An introduction of myself.

I've enjoyed model railroading from the time I was very young when my
father let me play with the Lionel set. I suppose he saw my enthusiasm as I grew and at about
age 6 or 7 he brought my first HO set and helped me mount the track on a small platform
pitching the rails so that the train would stay on the rails when I ran it full speed - most likely
because he had seen me race the Lionel set off the track even with the magna - traction. As
years passed he added to my set with switches and other rolling stock and when I was old
enough to work and also get an allowance I spent all my money in the hobby shop on houses to
build and other parts as I tried to make a more lifelike platform - still a 4 x 8 sheet of plywood.
Then I graduated from school - started working, got married . . .
Lost the level of interest I had once had but sparked it up again every Christmas as I got out the
old sheet of plywood and mounted the trains and race cars on it. I did have to tell my wife that
the Christmas tree was not to scale but she won the argument and the plywood got a hole bored
through it for the tree trunk with tree stand underneath. I did get her back when I presented her
with the HO scale chickens that I told her needed to be painted and she exclaimed "I can't even
see the blasted things and you want me to paint them!!" We also adopted some feline friends and
they loved to chase the race cars and trains, I suppose they thought they were mice or something
like that. The cats would also wait by the tunnel exit for the race cars to come and would swat
them off the track sending them airborne and crashing into the wall. So I packed my trains and
cars away in the attic some 30 years ago and other then the NMRA magazine - which Mom &
Dad bought a lifetime subscription for my ongoing Christmas gift - and which I thoroughly
have enjoyed reading and reminiscing with over the years, I've not done much with my hobby.
However things have changed and at age 63 I recently retired and have found some other
retirees who are as interested in the hobby as I was as a kid.
So I have this small shop which is really one of the bedrooms in the house, 9' by 11.5' and it has
served me as an office, workshop for repairs, library, computer room, electronic experiment
room, you name it!! But, I want to convert it to the Train room. Unfortunately we do have an
entrance door and a clothes closet door which interfere with continuous operation around the
room so I figured I could take the loops up by the ceiling and either use switchbacks or a helix
loop to ascend to / descend from the operation loops. I started by going into the NMRA website and
looked over some track planning ideas but got a bit discouraged when the recommended
minimum radius and clearances even without easements would not fit in the small space. So I
would love to chop holes in the walls and start running through the walls but I know my wife
would have a hissy fit. I need some help; I've used MS word to make some preliminary
drawings without easements and at 2% grades but I am not certain that things will work as
planned so I wondered if there is some guys who love to help out us old aged beginners to get
restarted in the hobby by looking over what I have and giving me some feedback.
The 22" has dropped to 16" radius in the helix and will certainly need easements both for the start and end of elevation as well as the start and end of curvature. write to me directly at Rickam1@juno.com for a copy of my plans in progress.

Sincerely
Rick,