Construction of the Westline & Mussel Rock Railroad

As the Trains, trains, trains page indicates, I've always been interested in railroads. For most of my life, though, it has been little more than that -- an interest. I especially wasn't interested in model trains. In early July 1998, I visited the National Garden Railway Convention in Santa Clara and became was hooked on Gauge 1 (also known as G-scale, though scale and gauge are two different terms).

One weekend shortly thereafter I put on my grubbies and went down and cleared out a space in the garage that's approximately 12 x 30. We could definitely get a layout in that space.

I also started thinking about the specifics of the operation: I wanted live steam, I decided (and picked up a variety of magazines, including Steam in the Garden and Live Steam). After consulting with a variety of individuals (including Vance Bass), I ordered two different 1:20.3-scale Gauge 1 locomotives.

I joined the Bay Area Garden Railway Society (turns out they sponsored the national convention that got me started), and in November I purchased a track layout software package and designed the layout pretty. It's a modified dogbone layout that is actually bent into a horseshoe space (here's a diagram of the layout).

Later that month and in early December I also did some electrical work to the area -- I added a two-gang receptacle box and added two fluorescent shop lights.

Throughout the late winter and early spring I worked on the grid layout. That and other adventures of the Westline & Mussel Rock Railroad are documented here.