I am finally getting back into the hobby after a 25+ year hiatus. Wow have things changed. I am looking for advice on my beginnings. My plan is to model the New York and Atlantic currently operating in NYC. I already found out getting locos is tough. The advice I am seeking, is good sources for urban scenery. I would love to combine NYC subway, NYAR local freight, and the CSX that travels in through the Hell's gate Bridge. Being an armor modeler, I love realism and weathering. I welcome any and all input. Thanks for your time.

Starting my lime stone quarry module. Needed a change of pace from building R/C cranes and R/C steam engines. I have in mind to model a lime stone quarry. There's was one located not far from me in Leroy, New York. It's located between the old B, R, & P and the Lehigh Valley.

Trying out a track arrangement.

If you've been reading this blog then you'll remember that I've been trying to reclaim portions of an elderly friend's HO layout but in On30. Much of his railroad isn't my style - mainline spaghetti bowl loop (big loop) and when I brought it home in huge chunks only the strong survived. Since On30 tie sizes and center-to-center spacing is som much different, portions of the layout are being used where you can't really tell that the rails is so out of scale. Some of the switches have come up in pieces so I am re-laying them on new ties and PC board ties from FastTracks.

When you only have 8x11 available for your railroad, its interesting how ones mind starts to work. There is a temptation to squeeze in as much as possible but I think that’s a mistake. I want an illusion of some open spaces and places “over the horizon”.

For example:

As part of top deck installation I needed a lift out section for the door. Here is a picture of the just constructed, bracket/support “thingy”. It basically links the Helix exit with the lift out section.