Notes on Designing, Building, and Operating Model Railroads
A hobby adventure
Dave Campbell has shared another update on his new layout project, the Minster branch of the Nickel Plate Road. Here he is with the details.
Construction of the 2 x 4 foot modules described last time has proceeded smoothly and the reuse of materials from the previous layout is working well. The lead image shows one of the modules under construction.
Continue reading “The Minster Branch – Update 2”
Fellow Pre-Depression Era modeler and long time friend Dave Campbell shared an update on his new layout. The lead image was a selfie I snapped on a 2017 visit to his multi-level HO scale layout, which is now gone. Here’s Dave with his new layout story.
With the decision made to tear down my old, multi-level, four-times-around-the-room HO scale layout, and at the 70% demolition point, I decided it’s time to start developing the new layout plan. There’s nothing like waiting until the old layout is nearly gone to light the creative fire for the next project.
Continue reading “The Minster Branch – Update 1”
I’ve met several people modeling the 1920s. Dr. Dave Campbell has focused on part of the Toledo & Ohio Central in western Ohio. He shared this update on a recent structure project.
My real-world modeling skills have always been somewhat limited and have not improved in my advancing years. At the same time, my virtual modeling has become a strength.
Continue reading “3D printing a structure”
I’ve been planning a new layout since late in the summer of 2019. I came across the image above a few years ago and it has inspired research into the Baltimore & Ohio’s Allegheny Yard branch in Pittsburgh. In the lead image we see the Allegheny River and the School Street yard sitting on the north shore, circa 1923. Today, the Pittsburgh Pirates play baseball along this shore at PNC Park. The stadium dominates the scene and would be hiding the building with the Teaberry Gum sign.
All images in this blog post are from the Pittsburgh City Photographer collection on the Historic Pittsburgh site, unless noted otherwise.
Continue reading “New layout planning”
Image from the Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division, HAER WVA, 35-WHEEL, 4
Recent Internet searches have led me to a new string of customers that were served by the Wheeling Freight Terminal. It seems wrong to call these the product of a search as I actually just stumbled into related details. Note the tall buildings in the background of the image above. These structures constituted a block that all had docks along the tail track that accessed the team yard. I had wondered about these buildings before, but there was little info at hand when the layout was being designed in 2012. Click on any image here to review a larger size.