Peter's Model Railroading
About
Intro
Thank you for visiting my web site. My name is Peter Vanvliet. I live in Houston, Texas. My main hobby is model railroading, and that is the purpose of this web site; to showcase the work I have done over the years. I started off in the 1970s modeling in N-scale (1:160), and switched to S-scale (1:64) in July 2008.
I have had a personal web site up since January 1994, and since August 1999, this web site has been focused on the hobby of model railroading. My other hobby is woodworking, so you will find some topics about that on this site as well. Additionally, I also play the bass guitar and go bike riding.
The photo on the right is of me doing some switching work on my previous S-scale layout. You can contact me at "peter @ fourthray dot com".
About This Web Site's Menu
The "Home Page" button takes you back to the main entry page of this web site, a.k.a. "home page".
The "PRR Chartiers Branch" button takes you to pages that contain all the prototype research information I have aggregated so far about the branch line
that I model.
"The Layout" button takes you to the pages of my actual, current model railroad.
The "Articles" button is where I document topics that aren't directly related to the construction of my current layout.
The "My Library" button takes you to pages listing all the books and magazines I have in my personal library.
The "About" button takes you to this page, which gives you some of my background and how I got into this hobby.
The "Site Map" button provides a listing of every page (excluding the individual Library pages) on this web site.
Getting Started in the Hobby
My inspiration for model railroading started with my parents occasionally taking us to Madurodam in The Hague, The Netherlands. A snapshot photo taken by my Dad in the late-1980s shows my Mom and myself on the right-hand side of the photo. Madurodam is a 1:25-scale model of most major features of Holland. There is lots of action and animation. The "streets" have been enlarged for full-size humans, but you walk right through the towns. I remember in one area, you walk under the train; that was always my favorite "rail-fanning" spot. Ships running in the canals with real water was another big attraction for me, as were the moving automobiles and airplanes. Here's a good video I found on YouTube. If you ever go to Holland, be sure to take a day to visit this park.
The small town where we lived was a major tourist attraction during the summers ("Keukenhof"). During those peak times, passenger trains would stop at our little station. The rest of the year they just flew by. From time to time I would ride my bike to the station and watch the trains.
When I was a young teenager, my parents got me an N-scale Fleischmann train set. Space was in limited supply, so all I had was a 2'x4' piece of particle board upon which I placed my slowly-growing layout.
Returning Back to the Hobby
When I re-entered the hobby in 1999, I got back into N-scale, and also immediately adopted DCC as my preferred control system. Local modeler, Frank Wyatt, was instrumental in that decision, as he was using that system for his N-scale layout. Several years later, I helped Frank tear down his N-scale layout (yes, that's me in the first photo), and rebuild a very nice HO-scale layout (more info). I built the new benchwork in individual sections so that the layout could, theoretically, be moved. I also did most of the wiring work. Frank did the track design, track installation, and scenery and most of the structures.
Frank was also instrumental in getting me involved in the Northwest Crossing club in Houston, which, at the time, had Z-, N-, and HO-scale divisions. I was in the N-scale division. I eventually became the club's Librarian and webmaster. We participated in all the local train shows. I learned a lot about what it takes to set up train show layouts. I enjoyed the shows, but I didn't like the internal politics, so I left the club in 2002.
Switching Scales
When I switched to S-scale in 2008, I was contacted by Bob Werre (a well-known model layout photographer) to join the Houston S Gaugers. I really liked the relaxed feel of the group. Membership requirements are very strict: just show up! After joining the club, I took on the "job" of webmaster and we created our Houston S Gaugers web site. The club has a modular S-scale layout (code 100 rail, see photo), doing several shows each year. I left the club in 2018, because I was simply running out of hours in the day. Doing train shows takes a lot of time to prepare for, do the set-up, running the trains during the show, tear-down, and clean-up afterwards. Doing a weekend-long show involves me working on it from Thursday through Monday. That's 5 days. And that is ignoring the tiredness and recovery of such a labor-intensive activity. While I loved doing the shows and I really enjoy the group of guys and gals we have in the club, the amount of time the shows take, being self-employed, and then having to catch up on everything else in life after them, just became too much for me. I still maintain the club's web site.
When I switched scales in 2008 (see the photo, comparing the larger S-scale car to the identical smaller N-scale car), I also joined the national organization dedicated to supporting S-scale in all of its flavors, the National Association of S Gaugers (NASG). In December 2011 I was contacted by then-members of the NASG's board to consider taking over the position of webmaster for the NASG web site. I accepted the challenge. Although it does take some of my time away from model railroading, I enjoy maintaining the site and find it very rewarding work.
Since I model the Pennsylvania Railroad, needless to say, I am a dues-paying member of the Pennsylvania Railroad Technical and Historical Society.
I'm a Big Fan of Battery-powered Engines
In 2012, I decided to drop my Digitrax DCC system in favor of battery-powered locomotives. This opened up a whole new avenue to explore, and I will never go back to track-powered trains. There is quite a bit of information about that on my web site, so be sure to look for that in the "Articles" section. I chose the Neil Stanton's S-CAB system, but there are other systems out there that are also geared toward battery-powered locomotives. If you model in HO-scale or larger, you should check into this new technology. It removed a lot of frustration factors for me about this hobby.
Published Author
I have written over 40 published articles in such magazines as the 1:64 Modeling Guide, the NASG's The Dispatch, and The S Scale Resource. You can see the list of articles on this page.
My Company
Professionally, I have been employed as a software engineer since 1990, starting as a consultant for a consulting firm (being hired out to a major oil company and a local engineering firm creating Windows software applications for them), and since 2001 I have been operating Fourth Ray Software as my full-time venture. Fourth Ray Software is a commercial software development and publishing company. You can visit the web site to see if there are any software products that you might like. All my software is targeted at the average Windows computer user.
In addition to maintaining this web site and my business' web site, I have also consulted in the development of other web sites, and I am currently the webmaster for these web sites (in parentheses I list what type of site it is, and what I do for it):
- Houston S Gaugers (club site; design and maintenance)
- NASG (organization site; design and maintenance)
- New York Central System (hobby site; maintenance only)
- Papa Ben's Train Place (retailer's site; design and maintenance)
- Sidetracks (retailer's site; design)
- Pre-Size Model Specialities (manufacturer's site; design and maintenance)
Awards
During the 2011 National Association of S Gaugers' annual convention in California, I received the "Josh Seltzer" award for this web site you are now viewing. You can read all about the award on the NASG web site, but briefly, it is awarded to those who use their web site to promote S-scale modeling.
During the 2012 NASG Convention in Tennessee, I received the "Josh Seltzer" award for the work I had done on the NASG web site.
Both are shown hanging on the wall in my office.
At the 2012 Convention, I also received the first-ever Trustee's Award, also for the NASG web site.
At the 2018 Convention, I received another Trustee's Award for the work I've been doing for the NASG web site.
At the 2022 Convention, I was honored to receive the Bernie Thomas Memorial Award, which is the highest honor the NASG offers its members, and carries with it a life-time membership.
About This Web Site
Here are some facts about this web site itself.
- This web site contains a lot of articles. All opinions expressed are purely based on my own personal experience. I don't proclaim to be an expert in any of the topics that I discuss on this site; I am just sharing what I've learned. None of the products mentioned are sponsored promotions; they are ones that I have bought and used (successfully, or otherwise), and might give you an idea of where to start. I also don't mind sharing my "failures", as both my "future self" and others might learn from my mistakes.
- I do not use Google's "free" service to track visitors on this web site. Many web sites do, because Google offers a free service to web site owners that provides the web site owners with very personal information about your visits to their web sites, which, of course, Google uses to both track your every move (on every web site so outfitted with their spying logic), and the ability to sell your behavioral data to their advertisers (which is how Google makes their billions, which they then use to bully us and trample on our Constitutional freedoms directly and indirectly). I am NOT willing to be a participant in that, so this site does not use Google's tracking. How do you know if a web site uses Google tracking? Watch the statusbar at the bottom of your web browser as the web site is first being loaded; you will see many hits to "google.com" being reported by your web browser. Alternatively, take a look at the source code of the web site, which will show the calls they make to google.com. If you have a minute, read this page.
- My web site does not use cookies. "Cookies" are small data files that are stored on your computer by your web browser (if implemented by the webmaster) to keep information about your visit to their web site. It might contain any data. Some of the data is harmless, but some may be used to hold personally-identifiable information, or to track your behavior on their web site. In Europe they passed a law requiring web sites to notify the visitor if they use cookies. That is why you see those annoying pop-ups on some sites that have European customers. It is stupid, because it is not like you can turn them off! And, even if they let you turn the notification off, they would have to create a cookie to remember that setting for you! So, your best defense is to set up your web browser to delete cookies and all temporary files when the web browser is closed.