Hi! My name is Alex. Christian, husband, Oklahoman, Army officer, and train buff since I was old enough to know what a train was. Maybe even before that!
My journey and interest in railroading started with standing trackside along the Norfolk Southern “Rat Hole” as a toddler. But maybe it was always in my blood? My great-grandfather, Alejandro, was a fireman on the steam locomotives of the mighty AT&SF.
Trains took a brief back seat in high school and college, but as a a newly minted Army officer at Fort Benning, GA, I rediscovered my passion for the iron horse. I was bored and missing my then-fiancee and wandered into a hobby shop in Columbus, GA. Wouldn’t you know, I found a Walthers model of a GP9 painted in Farmrail colors.
Farmrail is an iconic Oklahoma regional railroad, and this model was the first addition to my model railroad collection as an adult. I knew I wanted to model Farmrail, and the more I moved with my military career, the more it was reenforced to me that model trains could connect me with the home state I missed so much.
So, as you explore my site, you’ll see photos and videos and musings of my four layouts I’ve built so far. But that Farmrail locomotive will always be the arrow that guides my modeling endeavors.
So follow along as I tell this tale. I’ll be building models so long as my lovely wife, Genesis, and devoted bulldog, Winston, put up with me doing it!
Red Dirt and Rails 