How long have you been a model railroader?

[sumpter250]

My first 4' X 6' layout was started in 1956. Most of the structures were scratchbuilt from card stock, and balsa. The "Public warehouse" article in a 1957 "Model Trains" was one of the first things I built from a magazine "how to", built mostly from cardboard. I've had modules at Milwaukee's "Trainfest" for 20 years now. The 8' X 10' modular layout I started in 1973, that moved every three years, as I changed duty stations, is now all but gone.
My current model railroading is centered around product design, and kit developement for GC Laser. There is a large part of modeling time that goes to sailing ship models, which takes me back to the years before model railroads.
http://forum.zealot.com/t95149/ has a sample of the shipbuilding.
http://forum.zealot.com/t95442/ has a picture of the first layout.
http://forum.zealot.com/t94849/ shows the current modules.

 

[stary]

when I was little, back in the early 60s, my Dad set up an HO layout in our basement. It wasn't very much, just 1 piece of plywood painted a shade of green with a figure 8 of track (all code 100 with brass rail of course-this was the early 60s!:grin with a bridge and a set of Atlas trestles. Later he got a second piece of plywood, laid the 2 pieces end to end got some more track and relaid all of it in an oval stretching the length of both piece. Not very much; but it was enough to keep me and my brothers interested.
Then, a few years later we were in another house, and he set it up again; this time with 2 sidings on the end. But, then it stopped working and we all just lost interest in it, but it always remained in the back of my mind.

Fast forward to the earl 80s and I started building my own HO layout.

Well, to make a long story short (also because I'm getting tired) I'm now in an apt.; and building an N scale layout.

 

[leon]

I remember my Dads Christmas layout whenI was around 2 or 3 years old. Been involved in it at different levels of interest ever since. Right now I am in the process of building a (what I call) permanent layout in the attic. I am 72 yrs old---you figure the time. I don't think my calculater can figure the amount of time which I have been active or arm chairing!!!bounce7

 

[Greg Elems]

I started in earnest in 1969, with a Lionel train set. In 1970 I picked up a couple of Lionel flat cars and made a couple of old time passenger shells to put on them. Card board was cheap and they looked good to me, a 12yr old. Balsa wood was used to make cattle cars next, and they went on the same flat cars. Couldn't run them together but maybe you wouldn't want cattle cars in the same train anyway. :mrgreen: sign1

In high school I experimented with plastic and brass. Since I had to fund my own hobby, I learned how to kit bash and scratch build early on.

Greg

 

[MCL_RDG]

I guess I should say...

...I started modeling by myself when I was 13. But I was always with my dad when he built Xmas layouts- elaborate with auto-routing and multi-trained (My dad was a EE Drexel, banks of relays, snap of them being energized and thrown). I posted earlier about my experience of why I wanted to run trains and always be around them.

Mark

 

[Dave Harris]

I became a model railroader after buying a couple hundred dollars ( 1973 dollars) worth of trains for my oldest son for Christmas & he was not the least bit interested in the dam things!!



I began modeling when I was about 6 or 7 . My first attempt was a Comet stick & paper Ercoupe , this before I even knew about SINGLE EDGE razor blade --all my dad had were double edged-- it never got done --DuhHH.
A few years later I started building Monogram Speede-bilt airplanes --they worked a lot better. I stayed wuith planes for a long time moving thru free flight , C/L into R/C.
Somewhere about 16 years old when plastic cars came out -- (I tried building a Berkley wood 48 Ford Sportsman kit --wood cars suck!!--so do plastic airplanes) I also branched into cars -- I can't count the number of Revells 1/32 ? 32 Ford hot rod kits I built. I still have about a hundred 1/25 kits stashed for building one day in retirement-- been putting them up since the late 60s-- quit buying cars about 20 years ago.
What actually got me into Railroading --(besides a pickey kid !) is that I just plain like to build models of things & i realized that in MR the entire world is up for grabs as a prototype to make a model of & it will have a place in the railroad game --- ever see a airplane guy build an airport --- why would he? & if he did then what ?