On my way home tonight I ran by the yard to see what was moving. On the west end of the yard an empty grain train was just getting ready to depart. A couple mixed freights and a ballast train were waiting for crews. On the east end of the yard a loaded grain train …
We are sitting at ESS Canova waiting for a pair of trains to meet. In the distance is a GP9 sitting at the end of the Canova elevator spur waiting for its next cut of cars to load. Eastbound BN 7036 leads a trio of SD40-2s as it pulls up to the end of the …
I designed this layout for a 25 car train. This is a pretty good length for this size of room and honestly that length feels like a longer train. But I do like the longer trains and lots of power. Here is a train I ran this afternoon, including the two latest Kato SD40-2s just …
A BN MoW work train gets track & time and is headed to a wash out to shore up the tracks with rip rap.
I make a quick video tour of the layout and included a screen showing the JMRI detection. You can watch the train go around the layout, turning blocks red as it occupies them.
My layout is based loosely on the Burlington Northern in the midwest (southeast Nebraska to be specific) as well as the southwestern desert. I know the two don’t have much to do with each other, but both places are areas that I have enjoyed living in. I have a general idea of what I am …
Some foreign power arrived on the railroad today. I have been keeping my eye out for a C44-9W for a while now, they seem to be pretty scarce. This one came up on eBay and I couldn’t let it pass. Pretty crazy this has been new in the box for 16+ years. She was a …
While I haven’t been spending much time in the train room working on the layout, I have been spending a lot of time working on a new site related to the hobby. I wasn’t really happy with the options available when it came to keeping track of cars and locos. I have everything in JMRI …
I have been thinking about what industries I would like and where they would be situated. I have held off finishing the spurs until I know these details. A while back I put together this lumber yard thinking that would be a nice little industry to service. I am not yet sure I like it …
As I started playing with block detection, I realized that some type of device would need to be on the end of every train. Knowing the location on only the front end of the train provides limited and not very useful information. I found that FVM made some wheelsets with resistors, however finding them in …
