I'm beginning the planning of my next model railroad and I've started a few pages here: based on my inspiration of the Great Northern's Scenic Sub.

The following describes my current model railroad, the Firebaugh Rail Lines.

The FRL is an N-scale (1:160 scale, or about half of the most popular scale HO which is 1:87) set up in a 6½' × 3' layout. Most of the equipment is from the Great Northern railroad, which I picked simply because I liked the color schemes and I figured I could model the Pacific Northwest with mountains and pine forest.

Why the name "Firebaugh"? It's the name of a town in California's central valley - a small agriculture community - and while the Union Pacific Railroad does run through it, I picked the name just because I liked it - I'd see the name on the I-5 exit when driving by. It's fitting because it's always bloody hot there! By the way, if you haven't visited my home page yet, I live in Los Gatos, CA, which is near San Jose.

The FRL is my "testbed" model, I'm using it to learn construction techniques before I try to tackle something bigger. For now it's set up in my office along with my workbench and computer desk. Sometime in the future I might build a bigger railroad in my spare room, which gives me about 9½' × 7' of usable space.