discovered Right Track, a freeware layout design software from Atlas, and had come up with a viable layout design that incorporated the operating options I wanted.

This time, it looked like I was going to return to the hobby to stay.

For the next part of my story, move on to The Evolution of a layout plan.