Some Background

Dana — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 02:52:53 +0000

I fell in love with trains very early in my life. My grandfather died about a year before I was born and left the beginnings of an HO layout in our family’s basement. He also left a bunch of old metal American Flyer HO cars, an engine and a couple of cars he was building from scratch, some old modeling tools, and several copies of Model Railroader from the 50′s. While there wasn’t a lot, and most wasn’t in great shape, these things were magical to me somehow. I’m not sure what it was, but the pictures in those magazines and the thought of long model trains rolling through the mountains really sparked my imagination.

My Dad must have sensed this (or maybe I said something – I can’t remember). He bought my brother and me some track and Atlas piers and we built a double oval on top of our slot car layout. Once in a while the three of us would go to Spoonley’s train store in Buffalo to get some supplies or a special car or two. Spoonley’s shop was a wonderland for a kid like me. The place was huge and had trains of all scales lined up on shelves around the store. No train store I’ve been to since has quite measured up.

We messed around with these trains for quite a few years (I’ve still got the remains of the old locomotive and metal cars). But then, like most folks, college and adult life took over. Once I was married and into our first house, I started a small layout in our spare bedroom. I had fallen in love with narrow gauge and Malcolm Furlow’s HOn3 San Juan Central especially. I bought his construction book and started cutting wood. Well, before I could get the first spike in we were pregnant. I thought I could continue with the layout, but other priorities kept it from happening. Eventually I gave the benchwork to a coworker (who incorporated it into his layout and still runs it now some 16 years later).

So, now that I’m into my second home, the kids are older (two great boys – 16 and 12) and I have a basement (!), I decided to try again. As I got back into reading and educating myself about the current state of model railroading, I discovered On30. WOW!. Nice size (room for detail AND track), readily available track and equipment, and a WHOLE lot less expensive than HOn3.

I started the layout in October of 2006 after a good bit of research and planning (I’ll get into that in another post). I haven’t made great progress, but I have been able to do a little here, and a little there. I can work on laying track, building cars, building structures, scenery, etc. as the mood strikes (to me that’s one of the beauties of model railroading).

I have posted my (Phase I) track plan and some photos of my work to date. You can find them through the Blogroll link. There is more to build, more to photograph, and more to plan, but not today. Next time, I promise.

Hello world!

Dana — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 02:29:28 +0000

Hi. My name is Dana Russell. I’m starting this blog as a record of my work on the Drowning Creek Lumber Company railroad, my ON30 model railroad empire. It’s mostly for my own use, but if somebdy else gets pleasure from it or finds it useful – more’s the better.

I plan to use this blog to document my ideas for the layout, post pictures of my progress, and maybe even develop a fictitiuous history for the railroad. I certainly don’t expect to post regulary and probably won’t even post often. No pressure, just fun!