Howdy Y'all!

[allegheny1600]

Gotcha!
"Hello there" is possibly what I should have put as I'm actually from near Manchester in the NW of England! My name is John Edge and I'm 46, married with two cats and work for myself, from home! I've been a railway 'nut' since I was about 4 or 5 but since about 12, my enthusiasm has been unstoppable.
I'm interested in pretty much all railways/railroads from around the world but I do find American railroads to be some of the most fascinating that I have ever come across! I have visited the USA just the once (wish i could get back one day) - I had a two day stopover in Chicago followed by nearly three weeks based in LA but travelled around (by car!) and saw San Francisco, Reno, Yosmite, Donner Pass, Sacramento (museum), Tehachapi and a good bit of LA itself. I still can't quite believe just how big LA is!
On my eventual next visit, I should very much like to see all around the South East and down into Texas.
Modelling wise, I'm mainly into H0 scale but keep looking longingly at 0 scale. I've never yet actually built a full layout of my own but strangely have built several for other people and been involved with several club layouts. I am currently planning a shelf style layout in H0 based upon 'New Ulm', Minnesota in C&NW days when it was the Alco line - you could say that I'm an 'Alco-haulic'!
I also have a great love for the Chesapeake & Ohio railroad in steam/transition days, hence my handle of "allegheny1600" - I've been using that for over 10 years or more now. I see there is an "Allegheny2-6-6-6" on here, I hope he doesn't mind me being here with this name? If so, I'll get my name changed to plain "John Edge" to avoid confusion!
I also recognise one or two other names on here, from a Brit forum - howdy guys!
Well, thats it for now!
Hope I haven't sent anyone to sleep with my ramblings!
Cheers,
John E.

[ezdays]

Welcome John, I see that they speak funny in your part of England, you could almost confuse it with our friends in the southern part of the US....

Gotcha...

Glad to have you aboard. Looks like you've seen a fair part of the US, Lots more to see though, you could spend months in LA and not see it all. Most of that time will be spent on the freeways, stuck in traffic, so it takes a long time to see the sights.

If you have pictures of anything you've done, are in the process of doing, or of anything that you've seen along the highways and byways, don't hesitate to post them. Everyone here loves pictures.

[Ralph]

Howdy John! Glad you could join us!
Ralph

[Sumpter250]

allegheny1600

C&O steam power is some of the best looking ( maybe not beautiful, but still impressive ), and the H-8 2-6-6-6 is my personal favorite.
I think you'd find Chicago a bit changed, rail wise, as the C&NW, the EJ&E, and the Wisconsin Central, are gone now. There are still locos in "J" paint, lots of WC, and C&NW rolling stock. There may still be a couple of WC locos, I haven't seen them lately, but I think the UP has repainted all the C&NW locos.
ALCO, was used by the Long island Railroad, along with some Fairbanks Morse, so I have a few of those. I'm not quite an "ALCO-haulic", but I do like American Locomotive Company products.

[allegheny1600]

Hi guys,
Many thanks for the warm welcome!
Now it seems I have a "to do" list! Get my photos scanned and uploaded and post about the forcoming build of my new layout!
Will do asasp!
Cheers,
John E.

[shortliner]

Hi John, see that links posted in the other place have dragged you across here to join some of us! :o

[Herc Driver]

Welcome!

[Gary S]

Hey John, welcome to the forum!