I recently completed Seadog Boats & Marine Supply, which sits on the tideflats waterfront. It is not served by rail. The basic structure was scratchbuilt as a freight house. I converted it to a waterfront marine supply and fuel dealer by removing the loading dock and scenery base. The piers are leftovers from a Walthers Pier and Traveling Crane Kit with added stripwood bracing and details including the fuel service pipes under the decking. The pilings were weathered to give them a well aged look.

Hi All,

I thought it would be a good time to start a Blog for the construction of our railroad here in Australia, the JL&T Railroad.  The name is born from the initials of myself and my two sons, Lachlan & Toby.

For those that haven't been following our progress, and many questions here is a very brief update so far:

Layout: HO, SIze 11 x 4m (36' x 13.3').

I did something I shouldn't have done, with time pressing upon me, and I did something that I needed to do and should have done a long time ago - I drove my prototype's mainline.

I started in Essex Jct, Vermont, and followed it down to South Royalton, Vermont (I've covered the area south of there to WRJ before).

Hi fellow modelers

First I want to thank all of you for your high praise for my layout tour post.  It even got me all jacked up to start working on the layout even more.  Would love to at least partially finish all of the upper deck scenery this year.  First I have to finish some freight car projects I'm working on.  On that note, here are some photos.

I sit on a ridge in a jungle valley looking through flowering trees to the distant mountains.  The air is fresh and fragrant.  The birds celebrate the day in song.  When it rains, which is often enough, I work on my model railroad because I like trains.  But more than that,  what I really like to do is to create a world in miniature and the trains are my vehicle to do so.

Recently, I was asked my input from a co-worker about model trains. He wanted to start building a "train layout" for his kids and needed to know where to start. He knew that I was a modeler and came to me for some advice. After doing his research (basically, asking the kids what they wanted) it was decided that he (they) wanted to run modern era trains in HO Scale. OK, great he said, lets get started with the design. It was during the design phase that we came upon the stumbling block. And it really made me wonder how many of us have had the same situation arise.

Visit with Kidkets is going great. Have visited two hobby shops this past week. Forgot what it was like to disappear into the world of, "what if." Came away a bit lighter in the pockets at both hobby shops. Might even get out to the local club for a visit this coming week.

I recently purchased a bunch of P2000 8,000 gal and 10,000 gal tank car kits that were undecorated at a swap meet, could not pass them up!.  I've been searching the web and local hobby shops for 1940's- 1950's appropriate decals for these cars but no luck.  All i want is some plain UTLX or SHPX type decals without refinery logos for black tank cars.  I know Champ  USED to make them but those are long gone.  I am not having any success finding a current manufacturer for anything like them.  If anyone knows of a source this would be greatly appreciated.

Hi Y'all

I decided to quit procrastinating and start a blog.  I'll probably post mainly about my main interest which is modeling prototype freight cars, but for my first post I figured I would introduce myself and my layout.

About me:  I live in the Nashville TN area.  I have a lovely wife and son.  I'm self-employed as a cabinetmaker.  My other interests are deer hunting and bass tournaments.  This is my fourth layout (second layout that wasn't sectional track on a sheet of plywood).

I just had a rather sobering moment.

One of my favorite industires in Arizona railroading is the cottonseed mill.  The Cotton idustry is primarily interested in the cotton ball fiber, even though each ball also contains seeds.  As a result, the cotton gin is used to separate the valuable fibers form the unwanted seeds.  The seeds were then at one point regarded waste.