Getting Started

Because I simply don't have enough pokers in the fire already, I have decided that I am going to revisit one of my first hobbyist loves, the Model Railroad.

I have always had an interest in trains and model railroading, I think I have an interest in anything that simulates real life and lets me control it, but that is another issue entirely. I have had many, many layouts throughout my life. At one point I lived in an apartment and my main bedroom was the train layout and my bed was in the walk-in closet. Yeah, the chicks really liked that!

I blame this last revisit to Train modelling on my wife, she got us started building a Christmas Village this past year and it started me thinking. I decided that we really needed some type of motion in the village, a trolley.
After some searching around, it became obvious to me the answer was the Bachmann auto-reversing On30 Trolley set. A quick search of Ebay turned one up at a very reasonable price and that was it, we had our first piece of On30 equipment and I was falling in love all over again.

I had started in HO years and years ago but quickly moved down to N scale because you could fit some huge switching yards in a small area.  But the detail was never there hence another reason to fall for On30.

For those who don't know what On30 is, its O scale (1/4 inch = 1 ft), of a Narrow Gauge railroad where the rails would be only 2 1/2 feet or 30 inches apart.

O Scale
N Narrow Gauge
30 inches

Now the cool things about that is, that just happens to be HO track!

So, bigger cars, bigger people, bigger buildings, more detail, small easy to setup track.


So here is the original premise of the WT&F.

Era is mid 1950's back country/mountains of someplace in the Georgia?

It is a a mixture of Evergreens and Deciduous trees.

The town is a somewhat poor mining town (with the exception of Tarnable who is wealthy).

Structures are mostly Brick and Lumber in town, mostly Lumber structures out of town (maybe log cabins, shanties), with the exception of Fitch who lives in a trailer (see below).

Main Characters :

 Edgar (the Walrus cuz he is fat) Wallibus

 Thomas (TomTom) Tarnable

  Eli Fitch (folks call him Evil-Eye , cuz he only has one eye, he lost the other in a Still Explosion).

The Railroad is a local narrow gauge line serving the town of Whosaton (Who-sa-ton) as well as the Wallibus Foundry/Smelting plant ,  Tarnable Mining and Fitch’s Repair shop & Scrap yard.

The town consists of a General Store/Post Office,  Café, Bar/Pool Hall and a Truck Dock

Wallibus owns the Foundry/Smelting plant that processes the ore from Tarnable’s iron mine as well as melting down scrap metal/iron. The resulting products are shipped out by truck.

Wallibus and Fitch live in homes along the rail line. Wallibus lives in Log Cabin near the foundry .  Eli Fitch runs a still and supplies hooch to the Pool Hall and men who work the line. Fitch lives in an old Spartan Travel Trailer that was modified by removing the axles and replacing them with the wheels from an old train car so the trailer could be hauled up the rail to a siding on Fitch’s property where it now sits. Tarnable lives in town and also owns the Pool Hall. A Diesel powered Critter/Switcher serves to move ore/scrap to and from the mine, smelting plant and truck dock.A Railbus delivers mail and groceries (and Eli’s hooch) along the rail as well as taking the folks into and back home from town.