In modern times at least, railroads lock everything. Switches, gates, derails you name it, nothing happens without the conductor reaching for the keychain first. To have a model railroad where opening things is as simple as an instantaneous flip of a toggle strays from the pace of the real world. I’ve written before that it […]
Whenever I’m at an operating session I invariably ask the host how often they run their layout just by themselves. The answer is an almost unanimous “never”. There are number of reasons for this. I suspect in many cases the layout owner derives most of their hobby enjoyment from building things and operating sessions are […]
Topic: Model Railroad Operations Tick. Tick. Tick. You’re running out of time. Better speed up. How do you plan your operating sessions? I’ll argue that most folks are mission driven. They have a certain number of moves they want performed, industries they want switched, or trains to run and, by god, nothing short of completion […]
“Black Ice” Virtuoso model and photo by Bob Springs Virtuosity: Masterly skill or technique in the arts. Many years ago I attended a talk at a sales convention given by motivational speaker Peter Vidmar, the highest scoring American gymnast in Olympic history. The subject of the talk centered on what it took to be […]
The exceptional YouTube video above epitomizes the symphony of sound and motion characteristic of railroad switching operations. When you’re done watching ask yourself, do you want your model operating sessions to capture this flavor or that of a slot car race? Model Railroading is unique in that it allows us to build very delicate, highly […]