Model Train Journal

Happy Friday!

726 Berkshire leading set 2145WS from 1948


Just back from the L&L shops, freshly restored 6250 Seaboard NW-2 leads a work train past a field of cows.


Did a little work on the layout this week - Changed up the track on the inside loop so it wouldn't follow the outside loop for the entire run. Also decluttered the town scene a bit. It was bugging me lol!


Ex N&W SD40-2 6119 is in familiar territory as it works a snowy Radford yard.


NS Dash-9 9916 leads 194 through Narrows, VA on the western end of the Christiansburg District.


Pickens B40-8 5960 (ex CR 5086) is working hard as it leads a long freight through the outskirts of Anderson, SC in the pouring rain.


NS AC44C6M 4019 (ex NS D9-40C 8811) leads a westbound coal drag through East Conemaugh, PA.


N&W 611 prepares to enter Montgomery tunnel during one of her last excursions on the Christiansburg District.

Great photos Christopher, as usual. I have two 6250s, the original and the recent remake. First Lionel train I ever saw close up at a cousin's house when I was 5 years old .

Neil wrote:Great photos Chris, as usual. I have two 6250s, the original and the recent remake. First Lionel train I ever saw close up at a cousin's house when I was 5 years old .

Thanks Neil

6250 is probably my fave of the high quality NW2s Lionel made in the PW years. IDK why it's so tough to find them in decent shape. Len Carparelli did his usual amazing job on this one. I have one more engine due back from in the next few weeks. Can't wait to see how that one turned out

Chased Amtrak in southern Colorado and New Mexico today.

Amtrak #3, the Southwest Chief, at the last wig-wag signal in the United States in Delhi, CO



At Raton Pass, just south of the Colorado/New Mexico border



Knocking down the ATSF semaphore at WSS Levy



The signals at ESS Chapelle



Amtrak #4 at WSS Chapelle

Today we visited the Open House of the Ohio Valley Lines Model Railroad in Ambridge, PA.
This is an HO and N club.
Below are just a few of the 140+ photos I took of the HO layout.











George

Wow George, this pic really demonstrates the scale of such a property:



The equipment is dwarfed by the sheer size of the facility...amazing.

That said, some of the other photos demonstrate a need for some backdrops (IMHO)...scenery, to my mind, needs to have a background and foreground to work effectively. An SIL active in the New York theater gave me some pointers years ago when I was working N-scale. If you follow Ellison's contention that the trains are like actors moving across a stage, it all kinda makes sense.

Healey

healey36 wrote:Wow George, this pic really demonstrates the scale of such a property:



The equipment is dwarfed by the sheer size of the facility...amazing.

That said, some of the other photos demonstrate a need for some backdrops (IMHO)...scenery, to my mind, needs to have a background and foreground to work effectively. An SIL active in the New York theater gave me some pointers years ago when I was working N-scale. If you follow Ellison's contention that the trains are like actors moving across a stage, it all kinda makes sense.

Healey

Paul,

You are absolutely correct. Most steel mills dwarf their trains in dramatic fashion. If I were to build Weirton Steel's Open Hearth (one if not the largest in the world with 14 furnaces) to scale, we'd have a building of approximately 28.5' x 6'. And it would be about 30" high or thereabouts.

I was very impressed with how Ohio Valley Lines got all their mills on the layout in a representative fashion.

George

I did an open house tour with the kid

Nice pics everyone!