In part one on the new Oakland buildings blog I’ve been working on for my friend Dave, I built the Bachmann Department Store. I made an alley on the side, so we could build the next structure the Metropolitan Building next to it. But on the other side of the Metropolitan I will add the
My friend Dave Houseman asked me to build a block of buildings for his new Oakland scene on his Chicago, Denver and Pacific Railroad. We started with 3 Bachmann buildings. As is my custom I never like to create a structure as the designers intended. I always try to make some differences, otherwise Dave’s buildings
After building all my circus flatcars and wagons I needed some way for the performers and workers to travel. So I’m going to tell you about the construction of 2 passenger cars for my Keljan Circus. I began with 2 AHM 10-6 sleepers then painted them red with a silver roof. I added wire grab
The beautiful mountains and lakes of North Carolina were home for 3 days of model railroading fun for members of the National Model Railroad Association’s Southeastern Region during late May. The convention was held near the town of Waynesville, North Carolina, not far from Asheville. It was sponsored by the Carolina Mountain Division of the
One of the questions I get asked most when people see my layout or pictures of it is “How do you make the water look like it’s moving”? It’s really a simple process that anyone can do with the right equipment: paint and varnish. This scene is the Mississippi River between Memphis and Arkansas on
There are a number of schemes designed to move cars around a model railroad, but I prefer the time-tested 4 cycle waybill popularized by Doug Smith in the 1960s. I have used this system since we began operations on my Bluff City Southern in 1999 with great results. It’s just plain fun, and never the same.
Here is the diagram for Bridge Junction on Allen’s Bluff City Southern. In earlier blogs Kevin Kizer and I installed the approach signals and the train order signal inside the wye. Kevin, a retired signal maintainer, determined that we needed dwarf signals at the 3 locations marked 1,2 and 3. Location 1 is the lead to Bluff City yard. Location 2 is the lead to the coach yard and location 3 is the lead to the engine service facility inside the wye itself. Kevin said the signals will tell the engineer if the switch is aligned properly to exit the location.
Continuing our trip on the private car, Dover Harbor, all of us got off to explore New Orleans. We found the trolley conveniently located right outside the station. We’ve come from Washington to Chicago to Memphis and now to New Orleans.
In the first part of this series, I told you about our private car trip aboard the Dover Harbor from Washington to Chicago for out anniversary. This segment picks up with the car having left Chicago heading to Memphis on the City of New Orleans. Janet and I wanted to take this 8-day trip because
Every two years since 2003, there is one operating event that stands out for model railroaders across the U.S. It’s the great Lakes Getaway operating weekend. It now features 8 different layouts for 40 invited operators to explore. Each operator gets to select 3 railroads to visit during the weekend. Doug Tagsold and Bruce Carpenter
