My Railroad Evolution, What's Yours?

I'm still relatively new to the hobby so I'm still in the early stages of evolution.  I too started as a loop runner, mostly because that's all I could understand.  Now I've branched out to a more complex layout with multiple switching options.  I don't think I'll every run more complex operations as my own hobby, but I will make some allowances for them in the layout - just so I could show of some cool things to visitors.

Regarding your affinity for certain lines, I've yet to develop that.  I understand lots of people model particular railroads, but I'm far more partial to creating something unique and one of a kind.  I have NYC and Penn RR trains on my layout, but that's more because they fit with the northeast region I'm partial to and from and not because of any great love for the lines themselves.

My evolution:

• Over the very long term (looking back over all seven layouts in 57 years): from simple use of the third dimension (two or three flat "levels" with a loop restricted to that level alone on each one -->to much more complicated use of the third dimension: multiple loops that run through as many as three levels passing under and over one another repeatedly.
• -From operation-based layout (big train yards, lots of sidings and many switches, etc.) to just the longest loops I can arrange with no switches.
• From operation (I stand and watch and "operate" the train) to just setting them going and leaving them running, sometimes for hours while I'm not even close to the controls.
• From a bit of pre-war, post-war and lots of traditional and semi-scale to only scale (or very close to it): the pre- and post-war is on display shelves - the rest I got rid of.
• To much more focus on the scenery and terrain and buildings and more realistic detail.
• To a lot of 'Streets and many trucks and cars.

And this has never changed:

- ATSF and UP  . . .

- Big steam: ATSF 2900 Northerns and Mallets, UP FEFs, Challengers and Big Boys, and anything big and powerful elsewhere (T-1s, Yellowstones, Alleghenies).

- Paint it ATSF Warbonnett and I'll probably buy it.

I'm one of those.... I started out in tinplate in 1947. I'm still 100% tinplate.

No, I can't say that my perspective and tastes regarding our hobby have changed very much over the past many years. I still love passenger trains, I really am not particular about road names so long as their equipment looks "good", and I still like running as many trains on the layout as is practical. I still like both steam and diesel with no preference.

I guess you could call this set in my ways and that is OK too.

My evolution has been diversity of scales and a variety of mostly smaller layouts with different scales and themes.

I started with O gauge tubular and 027 tubular track and still use mostly O gauge tubular. Not going over to Fastrac or Realtrax as it limits what I can do with my track laying.

As for railroads I have graduated to the Reading Railroad; Reading Lines, Reading Company, Northern & Reading, and now looking for Philadelphia and Reading Railways items. I have some rolling stock for a few other railroads like Pennsy, Lehigh Valley, DT&I, and Strasburg PA. Still have a Santa Fe "El Capitan" diesel passenger set.

Lee Fritz

I started out with a Lionel Scout Steamer and a SF Warbonnet as a kid in the early 60's.

As a Second run I started with whatever caught my eye, Docksider & caboose in SP&S, Generic (PRR) Steam starter set, then I saw the MTH Imperial Railking Big Boy set and I was off to the races.

I made a loop in the Dining room until the other half got really tired of it, then I was in the Basement. 1st Layout on really crappy benchwork was with RealTrax but was a decent figure 8 with outer loop of 11' x 10'.  That extended to 11' x 23' figure 8 in the main part of the basement.

Then I decided to Limit myself to the area of my youth and the lines that ran there.

So now I only Buy Rio Grande (various sub flavors) and UP. Yup, I'm keeping the Big Boy, I Still Love it. I have several Steamers now due in the Paint shop to become Rio Grande. I've been careful and I believe the D&RG had some of each type I own.

I'm still in the market for a Challenger when the cash flow improves.

Now in work is the Benchwork design for around the walls in that area at 16.5' x 23.5' with a major liftout section in one corner to access the rest of the basement.

The stairs will come down inside the loop after I reposition the walkway.

I will also be swapping up to ScaleTrax for the layout with 2 Ross O-72 Wye switches to make it work.

The new layout also will have several industries to make operations workable. Currently I'm a looper since all my sidings are full of trains. The Built in under layout storage will clear that off once I finish the new layout. It also has 2 sidings for most industries so I can drop off and pick up without getting too fancy.

I still don't have a layout, but have noticed some changes in my hobby.  I started mainly with a loop of Lionel O-54 tubular track and a NYC Flyer starter set under our Christmas tree.  A few years later I added my mom's small collection of ceramic buildings and figures.  From there everything kind of got big.  I'm up to around 20 locomotives that all vary in road names, era's of production and types of power.  The ceramic building collection has grown as well.  The Christmas display now gets set up as a public event at the Redford Theatre in Detroit, where trains run for each show in December and January.

As of Sunday, I am also volunteering in the shop of my local tourist railroad.  I've gotten used to cleaning and lubricating my models, but that turned into cleaning and polishing a full size steamer (well, a small 4-4-0).  In two weeks I'll be back again and will be working on their other operating locomotive as well as finishing up some work on the 4-4-0.  I've worked one day so far and had a blast doing so.  I also learned a lot during the day.

This photo was taken after I finished my work for the day on the locomotive.  I still have to polish most of the brass on the cylinder heads, the number plate, the domes and a couple more handrails.  When I walked in the shop at 7 that morning, her jacketing was still pretty dull from the soot from the last operating season, as well as all the dust she collected sitting in the shop all winter.  The locomotive sitting behind her is a former Michigan Central 4-4-2 which is a static display.

I've stayed with Milwaukee because it was such a interesting railroad. The longest electric line in the country. Lots of great steam and some very interesting diesel combinations. By the way, staying with one railroad has saved me lots of money. I can't stray far. Don