Howdy From S Carolina

[ACL-CSX]

I am fairly new to the hobby, but have always been interested in model railroading. Currently working on my first layout, a 2' x 4' N Scale. It's not going to be a prototypical setup, as I do not have the space to accomplish what I want, but I'm still looking forward to putting it all together. I eventually plan to model several eras and regions as time, space, and finances allow. My grandfather worked for the railroad his entire life and I plan to model everything from the steam days of the Atlantic Coast Line up to modern day CSX, as he worked for ACL before the Seaboard merger and retired after the CSX merger. I look forward to sharing my progress with the community and learning all that I can. My soon to be 2 year old son loves his "choo-choos" (actually he calls them boo boos at present) and I hope to share this hobby with him as he gets older. Thanks in advance and happy railroading!

 

[Edsland]

Welcome, my son and daughter in law with our newest granddaughter is in from Columbia SC

 

[ACL-CSX]

Welcome, my son and daughter in law with our newest granddaughter is in from Columbia SC

Thank you. That's about an hour and a half south of me. When I get to build the expanded layout I have given thought to modeling parts of Columbia. If space allows I'm going to try to model Charleston Harbor, complete with Fort Sumter.

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[Sirfoldalot]

Well, You didn't say where U were from? My son-in-law's parents are from Greer, SC.
Welcome to the forum ... visit the ANPL "Coffee Shop" and jaw around with the fellows there - both old and new hats to MRRing.

 

[ACL-CSX]

Well, You didn't say where U were from? My son-in-law's parents are from Greer, SC.
Welcome to the forum ... visit the ANPL "Coffee Shop" and jaw around with the fellows there - both old and new hats to MRRing.

I live in Lancaster. Not too familiar with the Greer area. I'm originally from Jacksonville, Florida, so if I ever get enough space I'd like to model a passenger line from Jacksonville to Charleston. That's quite a ways down the tracks though. I'll definitely check on that, thank you.

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[montanan]

Welcome to the forum.

I also have a lot of railroaders in my family with relatives working on both the Northern Pacific and the Milwaukee Road.

When I first got out of the service I was in train withdrawal and I also did not have much room and built an N scale layout about 3'x6' which could be slid under a bed. When I finally mover to Montana I incorporated into a larger layout wich about 11 scale miles of main line track. Unfortunately, back in to 70's the locomotives were fairly crude and not very reliable and I ended up tearing everything out and moved to HO scale.

You are quite fortunate that the N scale locomotives today are excellent. I am somewhat familiar with the Jacksonville area as I was stationed at Mayport on and off for about 5 years. Not like it is today. There was nothing between Regency Square and the Intercoastal back then.

Looking forward to see what you come up with. Stop by the Coffee Shop and meet more of the members. We chat about most anything there except politics and religion.

 

[ACL-CSX]

Welcome to the forum. View attachment 64537

I also have a lot of railroaders in my family with relatives working on both the Northern Pacific and the Milwaukee Road.

When I first got out of the service I was in train withdrawal and I also did not have much room and built an N scale layout about 3'x6' which could be slid under a bed. When I finally mover to Montana I incorporated into a larger layout wich about 11 scale miles of main line track. Unfortunately, back in to 70's the locomotives were fairly crude and not very reliable and I ended up tearing everything out and moved to HO scale.

You are quite fortunate that the N scale locomotives today are excellent. I am somewhat familiar with the Jacksonville area as I was stationed at Mayport on and off for about 5 years. Not like it is today. There was nothing between Regency Square and the Intercoastal back then.

Looking forward to see what you come up with. Stop by the Coffee Shop and meet more of the members. We chat about most anything there except politics and religion.

First off, thank you for your service to our country. I have the utmost respect for the men and women that put their lives on the line to protect our freedoms. I left Jacksonville in the late 90s to move to N Carolina with my parents, but the city is nothing like it is now. It was bad enough then, but I hardly recognize the areas I lived in on the rare occasion when I go back.

I hope to put up pics of what I am working on soon. Right now it's all still in the planning stages while I collect the parts needed for the track layout. I've also been working on scratch building the industrial structures I plan to use. The original plan was to model textiles since that used to be such a large part of the region I live in, but I don't know if I will continue down that track. The space I have available doesn't lend itself to the use of many structures. But since I'm not modeling a prototypical line I can probably still make it work.

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[santafewillie]

Welcome (???) to the forum, the friendliest model railroading forum on the net. Like Sherrel posted, come on by the Coffee Shop (Running Bears Coffee Shop) and shoot the bull with some of the regulars. Anything goes but politics and religion are discouraged. Lot's of railroading talk and pictures there.

Willie

 

[montanan]

A layout doesn't go up over night. I have been working on my layout for over 30 years. Planning is very important. I built mine mainly as a switching layout and spent a lot of time making sure that I had a footprint for the structures and then ran spurs to them from the main line. In my signature below is a video tour (a few years old) and it has all of the track in place an the majority of the layout has scenery. Now I can enjoy running it as designed.

 

[ACL-CSX]

A layout doesn't go up over night. I have been working on my layout for over 30 years. Planning is very important. I built mine mainly as a switching layout and spent a lot of time making sure that I had a footprint for the structures and then ran spurs to them from the main line. In my signature below is a video tour (a few years old) and it has all of the track in place an the majority of the layout has scenery. Now I can enjoy running it as designed.

I've been "planning" my layout for about 10 years now. Unfortunately, money more than space, has been the main limiting factor. It is still a factor, but I have made the commitment to getting something built this coming year so that when my son is old enough to start his I'll have the skills to help him. That, and do we really need an excuse to play with trains?

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[Iron Horseman]

Currently working on my first layout, a 2' x 4' N Scale. It's not going to be a prototypical setup, as I do not have the space to accomplish what I want, but I'm still looking forward to putting it all together.

I had a 2'x4' N-scale layout for many years. It "grew" to be a double track main with 11" and 9 3/4" curves. One crossover and some industries inside the loop. Plenty to do in that much space. Could have done more, but I migrated to a 3'x4' single track main with passing sidings.

Mine was all Santa Fe. I didn't discover the eastern railroads until much later in my life.

My soon to be 2 year old son loves his "choo-choos" (actually he calls them boo boos at present) and I hope to share this hobby with him as he gets older.

My 2 year old grand son, can't not touch. He was so excited with the Christmas Forest and chasing the train around the trees, but somehow they always ended up derailed when he was around

 

[ACL-CSX]

I had a 2'x4' N-scale layout for many years. It "grew" to be a double track main with 11" and 9 3/4" curves. One crossover and some industries inside the loop. Plenty to do in that much space. Could have done more, but I migrated to a 3'x4' single track main with passing sidings.

Mine was all Santa Fe. I didn't discover the eastern railroads until much later in my life.


My 2 year old grand son, can't not touch. He was so excited with the Christmas Forest and chasing the train around the trees, but somehow they always ended up derailed when he was around
View attachment 64538

I'd like to do a double main, but I am using the EZ Track that came with my Bachmann set and am not sure how to make that work in that space. I know that the EZ isn't the best choice, but it's what I have and it is basically snap, stick, and run so that's what I'm going with for now. Eventually I want to upgrade to better track and DCC, but that'll have to wait.

My son loves to watch when I set up the circle or the oval to get my fix of running the train. In fact, he loves it almost as much as he loves touching it. His favorite thing to do is try to grab it on the fly and take off with whatever car he managed to snag. Lol. I will let you know when I get the pics posted. Since you have experience with the size I'm building, I may have some questions if that's ok.

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[ACL-CSX]

For those interested, I have posted a few pics of potential track plans in the project room. I welcome your feedback and thoughts on them. I'm still a ways off from having enough track to make it work, but the templates I made at least make me feel like I have a railroad. Lol

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[Iron Horseman]

I'd like to do a double main, but I am using the EZ Track that came with my Bachmann set and am not sure how to make that work in that space..... Since you have experience with the size I'm building, I may have some questions if that's ok.

That is OK, but my experience with N-scale is decades old. I switched to HO in 1983 or so and abandon the N in 2003 after it had been sitting neglected for a long time. There are others here that use N-scale on a current and regular basis who will be able to answer more astutely, so question away.

Also I have zero experience in N-scale EZ track. All my EZ track experience is HO.

 

[ACL-CSX]

That is OK, but my experience with N-scale is decades old. I switched to HO in 1983 or so and abandon the N in 2003 after it had been sitting neglected for a long time. There are others here that use N-scale on a current and regular basis who will be able to answer more astutely, so question away.

Also I have zero experience in N-scale EZ track. All my EZ track experience is HO.

That's ok. I appreciate that anyway. The EZ Track I have seems to work ok, I just don't understand all the radiuses and other ins and outs yet.

Jesse