I specialize
in Northwest road names such
as Great Northern, SP&S, Northern Pacific, Milwaukee Road, Union Pacific,
Southern Pacific, Burlington Northern, Burlington Northern Santa Fe, and so
forth.
I grew up
around some of the great
Washington State rail lines. I watched steamers switching at Mabton in the
Yakima Valley. I saw and rode the SP&S 4-6-6-4 Challenger at Wishram and
watched trains lumbering through the Columbia Gorge. I heard the horns of the
great diesels running along the cliffs of the Hangman Valley near Spokane. I
rode in the orange Empire Builder cars. As a one-time newspaper reporter, I
wrote and photographed the last of the hobos at the Pasco hump yards.
Most recently,
I've enjoyed the new Amtrak Talgo that runs through South Olympia. There's nothing like the
rumble of the Genesis engines by Safeco Field during a Seattle Mariners game. I
like trains and I have modeled in O-Gauge since I was a youngster.
My updated layout
utilizes features of the
Mike's Train House (MTH) Digital Command System (DCS) and Lionel Trainmaster
Command Control (TMCC) operating schemes. I also have QSI and conventional
locomotives.
