My Bio

How I Started Liking Model Trains  (1974)

My interest in model trains began when I was in high school. I was into HO slot cars and one day my dad said to me, "You should get interested in trains." From that moment on, I became interested in model trains and I do not know how this happened.

My dad had a few HO scale items but I didn't know what to do with them. One weekend we went to the Redwood Drive-in swap meet in Salt Lake City, Utah and he bought a large box of odd stuff for $75. I dug into the box and began fixing up an Athearn GP-9 with rubberband drive. I repainted it in B&M colors and got it running. After that, I took a 4' x 8' sheet of plywood and laid down an oval of Code 100 brass track. This was not really a layout, rather a test track for the locos I was fixing up.

O Scale Model Trains in Texas (1983-1987)

I went to college in Waxahachie, Texas in 1983 and renewed my interest in O scale 2-rail. The Athearn trucks and Kadee couplers were cheap and I built the models out of anything I could find. This time was my favorite time of model building and I loved what I created.

This photo was taken when I had a few of my models on display at the library.

Billy Haynes, who took the photo, told me he was Malcolm Furlow's cousin.

The On30" Years  (1991-2008)

After I finished college I moved to Colorado and became interested n On30".

The appeal of On30" was that I could create unique models that no one else had. I explored scratchbuilding, and kitbashing HO bodies.

The White Pass & Yukon Railway was interesting and I collected all the books I could find. CDS dry transfers were used to letter my cars.

Then I desired to know what others were doing and I put a classified ad in The Narrow Gauge and Shortline Gazette. Responses were good; people sent photos and drawings. I started a newsletter "The On30" Interchange" as a way to draw people together. I did know how to run a newsletter and at that time using photos while printing the pages at home did not produce good results.     

The publisher suggested I write an On30" book but he would not tell me what he had in mind. He said I had to write to manufacturers and get free items.

I contacted Granitecreek Enterprises and asked Michael if he would donate a few of his r-t-r rollingstock. He said yes if I would build a website for him. The deal was made. I did his website until he decided not to advertise any longer. He was also interested in 7/8n2' and I scratchbuilt a logging caboose for him that had a working hand brake.

While working on the On30" book, I lost my union job and was so depressed that I couldn't continue working on the book. When I showed the publisher what I had so far, he got mad at me and said it would never sell.

A year later, I finished the book and sent .pdf copies to those who sent me stuff. I sold a few copies on CD on ebay. I printed out one color copy for myself. I lost intrest in On30" and sold everything I had.

This was one year after I moved from Colorado to Illinois.

Titanya & Highlands: Back to O Scale  (2009)

At sometime around 2009, I took an interest in O scale again. 2-rail didn't look promising as the availibility of parts was limited and there was a large choice of rollingstock in 3-rail.

I built a small layout using Lionel Fastrack. The track did not have reliable electrical connections and I thought my locomotives were defective. I had to run wire under all the pieces of track to get reliable current flow. Then my locomotives ran fine.

I bought several locomotives and found they ran too fast, even on a low power setting. This was disappointing. One loco I bought used did not run at all and my research led to the conclusion that the circuit board was defective. I removed the circuit board and converted it to DC. Now it ran better than the AC locos. I converted the other three to DC also.

I converted them by putting the positive lead on the center rail and the negative lead on the outside rails. The switches were powered by an another power pack. There were no accessories powered from the track.

Tromz Valdirea: Science-Fiction/Fantasy
HO Model Trains  (2011-2018)

I missed the charm of creating unique models, so I went back into HO and looked for a way to mix science-fiction & fantasy into my trains. One of my first efforts was my "Colony 5" loco, number 5-11, which is the month and year I completed it. I was able to share photos on bulleting boards and other places.

An HO layout was started on the cabinets of the O scale layout. I did not have success building it--nothing turned out as I had hoped. The track buckled in one spot as the rails must have needed freedom to expand and contract. The scenery looked bad.

I did have success of sorts constructing freight cars. I kitbashed any kind of HO car I could find.

I came up with an idea based on the movie "Monolith Monsters." What if there were growths of carbon that were being harvested and sold like coal? I built a few cars to explore the possibilities. This railroad was called the Edreco-Cymarta Railroad.

By 2017 I was getting tired of working at my job and my interest in trains crashed to a halt. Once again I sold everything and took up learning to weld.

Edreco-Cymarta Railroad-HO Revived (2020)

Even though I left model trains, I still had an interest in the Edreco-Cymarta/Monolith Monsters idea. But this time I was going to do extensive planning and layout design before I bought any models.

Midway 2021, I retired from work and moved to Wyoming. My new house afforded all sorts of space for trains, which was encouraging. I continued planning.

My decision was that I would only use sectional track that I could remove from the layout and use again. I chose Kato HO track. Also I wanted to run DC and DCC. Some Atlas DCC equipment was purchased along with two
MRC HO/N powerpacks.

I chose a room in my house and set the limits for the layout. The legs are metal sawhorses and I used sliding closet doors and plywood from a built-in shelf I tore out. Sawhorses can be used for other things in the future if needed and the layout boards were all free.

HO Projects (2024-2025)

Below are several of the projects I have completed within the last two years.

To see my current work visit: On the Work Bench