I can't say that I really know the answer to that one. I've just loved them since I was a little kid. If you've ever been close to a train as it's been screaming past the RR crossing you know how impressive they are. There's something very romantic about railroads to me, especially when riding one. If you're a rail fan, you know exactly what I'm talking about... if not, I won't try to explain it! ;-)

If you haven't already, I highly suggest that you plan and take an trip by rail. Amtrak's fate appears to be unknown at this point and now is the time to enjoy it while we can.

We try to ride the Milwaukee 261, an ex-Milwaukee steam engine that's been restored to near mint condition, whenever We can because I'm hooked and I have to bring Aim along whether she likes it or not(she does). The image above is the 261. I took that picture when a friend and I chased it to see it cross the St. Croix river on the Wisconsin Central, on it's way to Chicago.

I've more recently been following in the footsteps of the hobo. I've taken two trips already and had a blast! Shhhh... don't tell the feds! :)

On many weekends I can be found running around the Twin Cities chasing trains and taking pictures. There are many places here to see the action. Northtown yard, Pigs eye yard, Hastings, St. Croix Junction, Newport, Coon Creek.. the list goes on. You can read about some good areas on the Twin City Area Railfan Guide, see my (growing)page about some of my favorite spots, or take a look at an old SOO LINE map of the area here, from "SOO LINE in Color". So, if you're ever out taking pictures and see me in a Dark Green Jeep Wrangler, stop and say hello.

I grew up in White Bear Lake, where I used to watch the Burlington Northern and Milwaukee Road run through town on the Scally line on their way to Duluth. Those days are gone and it bums me out. There also used to be a line from White Bear Lake to Stillwater... many of my younger days were filled chasing the local on my bike.

I am certainly no expert in the prototype areas. I haven't memorized any Railroad rosters, and I still have a hard time telling the difference between a GP7 and GP9..or a GP38 and GP40 etc, but I'm learning.

Some people are more into the real thing, and some are more into modeling. I am interested in both. Model railroading can be very relaxing, and very frustrating at times... but I love it.

I model in N scale and my main interests are the Great Northern, Northern Pacific, Burlington Northern, and Milwaukee around 1970. Above are a couple of my first custom detailed and painted units. They're both Athearn units painted with Scale Coat paints and Microscale Decals. This was also my first attempt at photographing my own models.

I now use acrylic paints exclusively with a badger internal mix airbrush. Painting is done in a home made spray booth using a simple air tank that I found at Home depot and it works like a champ. I'm getting better at doing my own weathering with washes and chalks and guys like Scott Seekins keep me motivated. When I see his models I'm always impressed! I THINK he lives here in the Twin Cities and maybe I'll meet him someday.

I'm WAS using my OWN decals created on my Alps1000 Micro dry printer before it decided to DIE on me. Yep, I'm proud to say that I was making my own. I've created decals for Milwaukee Road, Great Northern, and Burlington Northern, all in N scale. For those who are interested there are two very helpful Email lists on Yahoo! Groups,  alpsdecal and rr-decal All the guys on the lists are extremely helpful.

My newest interest is molding, I'm hoping to create some of my own cars and shells very soon. My first attempt was my F45, based on the Lima FP45 model. I was originally motivated by Jim Semikoski. He has done some very impressive molds and he was kind enough to send me a document that describes his methods. Here it is.

I'm continuing to learn new techniques and methods and I love doing it! So I'll share more of my projects here as they occur.