By Steve Amitrano

Author  Bio Indian Summer is upon the high country, the mountains are starting to show their colors and the grasses in the valleys are starting to turn golden brown. The Chili Line is my Sn3 piece of heaven.

I am faced with having to move every three to four years coupled with the fact we may be stationed where housing is a commodity and space is limited. I am now retired from the USAF but my wife is still in for another eight years.

Throughout our many moves in the USAF I found that most spare bedrooms and garages are an average of 10 feet wide by 12 feet long. I used this as a basic design parameter coupled with the fact the railroad had to be movable and not weigh a lot. We also have a maximum household goods weight limit that must be factored into everything. My other intent was to design the layout with the premise if space was tight I could at least set up a portion of it and have some limited operation. Both sides allow this to happen in this event. In an almost direct conflict of having a small layout I also wanted the ability to expand the layout in any direction should this ever come to fruition.

It may be strange but I wanted a railroad that could be finished within a reasonable amount of time so I could operate it. Another factor was the layout had to be lightweight yet durable enough to withstand some rough handling by military contract movers. It is said our household goods see more combat then we do. "Everything" is done with the eye towards surviving moves and limited space.

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