Many of our layouts have forests, fields, and towns, but what about in-between? The outskirts of town, the suburbs, where the line is both in the city, yet still in the wild. I like to classify this type of scenery as “outer-urban” scenery. Follow along as I create this important transition scenery on my layout. […]
Read More Building “Outer-Urban” SceneryYesterday, as I was driving through PARC and saw that there was trackwork near New York Ave. The machine appeared to be clearing ballast of the rail area. (Video coming soon) We chased (barely, it was moving 5 MPH) to Arizona ave, getting a better angle for photos. A lot of dust was in the […]
Read More Trackwork on the PARCFINALLY. IT’S DONE. this video has been waiting for about four months to be made. Harrison and Gideon railfan their home territory, with some jogs north and south too!
Read More Trackside Treks Episode 14: Plattsburgh PaloozaI was (back) in Burlington today, and stopped in at VTR’s Burlington yard. A train was blocking the main, a cut of cars was sitting on the passing tracks, and the yard looked like I was running it! to add to the problem, the yard crew was going in for lunch. Some power sitting around. […]
Read More Back to Burlington (again!)While in Vermont, I was given a tour of a pair of vintage passenger cars: 1949 PRR three bedroom, drawing room buffet lounge Colonial Crafts, and B&M 6-4-6 sleeper Salisbury Beach. These cars, along with the Frank Thomson, were waiting for the return leg of a Burlington-Rutland excursion. The Beach was built to sleep as many people in as possible. […]
Read More NCT Exclusive: Climb Aboard a 1949 Pensy Lounge Plus a B&M SleeperIt has been 7 months and 9 episodes since I was in Burlington, but it feels like yesterday!
Read More Trackside Treks Episode 13: Back to BurlingtonToday I was in VT so I headed over to Burlington Yard. As we arrived, VTR’s two SD70M-2s were parked in front being repaired. GATX #2147, still lettered for Natchez Railway, was switching in the yard. I was able to witness some of the last momentum switching in the US (video coming soon). This was […]
Read More Back to Burlington YardLast week I stopped in Catskill on the way back north to railfan. As we approached Brown Crossing Rd, I heard a defect detector come in on the scanner. We got set up and a southbound autorack came in on the siding and stopped. A rainstorm came through, but let up just in time for […]
Read More Back to the River LineToday I headed out for some high-speed railfanning on Amtrak’s Empire Corridor. The first train was the northbound Maple Leaf, running 20 minutes late. Approx. train speed: 90 mph. Next up, the northbound Adirondack (I can’t escape, can I?) with an unusual 7 cars. The last train of the morning was the a southbound Empire Service. Look […]
Read More Railfanning High Speed Amtrak on the Hudson RiverYesterday I stopped in Catskill, NY on the CSX River Subdivision. Within a few minutes, a northbound manifest rolled in on the siding. The train was about one third boxcars, one third trash, and one third other. There was a block of about 20 flatcars… Then the DPU… And the Trash… Today I headed towards […]
Read More Railfanning the River LineThe Southbound Adirondack rolls along the Terry Gordon bike path on a cold March day.
Read More Random Recap #33Yesterday we just caught the northbound Adirondack at Margaret St. They were 8 minutes early in Plattsburgh!? We also swung by the CP office, but the D11 wasn’t working. Today we had some time to kill so we tried to beat the northbound to the station, running 20 minutes late. We just caught it, literally […]
Read More 2 Amtraks in 2 daysA Southern Pacific boxcar flies through Fonda on a CSX Manifest.
Read More Random Recap #32
