Over the 14 years I've been following the IAIS, I've gone to great effort to confine my modeling strictly to my chosen era, both to focus my efforts as well as to limit my hobby spending.  A friend has even jokingly (?) referred to me as "heartless" due to choices I've made to part with equipment that doesn't fit my timeframe.  

Where the electrons are hiding.

In one of my recent posts ( http://model-railroad-hobbyist.com/node/18971 ) I shared a track plan I was working on for a new layout I'm hoping to build after I finish tearing my current layout down. Many readers gave helpful suggestions that made the track plan much better than I had originally designed. Since then I've made a few minor tweaks, but nothing real significant. 

Haleiwa Hotel

I am really excited about adding a hotel to the branch and found some great pictures for inspiration. The bad news is that O scale is so damned big. The image below might better be on the backdrop OR I just attach the big lanai to the photo at a slightly smaller scale (1:64?) with people inside to give a 3-D effect.

Going to play around with this blogging thingie... so, hi :)

Took the first step of constructing the Los Angeles Junction in HO.  If it looks like a Free-mo module it is (or was - its being re-purposed).

Currently under construction is UP's M-10005 'City of Denver' in 1.7"-scale ´(running on 7 1/4" tracks).

Kind of a step-by-step visualization of the construction:

Frame and driveline

Basic subconstruction of the shell - the nose-core is shaped of foam and will be removed later

Update of a great railroad original video July 2013. This video will show what LED lighting can do.  Many great tips from a Master in the hobby.  Enjoy the LED that were use are shown in first video from July 2013. Two Links posted for videos.

The track plan for the new project is attached, would appreciate any suggestions for structures, scenes, etc. It's David Meek's basic idea with the existing 2X8 ft section of the old layout added to it...

I normally pride myself in solving problems that pop up like little gremlins on my railroad. Recently completing a reefer with all those little plastic parts that seem to disappear by jumping off the model and/or the surface you're working on, I ran into a problem I have never seen before.

A couple of shots of the original layout under construction, the colors in the snapshots are weird, it looked better in person :-)