By Chris Wolcott

Author  Bio I've been around model trains all my life.

I've been around model trains all my life. My family always had a layout featuring our railroad, the Wolcott Creek & Western. In California it hung on pulleys over the cars in the garage, in New York it was a large layout that took a full quarter of the basement, in Florida it was a small layout under the bed.

When my wife Susan and I bought our first house, it was too small to have an indoor layout. For an anniversary, she bought me a Bachmann Big Hauler set from a Danmark catalog. Several more sets followed, but we moved before I could get an outside layout started. We lived in several apartments after that, so an outdoor layout was impossible. I did end up putting track down around the walls of the living room.

It was there so long you could still see the track marks in carpet even after we packed it up. It was during this time that Accucraft introduced the Ruby. Once I got my hands on it I was hooked, but was limited to a 4 foot diameter loop in the breezeway for the Live Steam. Now that we have a house again I finally have some track down in the yard, and we hosted our first Garden Club meeting.

Pending projects are adding a mountain range, river bed with a waterfall, trestle and bridge, and a switch yard and engine facility including a roundhouse.

My wife and I belong to both the garden railroad club in Milton, FL (composed of all members fairly new to the hobby and in the discovery process) and the club in Atlanta, GA Both clubs are active in train shows and display club layouts.

In my non-train hours, I work as a programmer for an international EDI software company. I also enjoy sailing, bicycle riding, and Home Automation/Home Theater.

Top of Page