RAINBOWS IN THE GORGE

   I'm one of a dying breed.  Model Railroading is a great hobby, but yet another populated by balding guys older than 50.  I got my start in this hobby as a young kid at Christmas - Dad would create an HO layout on Christmas Eve and we'd have a ball running trains for a few weeks before the Christmas tree came down and everything transitioned to the attic. When I was about 9 I asked permission to keep a layout in my room, and then got a spot in the basement where I dutifully duplicated an Atlas track plan (the Rancocas Harbor Belt - one of the 6 layouts in the track plan book I poured over for months).  Bought track, plastic piers, bridges, rolling stock, buildings - a lot of the money I earned moving and splitting firewood ended up being put into that layout.  Then I got interested in other things and never got to scenery.  The layout was dismantled and put in the attic.  Years later my parents issued an ultimatum - get your crap out of the attic! At that point I had my own home and designed a layout for an area of the basement.  Once again, built the support structure, laid the roadbed and track.  Then we moved!  Layout dismantled and trucked to my new home.  Years later I started to think about model railroading again, and discovered I wanted to build something really good for a change and I WOULD get to scenery....   The idea for a really neat layout was born.  That was 2008....   11 years later and I'm making some decent progress that I can share with all of you.