I am often asked by family and friends, “What are you working on?” Explaining the joy and intricacies of model railroading and my personal interest in animation sometimes does not quite capture everything I would like to convey. But I happened to come upon a far more effective means of accomplishing this in short order, by building small “MicroScenes” which I use as gifts to introduce people to my work and the model railroading hobby. I cannot begin to tell you the impact this has had! It is simply overwhelming. Read on.

I just completed construction of a Sierra West Tractor and Logging Repair Shed.  The original is set "Out West" in the late 1880 -1890 era.  I model the late 1920's in SE Louisiana.  The wooden roof of the original would not work in this environment, so I replaced it with a heavily weathered/rusted metal roof. I also added interior lighting.  The detailed interior was such that I could not leave it in the dark - and by the 1920's electric lighting was the norm anyway.  Thought you might enjoy seeing the pictures.

Matt Hardey

What happened to my blog post that I made yesterday? It was showing my most recent building project. That post had to do with the building of the Atlas Middlesex Mfg. kit

After some long discussions on the Model Railroad Hobbyist forum, I have sorted out the S&NEs own stock. I have made some decals using a white sheet of decal paper and putting everything onto a black background. So far, I have done the two steam locos and the one hopper that is owned by the S&NE. I have to say that the opinion out there is that my steam loco logo is too modern. However, I designed this in 1969 and it has been with me ever since.

Engines and switching lists are waiting for the crews to report tomorrow for my first railroad operating session. Snacks and drinks are ready too. Five crews will work a fast clock from 1pm to 4pm switching cars and making up trains at both ends of the layout. This "shakedown" will help point out any problem areas to be fixed. After that, I plan on having monthly sessions with my friends to run trains and have fun.

Greetings everyone, 

I've managed to get a bit of work done on my layout over the summer, but the work will really start to intensify in the coming weeks as fall sets in.

I've managed to paint track, get some basic scenery down and put down the parking lot around the Lambton yard office.

I’m working on the final structure for the Windsor, Colorado sugar beet factory.   Windsor used a beet loading structure called a “high line”.  Although it’s not a common thing to model, I thought you may be interested in following along as I build it.

George Booth
Director of Everything, The New Great Western Railway
http://users.frii.com/gbooth/Trains/index.htm
 

This is what's on my workbench today:

In which I lose the plot.

My Latest Structure. It is a Atlas Middlesex Kit.