The beginning... sort of

TL;DR version: 

After a ~20-year hiatus from model trains, I'm getting back into it, thanks to my two sons--6 and 3 years old. I've seen one or two fellas on here say they're modeling the Civil War era. Just wanted to throw my hat in and say that I'm planning on starting down that path. I'll try to post some photos as I go along, but this will essentially be my personal progress thread. Warning: It'll be a slow one, as I work two jobs, have two young children, and limited funds for anything but a slow and steady path forward.

The backstory: 

I inherited a large box of old n-scale stuff from my uncle in the mid-90s, which is where I first starting using n-scale. And since that stuff was old back then, it's reeeally old now. The oldest is an Arnold 0-6-0 Wabash switcher from 1966, and the second oldest is a Bachmann F9 PennCentral from 1971. Over the years I added some new track, engines and cars, but not a whole lot since I was given so much to start with. Plus we never had much extra money. My dad built me a nice train table that could fit either the 027 set I had, or a larger n-scale layout. It was great.

Since I started loving trains around 2 years old, I had always wanted an American 4-4-0 like "The General." The Great Locomotive Chase was (and probably still is) my all-time favorite movie. I grew up and live near Paterson, NJ, which many of you already know about in terms of locomotive history. It was very cool when I found out that both the General and the Texas were built in Paterson (though by different companies).

For Christmas one year my parents got me the Bachmann 4-4-0 Old Timer set. I was in heaven. But as many of you know, there was extremely limited Civil War era stuff available in n-scale, so I was limited in how much I could really do. And again, money was always an issue.

Skip 20 years, to today:

As most boys tend to be, my sons love trains. And now that they're old enough, I built a small 3x3 train table and cleaned up the n's as best I could to get them running again. Most of the stuff we have is of the diesel era, except for the Arnold switcher and the Bachmann 4-4-0 set. My boys also love The Great Locomotive Chase, so I decided to start looking for some new engines of that era.

Back in 2015, my older son got an Atlas catalog when we saw Santa at the Maywood Train Station. Atlas had been promoting their HO Erie Lackawanna series, and that station has a static S2 and caboose. But in that catalog was the Atlas Civil War era 4-4-0's. I didn't realize at the time it was a limited run, but my son loved looking at them in the book. And now recently that we've pulled out the n's, he went back and looked at that catalog reminding me that he loved the U.S. Military R.R. engine. I told him we'd save up for it.

About a month ago, I ordered a Bachmann F7 Erie-Lackawanna, the first new model train I've purchased since the 90s. It was like new, but a Plus, so its gears were cracked and I didn't realize it. Fortunately I didn't pay much. If I get around to replacing the gears, great, but if not, I have a nice Christmas tree ornament.

A few weeks ago, I found on eBay a set of two engines, the Jupiter and the No. 119 in their original white boxes with the manuals and all, for just $50, so I jumped on them, figuring at that price it'd be worth it no matter how they run. Turns out, they're great. A little hesitation here or there, but overall like new. They even successfully navigate the old turnouts and crossover nine times out of 10.

I haven't told my oldest yet, but I ordered the Gen. Haupt from Streamlined Backshop and it's currently getting a decoder installed for when we make the switch to DCC. I can't wait to show them. I also just bought 4 W&A R.R. boxcars from some train store for a really great price.

What's to come: 

My plan is to make the switch to DCC at least a year or two from now. DC works great for what we want, and the boys are happy. I'm going to build a shelf layout along two walls in our basement, and will need it to be transportable, as we plan to move in about 2 years. I'm debating whether or not to commit to the W&A RR, or somewhere else during the Civil War. We lived in Northern Virginia for a few years, so that's very tempting to do a U.S.M.R.R. layout or something along those lines.