First steps are underway for the signature scene on The Hills Line, the Iowa Interstate’s bridge over the Iowa River and the CIC Hills Line in Iowa City. More than any other locale on the prototype, the former Rock Island bridge could reasonably be considered the signature scene for the entire IAIS Railroad.

Hello .. I have an Aristo-Craft G Gauge Santa Fe Steam Locomotive # 209 San Bernadino that has been in storage for about 15 years and we have gotten the setup out and find that the motor seems to be bound up.  I have opened up the bottom of the engine case to expose the motor and it seems OK, and all connections are good but the armature through the motor won't turn.  Any suggestions would be appreciated.  TNX, Steve

In my earliest days as a rail fan, I was around a lot of C&O power in Huntington, WV. It was predestined as I was born in the C&O Hospital there. Huntington also afforded the opportunity was watch trains from the B&O and NW as they also came into town or nearby Ceredo Kenova. The N&W was mainly coal drags out of southern WV going to the barge loading docks of the Ohio River. Of note was the use of steam to switch the cars into the mid-late 50s. They could sometimes block access to the Dreamland Pool from the parking “field”. What a shame, right?

Been a couple of months since I have posted, but I have been busy.  As Lance Mindheim drew up the track plan the forefront and back ground had a lot of ground cover.  This was consistent with what I told him, my modeling skills were modest.  Ground cover is a lot easier than scratch building structures.   But I felt it did not capture the feel of the prototype setting.  I wanted to see trains running behind buildings.  So I widened the bench work from the planned 18 in to 24 in and looked for buildings that I could scratch build in front of the track.&nbsp

This month's op session was well attended and another excellent variety of model trains was run over the layout.

I'm not always the best at coming back to look at comments here, but I was surprised how misunderstood my track cleaning video was from the comments. 

Hey everybody, finally going to do another Trainz live stream at 6:00 P.M. CENTRAL. Hope to see y'all there.

(give or take a few minutes, LOL!!)

Go to https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCTkT-p0JdEuaMcMD10a72bg? and just click on the video when I go live

I've made the move to West Virginia and the railroad room in the attic is measured and ready.  Unfortunately I still have considerable unpacking before I can start building.  In between unpacking boxes I've been doing a few sketches on Cadrail.  the first is a depiction of the GC&E branch of the Western Maryland between Bergoo and Webster Springs.  The branch has a narrow gauge feel to it which isn't surprising since it was narrow gauge when WM bought it.  it would support simple slow operations between the two track fiddle yard and Webster Springs.

I started in the "Modeling General Discussion". Not many responses/lurkers. So, i will attempt to tell my story here. I chose "tools, etc." because it's all about how to build a layout using unconventional ideas and methods. Some work, some don't. If you'd like, go to the regular forums and MGD and find the same title as this. I posted today, so is near the beginning. But will move down until ??

The basic idea I have is to discuss odd ideas and how they work or don't work.

Hi! In this cargo modeling marathon we are making the whole range of loads for your H0-scale train goods cars. We are using both scratch building techniques, as well as building laser cut kits. "Don´t buy a new wagon, build a new cargo!"