Train Blog
April 24, 2026
t took me ninety minutes to get to the club on my drive out. My adventure involved a missing man, a roadside emergency, a diversion to pick up a member, a missing key, a missing dinner, a found key, and then 6pm Colonial Drive traffic. And then there was the layout failing to come up inexplicably, of Kyle and myself rushing about as people checked engines, and finally a solution (sorta) that we are not sure about. And THEN, when we finally got to run, my Pennsy F’s which had run so nice on Monday’s test ran faulted and sputtered […]
April 19, 2026
ince we had Deland behind us and a spare weekend, and Zeus was hammering me for a Tusk Coast session, we set up for a Saturday and made it a clubhouse open house for general members. Some did show up but my attention was locked on my Tuscarora. It was a busy summer day on our railroading epic. Of course, Zeus couldn’t be found the day before an I had no confirmation of what he’d bring for his ACL version of my railroad so I printed up Pennsy switchlists and set up with that in mind. We started with […]
April 12, 2026
nother train show way up in Deland, and all you can say, it’s not getting any closer, or later in the morning. We decided to switch drivers going in, if only to throw off the KGB (seriously, over-scheduling difficulties, but it worked out fine). John W was our set-up boss and we set up with a solid crew in sharp time. We did have problems with a full booster (remember what Steve told you about consisting? This is what it looks like. We’re going to have to work with Kyle to clear it). And there was Mike with a dead […]
March 30, 2026
un little hang-out with Kyle S today at the club – he invited me in for a test-running/conceptional-thinking of his new Sarntalbahn line, a layout constructed largely of T-Trak (and kinda T-Trak) modules. So the way it is organized – the larger station, Sarntalbahn, is on one side, and on the other, Wilnau. Sarntalbahn is a larger rail yard, all turnouts manual (presumably they have the personnel for that) whereas Wilnau is a line-station, a small passenger building with a couple of light industries. And Wilnau is going to be CTC controlled (Kyle had a working interlocking/CTC board for it […]
March 28, 2026
fter the complete railroad spin-cycle from last night, I rode out to Cocoa to run on Jack Ferguson’s Yosemite Valley Railroad. And this was just what I needed – easy going sequential ops with some interesting switching and no screaming operators or scribbled warrants. Just what the railroad surgeon ordered. Anyway, I got to run the yard first thing while new-comer Mark D ran our first massive train in. Broke it up nicely in the yard – good thing it was semi-blocked and went apart easily. Once I got the first train done, I sent the John out with it. And […]
March 27, 2026
o I thought it would be a breeze session. Zack and I were going to joint-dispatch (him west subdivision, me east). Seriously, I kinda felt that it was like two master pianists sharing the same bench, skillfully weaving a beautiful melody on a single piano. In reality, it was like we were at the same piano, sharing the same bench, and it was rolled it out of the music hall and tipped down the long fight of steps and into the street. Crash, sprang, bong, bewang! Didn’t go so well. Well, no, it went as well as it could. We […]
March 22, 2026
kay, we have all the pre-warrants out. Clocks are set. Have a conductor assigned to the newbie. The guest who was wandering around has left (does anyone read the door sign – private event, Jack). Radio established with BETH Tower and confrimed with the room. Every train that needs to move has been signed up for. Prebrief was nice and quick. Ready to go. And the clock strikes… 00:A6? What? Fuddled with it while confirming 223 entering the interlocking district and 231 was out the door. Tried to change it but couldn’t get a “real” time on it. Turned it […]
March 17, 2026
he Eastern Model Railroad Meet (ironic since, recently, the eastern division of the sunshine region of the NMRA was recently abolished) was held today, way way down in Vero Beach today. Since two N-Trakers were asked to come down and speak (me, on TT&TO, and Reverend Jim, because I badgered him into speaking last minute on T-Trak because “Weren’t you a public speaker?” works really well. We also had Joel Morse (“Layout planning for operations”) and Host Chip Pecere (“Designing your layout before construction”). Interesting, two other people cancelled out of the one Jim covered (“Introduction to T-Trak Modelling”) (Including no-show […]
March 15, 2026
tanding on the ballast in Huntington Yard, night falling heavily over the property, a massive steam engine hissing behind me. Trainmaster Gail Komar (or “Tuffnut”, as the crews call her) is telling me that this reefer block needs to go up the hill quick since it’s thawing out in the here and now. True, I can hear the brine drip-drip-dripping on the ties as the block ice shrinks. She gives me that bombardier stare of hers. “Your the man for the job. The only man. Everyone else is off shift.” “It’s covered, Ma’am.” So it had been a long day […]
March 8, 2026
club buddy of mine, Pete, mentioned he’d be out at the clubhouse on Saturday, just a casual hang-out deal. Figured I’d run Tuscarora solo – he just wanted to putter about the main line on the club layout. Fine – I’ve run solo before. But then a new member of the club – young Zach, named so as not to be confused with President Zach – asked if he could try it. He’s just starting out, has a small place, and wants to see how micro ops work. Sure, why not. Of course, I always invite guests to run their […]