As i stated in the opening post i model the Chessie System However i love more modern power. To this end i ended up rewriting history a little.

After quite a bit of deliberation I have decide to document the construction of My Chessie System layout. I would call myself a proto- freelancer... as such my model railroad is firmly seated in the prototype Chessie system, however this is where the free lance bit comes in.

Here's a good way to get ideas for starting your layout:  Host a train party!

All you need are:

A quick video of WN Dash 8-40B #325 leading a short freight into Union Yard.  Totally new to this video game and this first experiment taught me a few things. More lighting, custom white balance, and although it was shot in HD the uploaded video to YouTube didn't end up HD.  I'll get it figured out.  

While taking a break from working on several structures, I decided to finish several freight cars that have been in the works for a while. PC 885248 is an Atlas car with cut levers added and weathering based upon a photo I found at George Elwood's Fallen Flags website. Here's a link to the photo of the prototype: http://www.rr-fallenflags.org/pc/pc885122bkg.jpg.

After a lot of fun with foam, the upper level benchwork for the new Great Western is installed and ready for track. All that remains is to install the Masonite backdrop.

This is the right side of the center peninsula. The Loveland GW yard is on the right, the I-25 overpass at Birds is at the lower rear and Officer Jct is in the lower front. One side of Johnstown and the start of the Welty Branch with sugar beet dumps is on the top.  The new fascia is not painted satin black yet.

The artist that painted my mural in the alcove area included some street and building lights at my request as I hoped to be able to illuminate them in the future.  It just so happens that I had gotten some free samples of fiber optic "cable" from a vendor that posts to the MRH site.  When I received the samples I was intrigued and purchased some more cable in different sizes along with an illuminator.  Today I thought that I'd try things out.

   On the subject of battery power - Yes it is possible.  The defunct British company Tri--ang, (now Hornby) made an O guage battery set some years ago called the 'Big Big Train'.  O.K., it was a 'toy'   and O guage but the basic accuracy of its mouldings  was as good as any, and on repaint looked pretty real..  Running on Peco Streamline track it ran several years in my garden very reliably using rechargeable standard U2 and U11 cells.  Being battery-powered made track laying easier because there was no need to solder.  T

The Sudbury Division has been fired up for another season of operations, and I decided to try documenting the first session with my camcorder.  This is what I came up with:

Very cool new site setup by BNSF called "Friends of BNSF". All kinds of goodies here. Great resource for railfans and modelers of BNSF and it's predecessors. Downloads, history, videos, photos.....check it out!

https://www.friendsofbnsf.com