The Little Railroad That Grew: Pre-History

Pre-History - My life as a Model Railroader Before Large Scale

Written by Paul Race for Family Garden Trains

You may skip the first few parts if you don't give a diddly how we wound up with a big yard and a garden railroad's worth of trains in the attic long before we broke ground.

1952 - I was born into a working-class family. I put this in because some folks can't figure out why I work from a budget and make careful purchasing decisions about my trains. If you can drop ten grand into the hobby this year and the next and the next without having to worry about whether you've made the right decisions, this article may not be for you.
1964-1982 - S and HO - As a preteen and a teenager, I had an S-gauge railroad. My father had an HO railroad in the garage at the same time. Though most of my S stuff was tinplate at first, I kitbuilt, kitbashed, and scratchbuilt scale locomotives and rolling stock in both scales.

The S stuff went into boxes when I went to college and eventually found its way to a collector, since I didn't space to use it or time to keep it in repair. The HO stuff moved with my Dad to Michigan when he retired.

• Introduction
• Pre-History - My life as a model railroader before Large Scale
• Next: Learning about Large Scale
• First Railroad Outside
• Pond and First Permanent Trackage
• Add-ons and First Open House
• Expansion and Chaos
• First National Open House
• Conclusion

Return to Primer Page

Note: Family Garden Trains^TM, Garden Train Store^TM, Big Christmas Trains^TM, BIG Indoor Trains^TM, and BIG Train Store^TM are trademarks of Breakthrough Communications (www.btcomm.com). All information, data, text, and illustrations on this web site are Copyright (c) 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008 by Paul D. Race. Reuse or republication without prior written permission is specifically forbidden.
Family Garden Trains is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com.

For more information, please contact me

Home Pages		Reading Index Pages		Buyer's Guide Pages

Note: Family Garden Trains^TM, Garden Train Store^TM, Big Christmas Trains^TM, BIG Indoor Trains^TM, and BIG Train Store^TM are trademarks of Breakthrough Communications (www.btcomm.com). All information, data, text, and illustrations on this web site are Copyright (c) 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013 by Paul D. Race. Reuse or republication without prior written permission is specifically forbidden.
Family Garden Trains is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com.

For more information, please contact us