Road trip! or the way to a modeler's heart (and layout) is railfanning...

[cwclark]

Hi guys, The time has come for me to take a road trip, so i'm going to grab the wife, the dog, a good camera, load the family truckster, and head out into the great outdoors...The purpose of the trip is to travel IH 90 in central and west Texas and shoot as many pictures as i can alongside the old SP line in the San Antonio & Del Rio division of SP's renouned "Valentine Route. " I believe every modeler if he wants to be one that prototypes his layout needs as much information as he can obtain to duplicate his layout to what the real thing looks like..Details matter and i'm going to get as many pictures as i can to authenticate my layout to the best of my ability...wish me luck and a safe trip!...Chuck[:D]

[Jetrock]

Indeed, railfanning and model railroading are natural complements--they encourage and stimulate each other. Working on the models makes me think of the prototype, and looking at the prototype makes me think of how I could model it! I live in a city where the line I model ran, but I have made several nearby trips to check out the right-of-way along the path of the Sacramento Northern north and south...and I suppose it doesn't hurt that there's a great trolley/railroad museum sitting on SN right-of-way about 60 miles southwest of me!!

[orsonroy]

Every Memorial Day weekend, a longtime buddy and I take some sort of railfanning roadtrip. It's the only "guaranteed" railfanning trip we have together every year. We've been doing these trips since 1997, and have wandered all over Illinois and the East Coast. Major trips we've done have included Strasburg, Steamtown, Paducah, ALL the yards around Chicago, Baltimore, Vermont, and the U.P. This year's trip is a local, to Decatur, Centralia and Indy. Next year's trip will be another long one: Chattanooga.

I never met a roadtrip I didn't like!

[cwclark]

you will like chattanooga..the yard hugs the side of the mountain...it used to be a railhub as the kansas yard is today...most of the original yard is gone now, but the rail fanning is impressive...don't forget to see the gaint model railroad there where the chattanooga choo choo is located in the downtown area...it's ok and you can also take a trolley ride there for about a buck...Chuck [:D]