This is myself in my every day role as a consultant and a working joe.  Look twice, for every moment away from the office it's t-shirts and jeans.

My name is Al Dos Santos and I enjoy railroads.  This affliction with trains started at the young age of six when I rode the LIRR and New York, New Haven and Hartford trains back and forth with my folks from Hartford, Connecticut to Sayville, Long Island.  I enjoyed the swaying of the coach cars on the rails as we swiftly made our way to grandmother's home or to our own house.

A move to Texas, put me closer to trains, especially the Texas Mexican Railway which has a yard in Corpus Christi and a line that runs to Laredo and connects with Mexico.  When I was twelve a friend of mine and I began a large 2 stall garage HO layout.  Being boys, we incorporated every thing imaginable in our layout from a circus, to an airfield, a harbor and many switches and crossovers.  Though this first layout was not in accurate depiction of any railroad operation at the time, it kept us occupied and out of trouble.  Most of all we had...fun.

I have since then gone on to build in N scale, using the Ntrak module system, G scale and now back to HO scale.  I even have a small Z scale switching oval for my office desk.  I am currently a member of the Austin Ntrak club, the Central Texas G Scalers and a volunteer for the Austin Steam Train Association.  So from the smallest to the largest I like them all, like any model railroader, I wish I had more money, space and time to complete the empire I envision.

As I get older, I spend more time photographing and collecting photos of railroad equipment and structures.  I also enjoy reading historical documents and collecting railroad memorabilia.  I find that I don't collect any one article, but tend to collect what appeals to me.  From builders cards, to complete sets of railroad nails, lanterns, menus, timetables and maps, playing cards, railroad hammers and calendars.

Most of all I enjoy the sights and sounds of modern railroading, the throbbing of the locomotives as they pass, the variety of specialty cars, the vibrant color schemes and the stories of the people who's job it is to keep everything running.  From the ROW maintenance crews to the engineers and yardmaster, they all have interesting stories and lives and I will share those experiences with you.

I hope that you enjoy these pages which will continue to evolve as things change and time permits.   Happy railfanning.....