The first two days of this week were productive ones. In about 36 hours I managed to go from flat insulation foam to trains actually moving. This all thanks to the help of another local modeler, Eric.

The Lone Star DIV. of NMRA has stop hard copy printing of Marker Lamp and will publish its first electronic full color issue this quarter. I received notification the NMRA will start an electronic supplement to its magazine in the near future. Many of the divisions though out the NMRA have gone to electronic publications. Again thanks to Joe for setting the path for now many others to follow. The more the merrier.

This is a lazer kit for holding your cell phone to be used a camera car on railroad. Picked this up on West Island Model RR Club Site.  I do not know who makes the kit.

The starting or ending point of any railroad is a yard!  I decided to start a new layout by creating the yard and city first.  The Track arrangement is based upon the Rutland Railways Rutland Vermont Yard.  The Delaware & Hudson railroad being the other main railroad I model will share these facilities.  

My goal is to kitbash and scratch build structures to closely match the prototype.  Elements of both the Rutland & Delaware & Hudson Railroads will be combined to create the overall look of Rutland yard and the city of Rutland.  

Has anyone out there made a hand laid rerailer.  Any pictures or drawings would be great.  I do HO but shouldn't matter.  I need a project for the long weekend.  Thanks.

I ordered two Ti Launchpads for $4.30 each with free shipping. At that price even if I used them just to blink LEDs for grade crossings its well worth it.

http://processors.wiki.ti.com/index.php/MSP430_LaunchPad_%28MSP-EXP430G2%29

OK here goes again. These photos are of the Green Bay Industrial Area on my layout. The first shows Green Bay on the right & part of the branch line leading to the lumber mill at Hardwood. The second shows the other end of the branch line with the lumber mill in the distance. The rest of the photos show some of the buildings. The three on the right are scratch built and I will be having them judged for merit points for getting my Master Builder-Structures, Certificate of Achievement.

Richard - Superintendent Chicago North Western

Today I finished the tracklaying except for the MPD area, the tracks there will installed when I receive the turntable.
After that I have to install the electric part.
The turnouts will be sets either by turnout motors or mechanically.

Let there be light! While my track plan is being finalized I wanted to make some type of progress on the railroad room. I considered a number of methods to light the room / layout and decided to use track lighting with PAR20 heads (50 watt maximum) so yesterday I ordered the items I need for my 10ft by 12ft room. Why track lighting you ask? Well, my friend Kevin (Wnrr.net) used it to light his excellent railroad. I like the ability to be able to move the lights around and aim them to my liking.

This blog is designed to keep track of construction of my layout modeling the IC&E Rockford Sub in HO scale. The specific modeling areas include West Yard in South Beloit, Illinois and the line east of Beloit Junction, Wisconsin (the former Milwaukee Road "Racine and Southwestern" line). The focal point of the layout will be the switching operations at the Frito-Lay plant in Beloit, Wisconsin during the late 2000's and into the present day.