SCRAP YARD! I have some more "tweaking" to do, but here is the start of the first scenery portion of the new layout. Lights have to be connected as this is a 24 hr operation which gives my switching crews plenty to do - LOL. More landscaping and perhaps a few more figures will help detail it further.

One of the interesting challenges of modeling a prototype railroad, particularly a lower profile non-Class I, is correctly modeling the rolling stock of the railway.

The Algoma Central Railway ran through almost 300 miles of pure wilderness in the northern part of the Canadian province of Ontario, serving primarily mining and forestry industries and a large steel mill at the southern terminus of Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario.

After a couple of years of following other modelers blogs and reading everyone's tips, tricks, how to's etc, I've finally decided to post something I've started working on.

Feedback, tips, tricks (especially for masking the rail), etc. are always helpful and appreciated.

Does anyone know where I can find some of the older walthers woodchip hoppers at a good price? I know they are no longer produced and some pretty crazy bid wars pop up on Ebay every now and then but I would like 2-4 more.

I never started a blog before but here goes... I am going to use the blog just to throw stuff out there, and see what sticks.  Sort of my own "build progress thread".  Comments and suggestions are welcome.  And happy to answer any questions- can't say I am doing things right but willing to share anything and everything.

A bit of background.

I missed posting a photos of the show last year, but I managed to spend some time getting photos ready to post this year.  As always, the show is held at the Western Development Museum in Saskatoon, which has a replica of a main street in an average prairie town in 1910.  The museum is fairly dark in the areas of "Boomtown" and I don't have the skill/patience to get better photos than what I've got.  I tried to get at least one photo of all the layouts on display.

Sorry the photos didn't attach on the first go-round:

Here's a first look at my N scale Washington County Railroad line between St. Johnsbury, VT and Orleans, VT (each bullet corresponds to the photos attached, in order):

This weekend’s fun beyond dinner and a movie with my wife and the usual kid’s activities included more work on the staging yard.  Last week it was re-gauging the 3 way turnout (see http://model-railroad-hobbyist.com/node/25448 ),  and running passenger and freight trains through the yard throat at ridiculous speeds to see where any problems might be.   My philosophy is that if I can run a 6 car passenger train through trackage at full throttle with no issues, the test is passed.