Modeling general discussion

Motor car ride at the Kentucky Railroad Museum
I recently attended the Louisville & Nashville Historical Society annual convention held in Shepherdsville, Kentucky. A number of the members brought their motor cars (speeders) and offered free rides at the Kentucky Railroad Museum. I really enjoyed my ride and shot a little video that is five minutes long. Even if you don't care for motor cars check out some of the rolling stock that we pass during the ride.
ATN Access in N scale
I finally got to do more locos for my layout. After doing the Tammin, Western Australia layout, I decided something different was missing. So I purchased a N Scale Kato Wisconsin Central SD45 and decided it was going to be 'Australianized". Over here we had ATN Access, which was owned as a joint venture with Tranz Rail owning 67% and Wisconsin Central 33%.
Combining virtual and physical model railroading?
After reading the following two threads I got to thinking about the possibilities of combining "virtual" railroading with physical model railroading.
Assistant Editor's thoughts: Playing or Creating?
http://model-railroad-hobbyist.com/magazine/mrh2016-10-oct/asst-editors-thoughts
and
The Free Layout Design Software SCARM now with Model Trains Simulator

Weekly Photo Fun - October 7th to October 13th, 2016
Look as I may, I can't see anyone starting this week's WPF, so to quote Andrew:
Awesome work everyone last week! Time to start this week's photo thread!
As always, we get as much out of your in-process photos as we do the highly polished "all done" shots!
(Rob - not Andrew)

No modeling today :-(
With hurricane Matthew getting ready to slam into the Florida coast tonight with me just 50 miles away I've been preparing for its arrival. They are expecting 100+ mph winds inland along with flooding. I've already got lots of food, water, flashlights, batteries, emergency radio, generator, and gas. I just needed to lash together my outside stuff so it doesn't become missiles to smash into my (or others) home(s). We'd appreciate your prayers!

Whats on your workbench - October 2016 edition
Time to start a new month - October 2016!

open railway map
Hello...
A friend of mine showed me this site:
http://www.openrailwaymap.org/
A very detailed map of every railroad in North America, in current service, abandoned, disused....etc
Detailed right down to the Yard tracks, spurs, sidings... (zoom in..)
So I thought i'd share with you.
enjoy, cheers,
Brad

Fine Art Models
This caught my eye on page 270.
"Fine Art Models, an importer of high quality transportation models, will no longer develop any new projects. Owner Gary Kohl said the problem is the lack of artisans capable of creating models of the quality and authenticity demanded by museums."
If you go to FAM's About Us page there is a reason given by Tom Rose, Director of Christies, South Kensington.
Great Scale Model Train Show Timonium, MD--Free-mo/Northeast Corridor Joint Layout
29-30 October Timonium Maryland: There will be at the GSMTS a combined Free-mo and NEC4 (Northeast Corridor 4 Track Mainline) HO modular layout. The NEC4 layout will comprise a large oval and branching off using an interchange module will be the Free-mo branch heavy with industry and switching opportunities.
Here's some video of the NEC modules:

Layout lighting: Questions about 5730 SMD LEDs.
Thanks largely to Will Annand's post in another thread, I think I've come to the conclusion that surface-mount LEDs are the way to go for layout lighting. Their ultra-low profile, low-power consumption, low-heat, and high-output are hard to beat. The super-slim profile of SMD LEDs will allow me to place the self-adhesive backed LED strips under a row of cabinets using only a very thin light-shield.
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