My friend and fellow MRH member Greg D. has decided that he will model the automobile assembly plant on his St. Louis area model railroad. His line will serve few, but big industries along the route. The acquisitions of 60 foot and 86 foot auto boxcars has begun and we found certain road names lacking. Here is the story of how we fixed  that...for at least the first 5 cars.

One of my mines is on a grade. I needed a way to hold the cars while I switched out the loads and empties. I tried all sorts of ideas, from nearly unseen 17 pound fishing line, just high enough to press against the axles, (didn't hold enough weight) to wire bent to fold up and down.

 The wire ones worked, but I did not want people reaching into my layout to work them. Too many things can go wrong when you have to reach over cars, engines and scenery to work a brake or uncoupler.

One of the layouts I operate on features the D&H and NYC in Albany NY. Heavy passenger operations require many headend cars. I offered to create a D&H two-tone grey baggage car that the D&H had for a few years. A Walthers 72' baggage car was the starting point. It was nice in that it had a black roof to begin with. Here is a short photo essay on what I did to make this car.

Our Minnesota FreeMo HO and N scale groups set up a couple of large layouts at the Great Train Expo in Shakopee, MN at Canterbury Downs Racetrack.  Nothing like live telecasts of the Breeders Cup and model railroading. This traveling show hosted exhibitors, vendors and many layouts and displays for everyone.

Here is a video I made of our HO set up, and includes many run-bys. My trains are the Union Pacific Express and  Mail train and the BN merger era "Rainbow Builder" passenger train.

One of my favorite things in this hobby is painting and weathering rolling stock. I have been taking a break from the layout building and all the wood, wire and track building to get a few other projects completed. I built these hopper cars for  friends layout, and enjoyed the making of them very much. I discovered a few new ideas and tried out different paint and materials that are not usually associated with model railroading.

Here is my first attempt at making a video. This is a mine run from Gunflint Yard to the farthest mine on the line, Christina Mine. Gunflint Yard and the mines are on the upper level of my two level layout. They represent the Tower-Soudan area of Northern Minnesota on the Vermillion iron range. The train goes from the yard to the mine, swaps out empties for loads and heads back....real exciting operations video.

It was my first attempt since I picked up a Makayama movie mount for my Ipad2 and I wanted to see what my Ipad could do with videos and the IMovie App.

My challenge involved putting some scenery and a backdrop on one of my mines. ballast, ground cover, grass and bushes along with some weathering was the goal.

Sometimes you want one thing, but need another. When building a layout for operations, you sometimes have to think with your head more than your heart. What this means to me is, I need more infrastructure than I do a shiny new diesel or great new freight car that has just been released. One engine improves one train, a new car helps one industry.

I have been making changes and fixes since my crew came over and gave the layout a good operations test. I have made some changes on paper for operations and some are being made with rail and ties and bullfrog turnout throws and Kadee uncoupling magnets.

I finally finished the track and wiring and had the DCC system checked out. All the shorts were gone, for now. I scheduled a small operating test session, named after MRH own M.M. "sea trials".  I had three fellow operators come over and try to give the Splitrock Mining Company a good shakedown run. My goals were simple and I hope I communicated them well.