About
About me
I have been a railfan since I was six months old. My grandpa often took me and my four-year-old cousin to watch trains at the station. Or, at least, that is what I have been told.
My dad built me a small N scale layout when I was about seven. I spent countless hours running trains on it. The layout did not follow a specific prototype but had a Central European flavor. In the mid-1980s, that was what most modelers could find on the market.
During my teenage years, I started experimenting with HO scale. I built a small Italian modular layout that fit inside my room.
I lost interest in trains when I was about fifteen or sixteen. Around that time, I began playing in bands and focusing on music and friends. A few years later, I returned to the hobby and built another Italian HO modular layout.
After moving into a smaller apartment, I switched back to N scale. Later, when I moved into a basement with a house on top, I began a larger proto-freelanced Austrian ÖBB layout set in the early 2000s.
North American railroads fascinated me starting in the mid-2000s. Eventually, I tore down the Austrian layout and built an N scale section of the Southern Pacific Coast Line in California.
That layout, set in the 1970s, lasted a few years. Even though it never received full scenery, I had a lot of fun hosting operating sessions with my model railroader friends.
After many years of modeling the Southern Pacific in N scale, I decided to move on and create a freelanced HO scale railroad.
About the Buffalo Creek & Western Railroad HO scale layout
Leaving N scale was not easy. The higher level of detail and extra room inside locomotives for DCC sound decoders and speakers made the difference. My eyesight is not what it used to be, and that also played a part in the choice.
The layout remains in the planning stage. I am finishing an N scale switching layout that I want to operate for a while before starting the Buffalo Creek & Western project.
On this website, it is always late summer of 1985. The layout captures a time when short lines thrived and early diesels still worked hard on many railroads. More details are available on the track plan page.
Why do I model North American railroads if I am European?
I started modeling European railroads as a kid. Then, in the early 2000s, I subscribed to Model Railroader magazine. Reading about North American trains quickly sparked my interest. A trip to the United States in 2004 confirmed my decision to switch to American modeling.
Since then, I have continued the hobby on and off. My main focus now is developing the Buffalo Creek & Western layout.