Welcome!

Howdy and welcome to the home of the Spindletop Railroad!

I have set up this blog as a place to document the development of my freelance HO scale railroad and eventual layout as well as a place to leave the various other railroading and modeling items I decide to ramble on about.

A bit of background on me:  I am and always have been a foamer.  My parents swear the third word I ever learned was "choo-choo".  For newer than me people, a foamer is the term used to describe railfans who going a bit above and beyond the normal, whatever that may be. I received my first HO train set around the time I was 7 years old as a Christmas gift.  My parents stayed up all night to assemble an F3, 4 cars, a caboose, and a loop of track.  They were all Athearn Blue Box and I still have all of them to this day.  I even plan on updating the loco to DCC and detailing it.  I converted to N scale in high school due to the convenient size and built my first layouts while in college.  A year and a half before I graduated, I converted back to HO when I joined the local club.  Those were some of the best guys I have ever had the pleasure of meeting.  Today, I live near Houston, TX and work as a Manufacturing Engineer at an oil and gas pipeline facility and am happily married.  I am looking at joining a local club but have yet to get around to going and visit any of them.  But enough of the boring stuff.

Currently the SRR is only an amorphous idea I have rattling around in the 'ol noggin but I am working on getting the back story written and set.  The basis for the SRR is a modern day regional/shortline that is headquartered out of my hometown of Beaumont, TX, and extends out to other areas in the state.  My current train of thought (pardon the puns.  There will be more though, just a friendly heads-up) is having the line run primarily in the Southeast Texas area, from the coastal waters up into the Piney Woods.  That is likely to be modified as time goes on and I develop the idea though.  I will be posting updates to the story as I come up with them so be sure to check for updates!  Hopefully I can get the first draft up by the week's end.

My current layout is a simple loop and passing siding of Bachmann EZ Track that travels around the walls of my apartment's train room on 1-by wood planks.  There is not much to realism (heck, not even any scenery yet) but it does give me a place to let the trains run.  Which is what is most important in my opinion!  This is only a temporary layout as the wife and I are planning a move into a more permanent location in a few months.  Once we move, I will begin planning the new layout.  I am hoping for enough room to do decent amounts of switching work as well as continuous running.  For now though, I am happy painting some boards green and calling it grass hahaha!

So welcome to the blog and feel free to comment or ask questions!