Introductions

[John]

Welcome .. good looking plan

[eric220]

Good to see you, Cody!  Can't wait for your Layout Engineering thread.

[pennsyfan1361]

Cody, good to see another Pennsy Modeler.       Rich

[alcors110]

hi all. my name is dan and i have been a lurker here for a couple of years. i finally decided to register though. i am into n scale as well as ho scale because life is too short to decide on  either lol. i have limited space, so both layouts are small switching style arrangements. my favorite railroads are the np, bn,gn and the sp as well. i always am looking forward to the great topics on this forum. thanks.

[poppy2201]

I just wanted to take a moment to introduce myself.  My name is Charles Jantzen and I am addicted to N Scale.  I have always modeled in N scale and I joined here after lurking for a while.  There are a lot of names I see here from the past and other forums and it is great to see their work.  I hope that I can contribute to the efforts of others and am looking forward to the camaraderie here.  I am retired from the USAF after 22 ½ years. 

Another reason I joined was because of David K. Smith.  I was working on a plan to model the short line here in Panama City and was having trouble with the design.  It was like the old saw, “I couldn’t see the forest because all those darn trees were in the way”.   I sought out David’s advice and he graciously stepped up to the plate.  He pointed out some major flaws and came up with a more simplistic design that met my needs.  I am looking forward to posting my progress here and you will also be able to follow the progress at http://modelingbaylinerailroad.weebly.com.  The layout will be set up in a spare bedroom in our apartment.  I am not expecting to move in the future but just in case the layout will be built in a modular fashion to allow for easy disassembly.

Construction is due to start after January 1st and I’ll start posting the progress in the Layout Engineering section if that is the appropriate forum to post to.  Again, looking forward to a long and lasting relationship with The Railwire group.

Here is my plan:

[Philip H]

Charles ,
Welcome. I used to work in Panama City regularly a decade or so ago. So I'm looking forward to your interpretation.

[poppy2201]

Charles ,
Welcome. I used to work in Panama City regularly a decade or so ago. So I'm looking forward to your interpretation.

Thanks Philip.  Did you work for Bay Line?  When we moved back here a year and a half ago I wanted to model the Bay Line.  I thought about it before when we used to live here but never got around to it.  It's going to be interesting I think to see how it turns out.  I know I'm having to compress a lot but I did want to try and capture some of the local flavor.

[Philip H]

Nope, I worked for the state doing coastal fisheries management.  Panama City was one of our regular sampling and diving sites.

[Norway2112]

Hi I'm new to this forum.  I have been on a couple others for a short while but don't post very often.  I was referred to this forum by Jason Smith aka Superturbine.  I'm glad he recommended it, some great modelers and a wealth of tips and information.

I've been in N-Scale for over 20 years with my focus on Southern Pacific transition era 1950's equipment.  I'm too big of a fan of cool looking engines to be so strict that I won't run certain things b/c they were scrapped the year before or after I model etc.  If it was on the SP at all during anytime in the 1950's and I like it, I'll run it!  In my current home I don't have much room so I have started building a layout finally that is 40" wide by 9.5' long.  That should give me a decent enough size that I can run my big steam engines and be able to test the locomotives and rolling stock that I'm always tinkering with.

By trade I do logistics and field service repair work on large caliber guns for the Navy, I also work part time aboard two authentic steam powered sternwheel riverboats as an engineer, the Belle of Louisville and the Delta Queen.  I grew up on the Ohio River and enjoy just about anything river related, steam or train related.

Phillip Johnson
Louisville, KY

[railnerd]

Hi,

I've just joined the forum this week— I'm a SF Bay Area rubber gauger involved in both an HO Scale Club as well as a gathering of Free-moN folks.

Currently working on getting my Free-moN stuff in better shape, and M.C. Fujiwara had made some references to this forum— which has some neat stuff.

-Dave Falkenburg
 a.k.a. railnerd

[zephyr9900]

Hi all, my name is Randy.  Way back in the last millenium I worked with Dick Billings of Fine N-Scale Products to make a kit of the Pioneer Zephyr.  I (mostly theoretically) started a company named ProtoTrains at that time, but mostly it's been vaporware--lots of "someday" projects.  About all I've done significantly is produce a poster that's a reproduction of the Burlington Route 1935 calendar top (lots of them left!) and turn small batches of small wheels on my CNC lathe.

I did the body masters for the PZ kit "old school"--etched brass skins and fabricated "core pieces" all laboriously assembled.  I'm a mechanical engineer and have been doing solid modeling for over 15 years, and have gotten rapid prototypes in various technologies--stereolithography, fused deposition, selective laser sintering--mostly of instrument housing parts over the years.  Every once in a while I'd try a simple N-scale piece out of curiosity, but the resolution was never anywhere good enough.

Charlie Vlk has been after me for several years to do some serious solid models and try the current RP, and then Shapways has burst onto the scene.  Suddenly it looks very attractive to do the serious 3D CAD instead of etching artwork...  So I've just started in earnest on several of the "someday" projects.  There are some screenshots on my website www.prototrains.com

Another reason is that, while I did the PZ body masters and had the PC board chassis made, Dick did all the RTV/resin casting and actually produced and sold the kit.  I never learned the casting technique, or the source of the "industrial quality" RTV and quick-setting urethane that the Southern California small makers used.  If I can let people buy prints of my bodyshells, that's a whole (intimidating to me) aspect I don't need to deal with.  Or maybe I do--I know just enough about Shapeways being "almost good enough" for N scale (especially fiddly corrugated stainless cars), but there is truly fine resolution rapid prototyping available at a price that would only be suitable for casting masters.

Modeling-wise, I'm interested in the Burlington Route in the immediate prewar years.  I'd like to model a branch line-to-mainline junction in eastern Nebraska.  I grew up in Lincoln (in the 60's).

Randy

[peteski]

Welcome to the Railwire Randy!  Good to see you here! 

For a full disclosure, I have been bugging Randy for I think over 10 years, to finally complete his Flying Yankee project.  But I'm very patient and I still hope to be able to eventually buy a model of the Flying Yankee mastered by Randy.   

[zephyr9900]

Thank you, Peteski.  I hope to have some progress to show soon.  (But haven't I been saying that for about 14 years?!?) 

Randy

[mr_mike_m]

Greetings All!
My name is Mike Maloney, and I've lurked the Railwire for a while. I'm on some of the other forum sites, and post when I can, or have something cogent to add to the conversation.

Switched from HO to N about 12 years ago, and have done a couple Hollow Core Door layouts (poorly, I may add). Active member in Northern NJ Ntrak club, and working on a few oNetrak module designs and about to start fresh on yet another HCD. Trying my hand at weathering/detailing rolling stock, and soon, custom paint. 

-MM

[aquaper]

Randy,
Did you make any progress on that McKeen you were working on?  I'd dearly love to buy a shell!
Paul