Who we are:

We are Jay and David …

I am Jay and I am the “J” of the J&C Railroad.  I am a husband and a father of four.  I grew up in the Midwest which influences my vision of pieces of the layout which you will see.  My father working on the Rock Island for a portion of my life and also introduced me to model trains.  Bouncing back and forth from Ho to N to Ho I have found there are different pluses and minuses of both of the scales.  For the time I am sticking with HO and hope that during my adventure with the layout that space will be able to accommodate the visions that I have.

I am David the “C” of the J&C Railroad. I have grown up all over the west coast and my interest in railroading started with Jay pulling out a big box of older model railroad pieces, (more in “Our Start”). After we started the HO drive I started collecting N scale pieces but haven’t started a layout… yet. My choice of rail lines is based mainly on what I have seen with a bit of NorCal hometown history.

Our Rail Lines:
 

I (Jay) run a little older lines and what are now fallen flags.  My favorite is the Rock Island.  As it was the railroad my father worked on it is also a cornerstone to some of my fondest childhood memories.  I have always shied away from the powder blue Rock, marking the time when the Rock Island was desperately trying to keep its nose above water and have only just recently begun adding that scheme to my rolling stock.  The other line that I run as well is the SOO Line.  Unlike the rock Island where I do run from steam through to the later diesels, the SOO I stick just to the diesels whether it is the white with red noses or the candy apple red with white lettering both find their way rolling down the line. I (David) have limited memories of a specific line. My initial start, call it “hopping on the band wagon” just started with what looks like a familiar train and I ran with it. I have Union Pacific, Burlington Northern, BNSF, and my oddity tied to my youth; McCloud River from Shasta County in Northern California. I can remember in the 70’s cutting firewood and hunting near the tracks around Shasta County and hearing the trains lumber up some hellish grades. They still run limited engines today.