Model Railways - A look back...

2 really nice English videos explaining the model railroad hobby...

From the introduction by Weslake500 at YouTube where these live:

Originally shown on Saturday mornings in 1975. Part of the 'Model World' series of modelling programs hosted by Bob Symes. The last three programs of the series were all about model railways.

For those of us of a certain age, these programs hosted by Bob Symes, introduced and opened up the fantastic world of models, and for me personally, model railways.

I therefore consider it selfish to keep the now aging vhs tape of these model railway programs (videoed some almost fifteen years ago), to myself.

These model railway programs along with childhood hero Bob Symes (who id still like to meet) remain personally as fantastic and inspiring today, as they were all them years ago as a child.

I hope you still enjoy them today as much as I still do.

Enjoy.

Steamtown in March

It's great to be paid to go on a railfanning fieldtrip to Steamtown USA. Hadn't been there in about 2 years so nice to be back. Due to a derailment, see below we had to go in the long way, through the yard (horrible I say, just horrible ;-) ). Unfortunately, didn't have the camera handy for cleaner shots of the derailment, and by the time we left it had been moved... Did have some time to myself though and had a blast going through the yard...

Delaware Lackawanna #2461, an ALCO C425

Delaware Lackawanna (DL) #2461, an ALCO C425, DL 405, an ALCO C420, and DL 4252, another ALCO C425.

Delaware Lackawanna (DL) #2423, an ALCO C425. In the background derailed DL #3642, an ALCO C636, then DL 211, a RS-32, and finally DL 3000 (a Montreal Locomotive Works/ALCO M630)

A really cool yard switcher moving a Lackawanna coach into the shop. See the video below to watch it move...

A new tender being made for Canadian National Pacific #3254 that runs at Steamtown

A very sad Shay

Front end of a Boston and Maine tender showing the automatic stoker that made the fireman's job much easier...

 Parts is parts...

Watching Trains in Real-time

Watch trains moving across the country in real time with the Süddeutsche Zeitung's Zugmonitor, a webcam of a different kind. Site is designed to show where there are delays, but entertaining none-the-less.

To stop the video and track in real time, click on "LIVE" in the upper right.What this shows: each black arrow is a long distance train en-route. Clicking on it shows the route and on the right a window opens displaying the stations. The arrows surrounded by colored circles are trains that are late. The darker the circle, the later it is. Clicking on one of those also gives the reason for delay at top of the window. Using the (Suche) window, you can also choose the type of trains you want displayed and also select stations.

Site in German only... Click image to start watching.

S-Bahn

You never know who you'll meet on the train... Animation by Markus Neidel.

Berlin: Symphony of a Metropolis [1927]

Wonderful railway and urban footage in this 1927 silent film directed by Walter Ruttmann, co-written by Carl Mayer and Karl Freund. The film is an example of the city symphony film genre.^[1] A musical score for an orchestra to accompany the silent film was written by Edmund Meisel. As a "city symphony" film, it portrays the life of a city, mainly through visual impressions in a semi-documentary style, without the narrative content of more mainstream films, though the sequencing of events can imply a kind of loose theme or impression of the city's daily life.

In 2007, a restored version of the film was shown with the fully reconstructed original score by Edmund Meisel. The film was restored by the Bundesarchiv-Filmarchiv in cooperation with ARTE and with funding by the ZDF. The restored version is based on cellulose nitrate copy from the archives of the former Reichsfilmarchivs which was augmented by footage acquired from the Library of Congress.
From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berlin:_Symphony_of_a_Metropolis

Pappeck Reko-projekt on the Branchline - 3

And it goes on...Weathering of sidewalks, appying turf and other details, hedges. Still waiting for the station mentioned in the last post, want to detail the spaces between the houses with laundry lines, wabbit hutches, and stuff. Then will close off at towards the front with more hedges.

Put the scene onto the layout after I took these pictures and noticed that the tree blends into the background too well so will freshen up with a darker green turf.  Liking the way this is coming together.

Pappeck Reko-projekt on the Branchline - 2

Lifted the old town out (had forgotten that I can be clever) traced the outline and cut out some foam for the base... Good to start playing with placement of structures and road placement... Ordered WS-Lasercut's Wartehaus Sellin-Ost that I've decided will look and work better as a basic station.Nice compact footprint and appropriate for this kind of end of the line...

Overall view

First attempt at structure placement...
The Magdeburger Reiter statue of HRE Otto I will likely stay (somewhere) on the layout...

End of the line...

The old town next to my n-scale end module. May well keep as a momento of layouts past.

Pappeck Reko-projekt on the Branchline

Between all matter of book projects and The Bonefolder I'm glad to be getting back to the railroad. After the corner by my small harbor, it became time to set my eyes on my branchline station and neighborhood...

View down the street...

View from across the layout...

Siedlungshäuser from WS-Lasercut will replace the Schreiber houses. The difference in scale is scary. Though originally packed close together, putting three here will make things too tight, so I'll likely opt for 2 with more space between/around.

Unless something changes, all structures in this area will be card lasercut kits. It's been really interesting building these - interesting in a good way. The fit is really good, and the level of detail they can get amazing. None of the plastic shine either, though all will get some weathering and other detailing.

• Siedlung Eisenheim on Wiki (German)
• Siedlung Eisenheim (Google to English)
• Lots of pictures of the 87:1 models for  the kits 
• Animated gif showing growth...

New crushing old...

Kits assembled to date...

The stellwerk and magazin (garage/store house) are by Moebo, the kiosk by Joswood. The magazin I may convert into a small station with a waiting room and storage... Then again, may scratchbuild a small station or use one of the "Wartehaus Sellin - Ost" that I just ordered from WS-Lasercut.

Detail of kiosk.

Building the kits with removable roofs so that I can detail interiors... This is the Trinkhalle/Kiosk so ubiquitous in the Ruhr and elsewhere.

Plow Flies Through Finse

Just seen flying through Finse, a little plow/MOW unit at 1600hrs CET. 

And another one this evening at 2330hrs CET.

A nice late fall day in Finse

16:40 local time a nice fall day in Finse... The snow is blowing, it's cold, but the Christmas tree is up...

Great NYS Model Train Fair: Nov. 5 & 6

Two great days at the Great NYS Model Train Fair this weekend. Attendance up by 15%+ over last year, lots of folks and more kids than ever. This one below was completely mesmerized and couldn't get enough. From http://cnynrhs.org/:

2011 Model Train Fair a Big Success!

Nov. 6--The numbers are in... and the 2011 edition of the Chapter's Great New York State Model Train Fair was an unqualified success! Attendance was up 15% over previous years. Vendors reported good sales. The results come after years of flat attendance. This year's show condensed every vendor and exhibitor into one building -- the 90,000 sf Exhibit Center at the Empire Expo. The show also eliminated admission fees for youngsters 15 and under. Next year's show is scheduled for Nov. 3 and 4, 2012.

My star of the show, Sofia who although promised she wouldn't have to spend a day did due to an emergency and absolutely rocked during take-down, loading/unloading, and putting everything back at home. She brought her guitar and worked on her songs while there... Thank you, Sofia. <3

Was really great to have this layout set up again and to run the littler trains (we also have z-scale) these past two days. We put a lot of effort into the modules and it showed. Despite having been invaded by oversized tent caterpillars from outer space (dust and other dirt) during the two years the modules were stored under/next to the H0 layout they cleaned up really well and didn't look tired at all.

Ready for the Great NYS Model Train Fair: Nov. 5 & 6

All packed up and ready to go to the
Great NYS Model Train Fair this Nov. 5 & 6

More about the modules at here and here.

Webcams - But wait, there are more...

Railcam in Mierlo-Hout, Netherlands

Railcam started in 2001, as one of the subjects of the website cofoto.nl. Since July 2006 the url has changed to Railcam.nl. It's a famous hotspot, with a daily high number of visitors from every country in the world, and more importantly trains. The camspot is just 30 meters away of the railway crossing at Mainstreet/Mierloseweg in Mierlo-Hout, (municipality Helmond). Railcam 1 is installed in North western direction. Sound is also included so you can hear when the crossing gates start to close.

Plattling - Bahnhof LIVE

Plattling station is a central railway hub in eastern Lower Bavaria in southern Germany that sees a nice mix of traffic throughout the day. Here's an overview of the yard via Google Maps. No sound but a great overview.

Finse – 19.10.2011

In the beautiful crisp late October darkness the night train from Bergen to Oslo pulls into Finse... This could be Syracuse, any day now... Go to the webcam here.

A New "Page" and Google Maps Project

Historic Rail and Industrial Locations in Germany is a Google Maps project was designed to help me explore old and historic rail and industrial sites. Blue pins denote railroad infrastructure such as Bws, red pins railway related infrastructure such as bridges, tunnels, grades, and green pins denote industrial sites such as mines, steel mills, ... Use the form on the page to suggest additional venues.

Alte und historische Bahn- und Industrieanlagen in Deutschland ist ein Google Maps Projekt das entworfen wurde um mir beim Erkunden alter und historischer Bahn- und Industrieanlagen zu helfen. Blaue Pins deuten auf Bahnanlagen hin, rote auf bedutende Brücken, Tunnels, und Steigungen, und grüne Pins auf Industrieanlagen. Bitte die Form auf der Seite benutzen um mich auf Andere hinzuweisen.

Thank you / Danke

Driver 8 by REM

How Railroad Track is Made and Crossings Work

Two really clever German language videos from Die Sendung mit der Maus, a children's program by the WDR.

How Track is Made

The Railroad Crossing Gate

There was even a train decorated with images from the show...

That Märklin is making a model of...

http://medienpdb.maerklin.de/produkte/pdfs/Mae_HerbstNH_2011_DE.pdf

One of my favorites is about these supersized eggs...

http://blog.fleischerei-freese.de/2009/11/ei-da-schau-her/

Düwag GT6 of the Bogestra

After what seems like years, finally cleaned the streetcar track and put the tram (at Düwag GT6 - bidirectional) back on. The model is by Rivarossi and represents line 305 of the Bogestra in Bochum/Gelsenkirchen, Germany. Here it is with an occasional intercity pulled by a 103, a 150 pulling limestone towards the steel mills and an 221 hauling a mixed freight.

And another in HD 

More Lasercuts

Was working on some more Moebo and Joswood kits again today and made an interesting discovery that impressed me more than I already was by what was possible with lasers and cardstock...

Today's output of kits, an industrial chimney, a shed-like structure, and two transformer stations/pump houses...

Moebo's transformer station/pump house - detail of "windows."

Transformer stations/pump house detail of "windows"lit from within.

That "screen" is lasercut out of ca.1mm/40pt cardstock in H0 - Wow!

Posten 210 - My first lasercut kit 2

After a far too long break, finally finished Joswood's Posten 210and provisionally placed it in its final position on the corner of the layout above the freight yard. Adjacent to it will be a small schrebergarten with several garden sheds.Will be good to get this corner done.

Bundesbahn Allerlei

With my brother and his kids here this past week I knew that they would want to see and play with the trains. That gave me the extra push I needed to clean the track and dust the cobwebs off of the layout... Even on the switching puzzle. Also swapped out the standard Roco decoders on several engines for LokPilot 4s and what a difference that made in AC analog mode...

With some of my book projects winding down it will be fun to spend more time modeling, weathering, and running the trains. Also will need to take the modules out of storage and prep them modules for Central NY Railfair in November. Maybe I'll even finish my puzzle makeover project.

Railfanning both ends of the East Syracuse CSX yard