Now that the bench work, track, and electrical wiring are all complete, I'm starting to put in some scenery. I'll post my progress here as I go.

Special thanks to those who have made comments and suggestions on my past posts. Hope you enjoy what's yet to come!

My initial installment with be the first comment on this post...

Paul Krentz

Free-lancing a fictitious portion of the N&W Pocahontas "Pokey" District

Another project in the works,

A two track coal shed that was in the December 1979 issue of Model Railroader.

I wanted to build a model of this building ever since I first read the article in the summer of 1989.

My friend, Joe Atkinson, and I need to model several ballast hoppers for our layouts. We’ve been researching the different cars and found models to recreate the rolling stock, but one critical component missing were four ballast gates required for each car. 

We were told Shapeways may be the answer and indeed they were. We were able to find a dealer, Boxcar Models, who had exactly what we needed. We placed the order and within a couple weeks Joe received the gates. 

Have made a couple of these and they came out amazing.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hztif1KoJ-g

These are amazingly easy to make and look great as well. Not to time consuming either

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=byR8tBw8J8E

Found this and it is super easy and when on a budget is fantasic for background trees

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sAcMSz2P7qA

Do you need to buy the rail separately for the fasttracks quick sticks sets or does it come with rails and frogs. I am looking for a way to get as many switches as possible for a cheap price so is that best or are there cheaper ways?

This is part 2 of Preliminary Operations Planning for the ATSF Paradigm Division. This part shows the results of re-positioning trains to match the schedule sequence for 00:01- 06:00 AM. The biggest change has been to change where trains reside in the lower staging yard based upon their location (north, east or west).  This sequence was chosen since it has the most trains run in a 6-hour period/trick.

Video tour of the totally amazing Miniature Wonderland, MiWuLa in Hamburg, Germany. This video covers the high-lights of the entire installation, including the new Italian section and also a Behind the scenes your. Welcome onboard!