Notes on Designing, Building, and Operating Model Railroads
A hobby adventure
Operating model railroads with friends is one of my favorite aspects of the hobby. The holidays can be a tough time for crew to attend so there is a lag between sessions. I did host a December session on my Wheeling Freight Terminal but I hadn’t been to Mike Weiss’ Kingston Southern layout for a couple of months. It was great to kick off the New Year operating his layout.
The DL&W Freight House in Orange, NJ, December 1920
Ray Breyer is back with another detailed look at the freight cars in a period image. This time, Ray has three images to use from the same facility and were taken on the same day. Click on any image here to view a larger size.
As an early rail modeler I’m constantly on the lookout for high-quality photos of period railroading, whether it’s my favorite prototype’s infrastructure, rolling stock or engines. I’m also looking for good images in context, showing why things may look the way they do, especially the area surrounding a given image’s viewpoint. Finally, just about any halfway decent period is fair game, since it can highlight rare freight equipment or ‘general atmosphere’ which may prove to be useful when working on my owl layout’s scenery.
Another year comes to a close and it’s always interesting to look back on the completed tasks and those that remain uncompleted. But there’s more to review than just a bunch of items on a to-do list. I was able to attend a pair of fine RPM events; Valley Forge and Chicago. The opportunity to renew acquaintances and meet new modelers is as important to me as the hundreds of displayed models and the many outstanding presentations. If you haven’t attended a railroad prototype modeler (RPM) meet, check out the event calendar and attend one near you.
I’ve been a bit sluggish lately with the holiday season. I started a new model but it’s not ready for a blog summary. While working on it, I employed a pair of shop trucks. This is a tool that isn’t frequently mentioned but can be very handy around our work spaces. The above image shows part of my shop truck collection.
After adding updates to the RPM Event Calendar page, I realized the first half of 2017 is pretty busy! First up is the Prototype Rails event in Cocoa Beach, Florida. This early January meet comes at a great time for those with Polar Vortex experience to trek to warmer weather. The presentation schedule has been posted, so check out the details. It’s never too late to make plans to attend.