Thursday, July 17, 2008

Introductions and Beginnings

One of the more challenging parts of putting a site like this together is determining where to actually start. After that, it becomes easier to throw out the "weekend update" or a series of photos, as the visitors already know who you are, and what you're about.

So, by way of introduction, I'm Matthew (OV) ... born a Connecticut Yankee, and more recently moved to the "Piedmont" of North Carolina, though the local wisdom is that I'm in no danger of shedding my "Yankee" title, and I'm doing my best to maintain my New England voice too!

The Slate Creek Railway is my 1:20.3 scale model railroad which has thus far been confined to the basement, but the backyard is just a window away! An indoor railroad in large scale is less common than the outdoor variety, particularly in 1:20.3 where the 45mm between the rails represents 3 feet instead of the 4 feet 8.5 inches of standard gauge represented by 1:29 and 1:32 layouts, and the models are therefore proportionally larger. But the railroad is air conditioned in the summer (important in central North Carolina!,) and heated in the winter, and allows for a lot of interesting possibilities with respect to scenery that would never work outdoors and exposed to the elements. This website will chronicle the construction of the railroad (not my favorite part, as evidenced by the glacial pace of the scenery!) as well as the locomotives and rolling stock, and as things develop, I hope the operations and backstory will develop here as well. My shop is now up and running, and I hope to be able to document progress on a number of kits that have been waiting for some time to see the light of day. These include a couple of Bob McCown's steel EBT boxcars, a Northeast Narrow Gauge coach, a Don Winter (OV) flanger, and the now semi-famous Azalea, though mine is very different from the ones the rest of the group are building . . . more about that later.

For now, welcome, and enjoy the tour . . . I'll be back soon with some history, and even some prehistory of the railroad to date.

5 comments:

The Outcast said...

Ah. One-twenty-point-you, eh?
Keep at it!

Matthew (OV) said...

One Twenty Point Me Too!

Joe said...

That railroad is going to be MINT!
I will be watching for updates :)
nice job Matt.

Joe

NB said...

Lets get the inside done before we go out the window. Just because there is a horse farm ALL the way in the back of your yard does NOT mean poor #35 has to go waaaaaay down there. (Oh and make sure if you do that, you put in a BIG crossing. I hear there are unmanned F150's in the area...)

Matthew (OV) said...

Unmanned F-150's? Not anymore. The one was enough! Actually, I hadn't thought about going all the way to the 1:1 horse farm, but that's not a bad idea. All I need now is about a lottery win's worth of track....

And yeah, we'll make sure the inside scene is well underway before taking on any more subcontinents .... but it's fun to think about! With any luck, #35 will have a loading chute at Midway before too much longer, too!

Matthew (OV)