The GNRR crew discusses their options after reaching the end of the line. Eventually we all reach the end of the line. In my case, this ..read more

Louisville & Nashville locomotive number 231, a Pacific 4-6-2, pulls a passenger train over the Toccoa River on a through truss bridge on ..read more

Perry Lamb and his Utah, Colorado & Western model railroad. Last month I had the opportunity to visit Perry Lamb’s Utah, Colorado & Western (UC&W) model railroad. He has developed a freelanced Class 1 railroad in the modern era that models from Salt Lake City, Utah to Seattle, Washington. According to Perry, the UC&W owns Norfolk Southern and all Amtrak operations except the NE Corridor and the Amtrak lines in California. This gives Perry the opportunity to run main line freights, as well as passenger operations on his model railroad. Staging yards on both the upper and lowe ..read more

The First Coast Railroad crew switches the Nassau Terminals warehouse on Kinzer Hurt's layout. Photo by Kinzer Hurt This month I hosted Kinzer Hurt for an ops session on my layout. In addition, Kinzer brought his newly painted and weathered locomotives for the Hartwell Railroad for a video and photo shoot. The Nassau Terminals warehouse featured in his RMC article. Photo by Kinzer Hurt For those that have not already heard about Kinzer, he is a very talented young model railroader that is making his mark in the hobby. He had an article in the December 2022 issue of Railroad Model Crafts ..read more

The C&NW locomotive facility is a hub of activity on Steve Mann's layout. When I was visiting the Colorado Model Railroad Museum I met one of the friendly volunteers, Thomas that was operating the layout. We struck up a conversation about his home layout and operating on model railroads in the area. He mentioned that one of his friends, Steve Mann has an amazing layout and would be hosting an operating session in a couple of days. He asked if I wanted to attend and I jumped at the opportunity to see and operate on the layout. He contacted Steve and checked if it would be okay for me to a ..read more

An overview of the Colorado Model Railroad Museum. On the right is Gearhart Mountain, and in the background is the last operational Colorado & Southern wood caboose number 10583. A few weeks ago I got the opportunity to visit the Colorado Model Railroad Museum in Greeley, Colorado. The cost of admission to the museum is $14 for adults, and is more than worth the price of admission to see the layout and tour the museum. The museum is an amazing collection of railroad artifacts, model railroad items, and a huge HO scale layout. The layout is named the Oregon, California, and Eastern Railwa ..read more

A D&H through freight rumbles across a bridge on Justin Jankauskas' D&H Penn Division layout. This month we’ll tour Justin Jankauskas’ Delaware and Hudson Railway (D&H) Penn Division model railroad. The layout highlights the two towns of Carbondale and Scranton, Pennsylvania, in the late 1970s. Justin grew up in the area and has a lot of knowledge of the railroad and its operations. The layout is closely based on the prototype, with many scenes created from memory or photographs of the area. The unique four story building, with the third story access to the bridge, was modeled ba ..read more

The paper mill turn job crosses a short bridge near the town of Klein on Robert Meyer's Southern Railway's Phlatt River Branch. Continuing our tour of some great model railroads, this month we’ll take a look at Robert Meyer’s Southern Railway's Phlatt River Branch model railroad. Robert has been working on the layout for the past few years and has gotten it to the point where he can host operating sessions, but still has several more years of work on scenery and structures. The railroad models a fictitious branch line of the Southern Railway in 1973. The branch lines serves a few towns along ..read more

This month we’ll take a look at John Rieken’s Transcon Four layout. John’s large double deck layout, approximately 36’ X 53’, and occupies most of his basement. The focus of the layout is around operations and replicating the jobs that are required to move a lot of cars during an ops session. The layout is operated four times a year with a crew of 12 to 18 operators. John's unique "train elevator" moves trains from the upper level to the lower level without using a helix. Cables attached to an electic winch move the elevator, and any operators must be trained on using it before an ops sessio ..read more

L&N locomotive 4501, an EMD SD38-2, rounds a curve behind the barn on Pelle Soeborg's layout, now located at ScaleTrains in Tennessee. In October ScaleTrains hosted an open house at their new warehouse and offices located in Cleveland, Tennessee. One of the highlights of the facility is Pelle Soeborg’s Union Pacific Daneburg Subdivision layout that has a new home there. The layout has been featured in several Model Railroader Magazine articles and in Pelle’s books. I have always liked and admired Pelle’s layouts and really wanted to see the Daneburg Subdivision in person. The ScaleTrains ..read more