Greetings and Salutations

Here it is, my blog's inaugural post. If you're here you're either, have nothing better to do or you're an SPF (Sloberin' Pennsy Fan) such as myself. My current N Scale layout, the Cherokee Foothills Railroad,  models a freelanced railroad in northwestern South Carolina. I had a lot fun building that layout and thought when space became available, I would simply build a bigger version of the CFRR.

But as time wore on, my tastes in model railroading began to change. For one thing, reading Model Railroader on a regular basis turned me on to the whole idea of operating a model railroad. I find the idea of actually having a couple of guys over and simulating the operations of a real railroad intriguing. It seems like a lot more fun than simply watching the trains aimlessly chase their tails around the layout.

Also, since buying new house and acquiring  space for that big railroad I've been dreaming about since I was a kid, I've come to find designing a totally freelanced layout daunting. You have to work your brain to the max planning deciding what goes where and why. That's then the idea of modeling a prototype (real) railroad line started to sound like a winner. Modeling a prototype railroad gives you a guideline to work from when designing a layout.

Initially I wanted to model the Ulster & Delaware Railroad in Upstate New York. I was pretty gung ho about it too. And then I went and bought Kato's Broadway Limited passenger cars to run with my custom-painted Minitrix K4 Pacific. Watching that train run around my current layout put the idea of modeling the Pennsylvania Railroad. in my head.

Truth be told, I've always wanted to model the Pennsy. I've been a die hard fan since my dad took me to Horseshoe Curve in 1996. But  I have been stymied by the lack of steam locomotives available. Unless you want to spend bucu amounts of money on brass models, there just aren't  many PRR steam locomotives available in N Scale. So I hemmed and hawed for a while longer, weighing the U&D against the PRR. Ultimately the PRR won out.

As it stands now, I'm working on a track plan. I'm also acquiring some Pennsy rolling stock.