Good day, OGR Forum! My name is Elliott Barber and I am happy to have the opportunity to be a part of this forum. In the last few months as my interest in 3-Rail has intensified, and my Google searches have become almost exclusively 3-Rail related, I have found myself lurking about here rather regularly.
I guess you could say I was "born into" the wonderful world of railfanning and model railroading. My father used to travel all over the country, sometimes very suddenly, to photograph trains. In fact, most of my earliest childhood memories involve trains. From seeing Soo Line units under the orange glow of the yard lights in North Dakota to sitting on Dad's lap "driving" through the BN yard in Helena alongside the F-Unit helpers, to chasing UP #3985 around Point of the Mountain in Utah as she set brushfire after brushfire and the wonderful smell of coal smoke filled our little B210.
When I was younger we had a respectable 4' x 8' N Scale layout in the garage that provided us countless hours of entertainment. When we moved from that house we had to settle with temporary layouts from time to time using Unitrak (when it became available) and the annual G Scale Christmas train around the tree. But that didn't stop my Dad and me from collecting N Scale equipment. Then I had a friend who wanted a layout a few years ago, so I helped him build an HO Scale "L" shaped layout in his garage. Which, of course, meant I HAD to get some equipment to use on his Western Pacific inspired layout. But the seed for 3-Rail was planted when I purchased the Lionel Lionchief 10th Anniversary "Polar Express" set for my daughter, and the family, to have a Christmas train for OUR tree. The small oval grew and grew each year, and this last year it was not only encircling the ENTIRE formal living room, but additional trackage rights were granted by the Boss Lady for it to spill over into the formal dining room. Additional trains were purchased, sidings put in place, and all of a sudden I was completely enamored by O Scale. What was once going to be an N Scale Empire in the three-car garage is now going to be a
3-Rail Extravaganza. HAHA
I just purchased my first 2 big locomotives yesterday... Lionel's beautiful rendition of UP #844 and the Lionel JLC coal-fired #3985. I'm excited to begin building my 3-Rail layout so that I can get these beauties out of their boxes and stretch their legs. 
( https://ogrforum.ogaugerr.com/.../3-car-garage-layout )
I look forward to getting to know you and I hope I can SOMEHOW be a productive member of the forum.
- Elliott
Original Post
I feel like I am WAAAAAAY behind. I keep seeing things like the very nice MTH Union Pacific CA-1 Cabooses and I have been looking high and low. I suspect most are securely in the hands of other fans of UP steam. Might have to settle for CA-2s, 3s, and 4s. Believe me... there are a number of pieces of rolling stock that will be coming to live with me in the near future. 
