Riding the Katy Trail

Riding bikes with ArtistCarola!

Railroading Merit Badge!

My son is a boy scout and as a requirement for his railroading merit badge he had to build and weather a model railroad structure. He chose to complete one of the road bridges.



He also had to place scenery around it!

The scene is complete with the vehicles!

More Grass.

After letting the dust take over for far too long I have began getting back to work on the scenery.

Formerly the area around the house and warehouse did not have grass but now they do.

Track Cleaning Car! Yeah!

It has been a while since I worked on my railroad....You Know, Life gets in the way...I have had operating sessions and done maintenance but I hadn't built anything new until now.

Tired of had cleaning the track and my engines suddenly stopping while running slowly. Dirty track is hard to combat but this car helps.

I made this car by drilling two holes in the bottom then building the "Bright Boy" equipped sled from polystyrene.

After running the car i have found that, while it needs weight, it keeps the track  pretty clean.

Real men of Genius!

Uncle Clinchfield Comes for a Visit

My friend Mike came over to visit the Branchline and brought over his Athearne Clinchfield Challenger. This is a superbly detailed engine, it is DCC equiped with sound, and is a blast to operate. Thanks Mike for bringing Uncle Clinchfield over and letting him run.

Visiting the Ohio & Southern

Derailed and waiting to be scrapped.

 Last night I had the privilege of visiting my friend Mike’s Ohio and Southern N- Gauge model railroad. Mike’s layout has a different theme than many modelers in the scale 1:160. In his layout he captures the joy of a Lionel train set of years past, the railroad empire made of shiny new cars and engines circling about the room, a town of tiny plastic buildings equipped with lights, bridges, a station and even a searchlight. It is a true nostalgic joy for any model railroad enthusiast. I had a great time.  Mike Thanks for the tour.

King of the Empire and his domain!

A 4-6-6-4 Waiting to pull a long coal

How do you go for a beer run?

New York Central F-T

The Farm At Night.

B&O Caboose

A 4-6-4 waits at the coaling tower 

I am primarily a winter modeler!

I tend to only model during the winter when it is too cold to ride my bicycle and business slows down at work so if there are fewer posts during the summer you might want to check my other blog about my bicycle exploits!

Bicycling in a world built for cars!

Every bit of Track is laid.

A while back I laid the last bit of track in the roundhouse and forgot to post the pictures.

as you can see all the stalls have track and the programming track is also installed. I weathered the brick and painted the track and turntable.

Making the Cars Dirty!

The car on the left has been made dirty …

The car on the right is still clean…

I accomplished this using chalk pastels, a little water, and old blush brushes. The technique is very easy.

These cars are Atlas with Intermountain wheel sets.