Home of the St. Louis, Leadville, & Rosetta Railroad, my model railroad layout project.
Updated March 12, 2026
Welcome to my site! You'll find all sorts of things here. If you like small layouts, I have several track plans with more always in development, as well as progress on my micro-layout, Piper Junction. I also have my blog, updated when I remember it exists. As well, I have all the notes on my layout development. If you want to leave a friendly note, see my guestbook on the contact page.
Developing my philosophy as I grow as a model builder, I am finding how much I enjoy small layouts. My goals have shifted to accomodate. Instead of representing the Rosetta Railroad in a traditional basement-empire layout, or even a more modest around-the-room layout, I've decided that smaller piecemeal layouts designed to bridge together are more my speed. Each one can be a standalone diorama, and it gives me license to build more standalone work. I hesitate to call this approach modular, however. To me, modular implies some standard of interconnectivity with some sort of standard.
While Free-moN and T-Trak are rather influential in my thought process as I build. Free-moN's height standards block out the vertically impaired (such as my fiancee and my little nephew) and its adherence to broad curves on its mainlines is prohibitive in the small space I work in. I find T-Trak limiting as well. The strict double-tracked mainline rule of T-Trak doesn't fit with my shortline philosophy, nor do I particularly enjoy the look or cost of Unitrack. On the other hand, I am part of my local T-Trak club, the Mississippi Valley N Scalers, and do enjoy my modules getting to be a part of that.
Overall, the design philosophy of smaller vignettes, slices of railroad life contained in themselves, appeal far more to me than a contiguous empire at this stage in my life. I'm still in an apartment and though I expect to buy in a few years, I don't expect that my first house will be my last. As well, mobility and selectability for shows and other travel allows me the liberty to bring what I want, where I want, when I want.
