Chuck,

aah...to be that young again.


Bruce,

I have to agree with the rest, a very nice, young wife. Thanks for posting the lovely couple's photo.


Railvis, welcome to the RR-L. It's always good to have another steamer. We welcome your experience. And if I calculate right you just knocked oldtimer John aka Bbags out of the oldest spot.

Welcome aboard and thanks everyone for the pictures. Okay Paul, as John said, it's your turn.

Jim

Welcome Maarten!! Glad to have you aboard. I think you will enjoy this forum.

I have been to Europe a lot over the last 25 years. Did I understand that you are from the Netherlands? I have been to the Netherlands many times. I love it there. The people have always been open & friendly.

Thanks for the photos. Some really nice modeling!

Paul

Thanks for the welcoming words!

Yes I am a Dutchman, but we have small club of N-scalers here called N-scale uNlimited which goes out to shows at times to have some RR fun.



This is an example of what we sometimes do. In this case, create a Beyer Garrett like Vulcan steam engine in N, based on 2 Roco BR80's. The original design was made for the New Zealand Forestry railroads, but it was overtaken by the (infamous??) diesel, and so never left the drawing board.

This one was done by my friend Ruud Bergsvoort.

Have fuN,

Maarten Vis



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1) What State or Country and nearest City we live in

I live in a very small town about 25 miles north of St Paul Minnesota

2) How long modeling and how we got started

I got back into HO railroading in January 2002 after a 25 year absence. I did note some changes. Got started when I was a wee tyke and my dad bought me an Erie Lack A/B, a couple texaco tankers and a Southern Pacific caboose because they were all silver. That loco, on 16V,

well, the original Silver Streak.

3) What lines we model

I'm pretty casual. Its a freelanced affair with

Great Northern, Northern Pacific, Burlington Northern, and Duluth Mesabi & Iron Range mostly. But I also have Erie Lackawanna, Union Pacific, Canadian Pacfic, and Undec.

4) years we model

Pretty eclectic there too. 6 steamers and 6 diesels. Given the impact of time in the 1:1 world, I like ignoring it on my empire.

5) how large is your layout and what scale do you model.

A U shaped around the walls affair, 14' x 15' x 16' with a dual gauge spur backtracking on 2 walls, then narrow gauge switchback. Mainline is dual track with no crossing, so its pretty easy to set 4 trains running while I putz in the yard

or the dual gauge run. Its all HO, except for the Hot Wheels autos that well meaning friends have given me and love to see on the layout. They don't see the scale difference, and I don't care much at the moment.

6) if we use DC, DCC or other

DCC. When I started back up, I only had 2 locos, and was building the layout from scratch, so it was just as easy to go DCC. I'm currently using a Digitrax Chief system.

7) anything else you want to add

Feel free to stop by http://www.loye.com It aint fancy. The models arent'great and the scenery should help give anybody confidence. But Lord knows there aren't enough web sites out there.....

Bill

Thanks, Bill.

I visited your website. You've got a really nice layout and lots of photos. I plan to return to see it all when I'm back home and have more time available.

Paul still hasn't posted a photo of himself as yet. Come on mate! We are all braced for it...

Hello all,

1)I live in Buncombe County North Carolina about halfway between Asheville and Hendersonville.

2)Well I have been seriously modeling things, not always trains since 1992. But I used to mess with trains back into the early 1980's.

3)I personally Prefer the Chessie System line.

4)Not very picky about what year I model. I like them All.

5)Well at the moment I have no permanent layout, but I Model HO Scale.

6)DC. I hope to later get DCC once I can afford a good setup.

7) I have been detailing miniature figurines since college. Detail wise they are microscopic. You learn very quickly the proper use of washes to bring out those details.

8) OK You asked for it.



Beware the unibrow, the unibrow is evil I tell you.

Nice to see you Chessie, I can see how you can keep the pillow up against the wall by leaning against it, but what about the remote? Do you use velcro?

Thanks for the link Chuck. Here goes...

1. I live on the east shore of Lake Winnebago about 8 miles north of Fond du Lac in Wisconsin.

2. Been modeling ever since I can remember. Mostly plastic kit cars when I was younger and now train stuff for the last couple of years since the grandkids came along. But if it isn't Thomas the Tank, I get to play with it.

3. None in particular. I found out early on I'm not that interested in the train part, but the modeling and scenery. Now the house is littered with diorama's in various states of completion.

4. 1920's - 1930's.

5. 4x8 HO. Didn't have room in the house so I built a workbench for the shop with a tilt top and put the layout in there. Put it on casters so I can wheel it around.

6. One very simple DC unit.

Searched for a picture, but for some reason I'm the one taking the pictures most of the time...something about shattering lenses. But I found one that shows a true Wisconsinite...GO PACK!

Ken,

This is wild! I've gone wind surfing on that lake. My brother lives in Beaver Dam and he has a friend that has a wind surfing business in Fond Du Lac right across the street from the lake.

Chuck

Bill, I have started to check out your website and I like what you are doing with it very much. I want to go back and take more in later. I like that Shay! When I worked for Medtronic back in the 80's I used to visit St Paul every so often. Really enjoyed it.

Love that hat Marken!

Small world, isn't it Chuck?

I know the place. Right across the street from Sunset Supper Club. Sometimes the brave ones come running up our way, especially with a good wind. You should see the ice boats come winter... those are cool.

I spend quite a few days ice fishing Beaver Dam Lake every winter.

Hi Ken,

As you may have seen on my bio(page 6), I also am a cheesehead. When we lived in Oshkosh we used to sail to Calumet Harbor from the Pioneer Inn.

william

I'm in !

1)Windsor , Ontario ,Canada right across the river from Detroit Mich.

2)Like many my age I started with O in the 50's , Dabbled briefly with HO in the 60's and then had a long layoff until resuming HO in the mid 90's

3)I model Canadian Pacific

4)I like deisel and steam , so model mid 50's

5)I'm building a new layout 25ft.x 7 ft.

6)I'm going DCC Digitrax for the first time

7)I'm finding this website, and the people out there very helpful

Barry,

Thanks for compliment. The site has kinda morphed from a one page Hello World kinda thing into the train pages it is today. I been out of the pic for a while, but I think today may be a play day. Got a couple guys running at the moment, and may hit the project on the workbench. Yea, I *love* St Paul, worked downtown from 1979 to 1986. Great little town. Easygoing, quiet and friendly. And then there's Minneapolis.....