Home > My History with Trains
I've liked trains for a long time - since I was a kid. I think my interest started with my grandfather - who worked on the Erie Lackawana for the post office. While I don't remember much - I think I had a scrapbook of train pictures. What I do remember was working on a train layout with my Dad - a typical 4 x 8 sheet of plywood. It was HO scale - which was very popular at the time. We had a few building (which I still have), a few trains (which don't work anymore), a tunnel and at least one switch. After a time I lost interest in the trains - maybe about the time computer were getting popular (I wasn't very good at sticking with a thing then - especially if it didn't come easy).
It was as an adult, married with my own place, that I suddenly got interested in trains again. I decided that I wanted to put a train under the tree. So I did a 4 x 4 sheet of plywood - put a circle of track around it (using my old stuff from when I was a kid). I also found few buildings and arranged them into little town. I also incorporated some scenery - some old trees I had, light poles and scenery material (grass, gravel, etc.). This turned out to be more fun than I expected - as I began to create my own little world in a way that I never could as a kid. I'm not even sure the train ran around - I was far more interested in the buildings and scenery. I did this for a few Christmas Trees in a row - getting more creative by creating snow scenes - even wiring up buildings using overhead wire (that was a lot of work). You can see photos of these Christmas Tree Layouts in this photo album.
The christmas tree became less practical for me - now that I had a kid of my own- too tempting for little fingers. Therefore it was time to find a different place to put the trains. That's when I began planning a layout to put in my basement and bought my first real trains (ones that run) and a new power pack (one that wasn't about as old as I was).
One day when I was at a local hobby store, J’s Hobby Haven, I met someone from a local NMRA club. He invited me to one of their meetings, and I decided to go ahead and go. I went to a few meetings and was getting interested when they announced a square footer contest, a diorama within 12” x 12”. That sounded great to me, as I realized a layout would be a little challenging with a somewhat leaky basement. So, I created my diorama and went to the contest. I didn't win - but I enjoyed creating the diorama (using some of my old kit buildings).
One of my favorite buildings around Kansas City is Union Station (see my pics here). I ended up joining a club that was running trains there - with a large HO layout. I had fun with this - as I quickly sceniced a corner module for them - with some nice trees (ones I put together instead of right out of a box). I also got a chance to run some of my trains (I run Kansas City Southern and Erie Lackawanna) on that layout - which was nice due to it's size (passenger trains look much better on a bigger layout). I got introduced to DCC and sound when running trains (or watching others) on that layout - which is a wonderful technology. To this day I'm still jealous of those who have sound - something I really hope to have in the future. I started work on some modules while there - 2 straight 48"W x 30"W modules. A member of the club helped me build the layouts in the basement of Union Station (which was interesting). I got the point of adding cork roadbed, and track. My next step was to create a set of buildings to put on the layout - which is bascially where I stopped.
I ended up dropping out of the club as with a kid it was becoming much more difficult to spend the time it took. I think they've since moved out of Union Station - but there are other train clubs there (Christmas Time is best to visit). My next goal was to create my own layout in my basement - using the modules I had as the start (the main visible portion). I have a bunch of kits to build - based on filling out those modules with a small town. Right now that's pretty much all I'm doing - due to time and financial constraints. From time to time I still get the urge for the trains - spending time with my son. When he gets older the layout may jump back up in priority - as he will want to work on it with me.