My friend, Colin Dover, intimated to me last night that he builds layouts purely so he can have a place to switch. A couple of years ago, he tore out his representation of Vancouver Waterfront to build his “much simpler” Central Park line of BC Hydro. I put “much simpler” in quotes because, well, it is not a simple layout by my reckoning. There are … Continue reading Operations ideas from BC Hydro
On Wednesday evening, I had an opportunity to dispatch on my friend Scott Calvert’s layout. His is a timetable and train order operation, just as the real Boundary was. If you’ve never had an opportunity to participate in a TT&TO operation, I encourage you to come to Vancouver for the annual Railway Modellers’ Meet. This year, we have operating sessions on two evenings, but they’re … Continue reading Near miss on the Boundary Sub
I’m up at the Selkirk Express PNR convention in Salmon Arm, where tomorrow I will be presenting my introductory clinic on timetable and train order operations. As promised, here are the slides and handouts. They are offered under the share alike Creative Commons license. Continue reading Selkirk Express 2016: An Introduction Timetable and Trainorder
Okay, you asked for it! Here is the video showing the operation of the Pembroke turntable. I looked for appropriate turn of the century background music, I really did, but this was the best I could find. Continue reading Turntable Video Posted
My friend Scott invited a bunch of us over today for an informal operating session. This was the first session on the new Boundary Sub. I’ve been helping Scott out with construction occasionally for many years, and it was great to finally see trains running. There are some important lessons from Scott’s first session. Perhaps the most important was about expectation-setting. Even though the first … Continue reading Shaking down the Boundary Sub
Chris Mears published an excellent post, entitled Carload from Baltic. Here he very eloquently captures some of the inspiration for my own musings about car forwarding, and particularly the relationship of the railroad to local shippers and receivers. It’s well thought out and written; give yourself a treat and take it in. Continue reading Carload from Baltic
Actual paper from the Canada Atlantic is about as rare as hen’s teeth. I don’t collect it, but I do keep an eye on eBay lest some show up, and if nobody else looks like they are buying it, I’ll bid on it to ensure it doesn’t get thrown out. However, I don’t have a good storage solution for the stuff, and no interest in … Continue reading Canada Atlantic Way-Bills
