This started as a PM between me and Monon Guy. Jim is a DC person and he gave me some evil decoders. Anyway, we started talking about each other layouts and this was my answer. It all so is my Train History so to speak. I will tell you up front, some of the pictuers are not pretty. But thanks to this great site and people like Crandell, Art Hill, T Stage, Jeff W, Simon 1966, Randy, Davied B and other’s I have came a long way. Still have a long way to go. Special thanks to my LHS K-10 Model Trains.
Remember this was a PM. All so love to see any pictuers you folks have to share.
Cuda Ken.
Mine layout is pretty good sizes, that is the draw back to it. When I got into trains I had a good sizes slot car tack, had around 320 feet of slot car track. When I got my first train set I had pulled all the slot car track and was laying down green indoor outdoor carpeting on the bench work. I knew nothing about trains and was not a modeler so track on the carpet seemed like a good idea.
Well I got hooked on trains and they took over the bench. My bench has many problems, to wide, not level and against the wall on three sides. Plus I had not found my LHS K-10 Model Trains yet or any web sites so I had no idea to what I was doing. I all so wired it like a slot car track, long wires, some of the feeders are 25 feet long! Problem is it is so big, it would take for ever to tear it all down and start over again. Plus I don’t have the funds, I am going to make $20,500.00 less this year than 2007.
Other reason I have not torn it a part is it works so darn well! Trains will run for weeks with no derailments and when there is, it a rolling stock problem not a track problem. B lines main run is around 85 feet, A line main run 80 feet. A line all so can run through the new section, K-10 Mining it is 95 feet. B Line has a 20 foot passing spur and&
interesting thread you have started here. I guess we all have quite different model railroading “careers”. Mine started 46 years ago when my parents gave me a Marklin starter set for Christmas. It was just an oval of tinplate track, a fantasy 0-4-0, and two tinplate 4-wheeled coaches, together with a Faller depot kit, which I still have. Over the years, Christmas and birthday presents contributed to the start and a little empire grew. I started to read MR when I was 13. Even though I had a hard time to translate the articles and to understand, I was fascinated by the high level of craftsmanship displayed there - hardly known in Europe in those days. My Marklin layout got out of service and I sold off my Marklin stuff at the age of 16, shortly before I went to the US as an exchange student. Upon return, I had no time to pick-up the hobby again, because I had to make up a lot of school stuff. Some time later, the bug bit again and I built a small N scale layout, followed by Z scale. Both layouts were sold shortly after completion, as my studies did not allow for further funds and time to be invested into the hobby. Finishing my studies, starting my job career, finding a girl to marry, building a house, raising a family kept me away from being an active model railroader for nearly 20 years, until I decided to try my luck and see whether I can still build a layout. For reasons of nostalgia I did the re-start with a Marklin starter set again, followed by a narrow gauge shelf-layout. I was just about to start my first US prototype layout, when the financial crisis struck and washed away my business. I sold all my MR stuff to pay for meals and I am again condemned to arm-chairing. No idea when I can finance a restart… [sigh]
My train history started in Panama Canal Zone, Christmas, 1947. My career Army father gave me a Lionel train set with a big steam locomotive. My mother always claimed he bought it for himself since I was too young to understand it. At age 3 1/2, I promptly dropped the loco out the window. Since our quarters were on stilts on a concrete pad, the loco “bought the farm”. I don’t remember any of this, but it became an oft retold family story.
Spent all the rest of my childhood (in many states and countries) interested only in model planes and rockets. Dad never bought another train set until after he retired in 1966 and moved to Arizona in 1980. It was Lionel of course.
I didn’t buy any model trains until 2004, after I retired from the Air National Guard but still worked full time with the Veterans Administration. I bought the HO models only at the relentless urging of my oldest grandson. Since then, he and I have gone big time into freight and passenger model railroading, with temporary layouts of EZ track, DCC control, and sound locos all over the house. I fully retired this year and now have a lot of time to run trains and plan a permanent layout. My grandson, now a college sophomore, still vists during school vacations to run trains with me. My youngest grandson, age 7, likes Thomas. And my son, now working for Pacer Stacktrains, has HO models of containers and well cars on his desk. He just had a daughter, who I will introduce to trains when she’s ready. Dad, who passed away in 1989, would have been proud.
BTW, my daughter and grandsons live in Troy, Illinois so we go to K-10’s frequently when I’m i
this is a great topic. If I had pictures of my earlier efforts they would certainly be put on this topic. I too have come a long way thanks to the great folks here at the forum.[:D]
Also just wanted to bump this great subject back to the front.
Wow, when you have visual evidence, you really HAVE come a long way Ken. You clearly have some natural ability here, you just needed the right guidance back in the beginning. Heck I remember the first time you were the one who provided the answer to someone’s DCC question. That was a huge milestone right there - from someone who had no idea what DCC was to being able to help others. And so we pay it forward.
I need to get a scanner, most evidence of my early doings are on Polaroids. A few of our earliest are on 35mm slides, my Dad had a imple manual Kodak 35mm camera which I honestly don’t remember, although there are slides from our second house. I distinctly remember the Polaroid though. Earliest evidence of model railroading is an 8mm silent movie with me at age 2 running an HO train around the CHristmas tree. Once we moved we started with a 4x4, then added a 2x2 N scale layout, then expanded the HO to 4x8 and finally 5x10. The first layout that was truly mine was a 2x4 N scale that got left up all year, then after my Dad passed away I did a 4x4 HO and then a 4x8 HO and finally a 3x6 N scale layout (that still exists at my Mom’s house - needs a LOT of work to make it run again). I was completely out of the hobby during college and for a few years after, then I started a small shelf layout of which I have no pictures, and also joined a club. The again I was out of the hobby for a while, until building my previous layout which is seen on my web site.
Heck Randy folks like you paid for it during my learning curve! God, it was only this March after Simon 1966 came over and found the to thin of Bus wire that I finally stopped cooking decoders! Have not BBQ a decoder in 6 months! [:D] I was driving helpful folks like you and David B nuts in the DCC section!
By the way Randy, little surprised you did not jump my butt about the 25 foot feeder wires, they are 22 gage so it has not been a problem.
One of the things that hampered me on this site is I did not under stand the terms used and some people are quick to tell you what to do, but not why! After about 8 months I started to have major derailing problems. Folks here told me to replaces the wheel sets with metal ones, wheels where going out of gage. Hum, mine are plastic and wheels can’t move so that not the problem! What I did not know is plastic axles will warp! Then I under stood!
IMHO, my true mile stone was when I fixed my PCM Y6-b. After 200 hours it stated shorting out. Sent it back to PCM two times and they could not fix it! Larry told me they have had a few with this problem and they could never fix the problem! I could have a different engine, but they did not have any PCM Y6-b’s and I sure did not want a Blue line to replaces a $700.00 engine. ( I do like Blue Line ). Had BLI send me the Y6-b back and it is now dragging 42 coal cars like they are nothing.
I remember way back when you had a few too many frustrations, but you came here and aired them out. So many people give up when they should simply seek out advice from people with experience. That applies to most of life if not all. Sadly, my layout is still on hold due to the insanity of the economy. Love how your layout grew in more than just size. Great pictures.
That quality is what always made me feel proud and full of admiration for Ken. I knew he was a “hurtin’ unit” for quite a while where many would have chucked everything into the back of their pickup and taken it all to the county dump. Not Ken. He persisted. He inquired. He observed. He thought, and thought some more. Then he began to take things apart to see what made them work. The rest is a history that I still have to go through myself…but I’m too skeeered. [(-D]
It couldn’t happen to a nicer guy, Ken. Way to go.
Well folks, I am one of the really lucky chaps that not only met Ken here on the forum, but have had the pleasure of meeting him in person and running trains with the boys on his layout. We live less than 5 miles apart, but the forum is what got us together. Andrew and Crispy (it is really Christopher, but Crispy the nickname stuck) love to go to Ken’s. A trip to Ken’s invariably involves the boys grabbing favorite locos from our layout and giving them a run on Ken’s. It also seems to involve the boys rooting around in dusty boxes under the layout, accompanied by ooohs! and aahs! as the discover long lost treasures. Now not to be rude of anything, but Ken has a collection of Life Like and cheap Bachmann trains gathering dust under the bench that would make any train show dealer proud! [:D] Ken freely admits that most of these were early e-bay mistakes and when you see the array of BLI power and better freight cars on the layout, you can see he has really moved on. Being the generous sole that he is, my boys often come home with “treasures” from under the bench. I am not sure, but I think Ken might be using my boys to slowly but surely clear out the mess under the layout [:)]
Anyways, I digress. It comes over in the pictures, but most certainly from first hand, you can see the dramatic improvement in Ken’s layout. The new sections he is working on now, look very good indeed.
Ken, the auction is finally over, so life in my house will return to normal. I am heading out of town on Tuesday to attend The Craftsman Structure show near Boston. I am really looking forward to it as I am signed up for a hands on clinic with Dave Frary, one of the masters in my book. Once I get back from that, next week, things should settle down for the remainder of the year.
Great topic I just wish I had to foresight to keep track of my model railroading both good and bad over the years but never did. Your progess has come a long way from the billiard table express look to what you have now. I will say one thing is a common denominator we all share as your railroad grows your garage gets smaller and smaller… lol isn’t it amazing how they just seem to take on a life of their own and take over real estate like the blob in the old Steve McQueen movie.
I remember quite a few threads from Ken (and a few PM’s to boot) about his earlier problems. I also remember a lot of threads from Ken about how he rather fearlessly solved them, or at least found out what the problems were. And some of those problems were things that would have made me yell “AARGH!”, throw my hands in the air and take up another hobby like underwater basket-weaving. [:P] But he’s kept at it, by golly. That’s dedication in my book.
And the layout has turned into something I really look forward to when he posts in WPF. IMO, this guy has given new meaning to the term “Learning Curve.” Absolute and constant upwards improvement.
On thing on the cheap Life Like and Tyco collection. They where not mistakes off E-Bay, they where the only names I knew at the time! What the heck was a Athearn anyway?
I did not want this post to turn into a Cuda Ken Fan Club! I was hoping to see some pictures of other people layouts. Plus hear some of there tales of mistakes and accomplishment’s.
(switching to Ed Grimley voice) That Ken seems like a pretty decent fellow, don’t you know…
Here are a couple of shots of my layout from our PM conversation that prompted this thread
I can’t define my actual train history. I did nothing through high school, college, a series of one-bedroom apartments, small house, young family. As the family grew, we got a larger house with a basement, and my interest slowly kindled. Set up a 4x8, then something larger, though it remained mostly Plywood Central. It got torn down when we bought a new basement (I had to put a house over it to keep the rest of the family happy) but money got tight, job got busy, and we unexpectedly had another kid (who in their right mind has newborns at age 41?) so the new layout was even slower coming. But it’s been underway for about 2 1/2 years, and is the first that’s been anything more than absolutely basic. So the model railroading bug with me hasn’t been a sudden flood of inspiration, but more of a slowly, inexorably growing and consumingI infection. I also have picked up a wealth of valuable information and techniques from lurking about these forums, before even making a single posting.
I agree with Crandell on everything except where he implies that Ken wouldn’t load up his stuff and truck it to the dump. In one of his first postings, he threatened to do exactly that!
I remember some of Ken’s first postings. He was tired, frustrated and probably angry at all the problems he was having and was ready to “chuck it all”. He was brand-new to the hobby and a wet-behind-the-ears newby! No wonder he had so many problems, given what he started with!
The truth is, now that a few years have gone by, Ken has progressed far beyond the “newby” stages and is now on a leadership level, not only with his modeling but also with his willingness to share his hobby with others.
I live in the same area as Ken and Simon and I’ve been invited to Ken’s layout on more than one occassion. Unfortunately, I haven’t been able to accept the invitations (my bad!). Hopefully, I’ll be invited again sometime and will be able to accept the invitation.
Seeing pictures of Ken’s layout and his progress emphasizes the positive impact this forum ha
Jim thanks so much for posting your pictures! Jim layout is what I am going to be shooting for later. When I find time to go back to Indy to visit Mon and Dad I hope we can meet and Sing, Sing, Sing. (Inside joke about Big Band music) If you ever make it my way, you have a places to stay.
Darrell, again you are way to kind. You are one of the people that help me when I got started! The trick of flipping the wheel set over if a car picked a turnout is one of the best trick I have been given yet! Plus, I still have your MRC 2400. (My MRC 1300 died and Darrell loaned / gave me a MRC 2400 3 years ago?)
Far as coming over Darrell, PM me your number, anytime I am home you and the Grandkids are welcome! Maybe you and your grandkids can come over when Simon and his lads are over. (I only have one Digitrax Throttle Simon has 3 or so, but maybe K-10 would loan me a few).
This thread has given me inspiration. Thanks Ken. I am currently sans layout, but I always enjoy setting up some EZ track and operating trains. Like Ken, I too was involved in other hobbies. I used to play video games and worked my way to become an Eagle Scout. Now most of the friends that I played video games with have gone on to other hobbies. They aren’t in trains, but a couple are looking to get started in it.
