It all began a long time ago in a basement far, far away…
I remember as a young boy the smell of our basement. It was a wonderful mixture of an old musty cellar and wood dust. There was my father, the incessant tinkerer, he could make something from nothing and it would generally turn out great. There was a workbench filled with tools and projects at all times and I spent a lot of time in that place. When dad suggested that we build a model railroad, I was in!
Dave Mashino – November 2018
That first model railroad layout in that basement was a small N scale layout with one engine and a few cars. Though we ever fully finished that layout, the experience taught me a lot that would be used later in life when the model railroad bug bit me again.
I started in 2011 to create what would be the first iteration of the WVR in my garage. This was yet another learning experience for me as that model railroad layout never saw completion. We moved to a new place in 2018, this time I finally had the basement I had been wanting. I began the planning for the new layout while I was finishing the basement. I finally had a 15′ x 37′ space to call my own for the second build of the WVR.
This new Wildcat Valley Railway is my vision of a small connecting railroad in the early part of twentieth century cutting through mountains and valleys to serve the coal mines and other industries found in this mythical part of the country that it traverses. Join with me on this journey from an empty basement room, building a model railroad layout that will be a thriving railway empire and the trials and triumphs along the way.
In this website you will find a blog I kept since beginning this journey with the ideas, thoughts, experiences, and methods that have made the WVR what it is.
