Model railroading is a great hobby for young and old. My first memories of a train setup are of the fascinating snow-scene Christmas layout that my Grandfather and Dad setup every year.  It didn't matter that the tracks had three rails and that the skiers racing down their Styrofoam slopes almost hit the skaters on the mirror pond.  The houses were all lit and there always seemed to be two trains running at one. It was a magical time.

I ventured into HO trains as a teenager and I think I had a small layout but it didn't get far along.  I didn't have much money but we improvised by adding green ink to sawdust to make grass, used dried coffee grounds for dirt and round oatmeal boxes cut in half for oil storage tanks.  As teenagers back then, you really didn't tell anyone you liked trains as it just wasn't "cool".

I remember seeing Pennsylvania Railroad GG1s highballing past my high school in West Philadelphia, maybe that's why I never really did that well in school. Trains were all but forgotten for the longest time during the course of the Army, career, marriage, kids and the responsibilities of adulthood.

Then the urge somehow returned after 35 years.  I started on my first n scale layout which was only planned to be a maximum 28" by 50" in size.  I knew that I had a lot of skills and techniques to learn so I was anxious to really finish the small layout through final scenery.  That was a good decision as it let me see how great it was to have a completed layout and I did learn a lot.  There was no stopping me now as I had a empty full car garage to work with.  The fictional Elizabeth & Austin Divisions of the PRR was born, one completed section at a time.  I kept some pictures of the old E&A on this site to remind me of how much fun I had with that layout.  The layout was sold after five years prior to a move and retirement.

I started a second layout in the big bedroom of our new house and unfortunately made some fatal design decisions.  I was not happy with the way things were going and the layout was dismantled after the trackwork was completed.  The layout was based on the Chartiers Branch of the Pennsylvania Railroad which ran for 23.6 miles between Carnegie, PA and Washington, PA.  It was basically a water level route that crossed the Chartiers Creek about 20 times along its path. The branch was part of Pennsy's Panhandle Division of its Central Region

My senses returned and I realized that I needed to hear the sound of trains running again so a new layout was started in April of 2007 in the smallest bedroom.  This new 36"' x 80" layout was built on a foam covered hollow-core door. The layout is also based on the Chartiers Branch area and was designed with the following criteria in mind: to be smaller and simpler, to have no grades, to be able to run two trains at once, to be lighter and more movable, to be lower cost, and to have good size water features. 

The skills and preferences you develop on doing one layout carry over to the next, but you shouldn't be afraid to try or experiment with new techniques.  So far things have been moving along pretty good with this layout.

If you have an interest in building a model railroad, then just do it!  Don't wait until you have a huge space, tons of money and lots of time; you never will.  Just start building any size layout in any scale after some reasonable planning.  Have fun with it.   Jim