Choosing a specific railroad and region to model can be a tough decision for model railroaders simply because so many things look good. However for me the decision of railroad and region to model was pretty easy. I knew that I did not want to model the typical green grass and green tree layout. With that decision I figured a real good choice would be to model the desert. I decided to model a freelanced former Southern Pacific line from Southern California to Southwestern Arizona. The well-known modeler of the modern Union Pacific in the desert is Pelle Soeborg. Although my current layout resembles his and it has been inspiring for me I often feel that I have to remind other model railroaders that I did not copy his layout. I planned and started building my layout months before I ever heard of him and saw his phenomenal work. His work has been featured many of times in Model Railroader magazine and I enjoy seeing it every time.