The “East Rail” Name


It’s February 15, 2006 at the “East Rail” industrial park (looking southward). Looking at the tracks to the right we have (back to front): No. 1 Main (back), No. 2 Main(middle), and the “East Rail” siding (foreground) . East Rail got its name by virtue of being “East” of the double track main. At the […]

Downtown Spur Op. Session


There is probably no person on earth that knows the nitty gritty details of CSX operations in Miami more than Tolga Erbora. It was a pleasure to have him run a one person operation session of the layout during the Mid-Atlantic RPM open house. He documented everything on video which you can watch HERE. His […]

The Problem Child


Your switch list looks easy enough, just switch one industry, a logistics warehouse in Miami’s East Rail industrial park. Three cars are spotted there and you have three incoming loads. Pull three cars, set them aside, spot the incomings, job done right? Well, sometimes. In the real world there’s the way things should “go” and […]

Dogs and Tennis Balls


Most modern industrial parks only have a few industries. Of those, typically the same one or two are consistently worked on a weekly basis. Take a golden retriever or German shepherd to the park and fling a tennis ball across the field and you will have one ecstatic dog.  They’ll chase that slobbery sphere endlessly […]

Canton RR Article


The current issue of Railfan and Railroad has an exceptional article on Baltimore’s Canton RR, a modern switching line. I particularly liked the highly detailed explanation of their switching operations. The photos are superb as is Otto’s illustration. You can buy it HERE. My Barnes and Noble had it in the magazine rack. I have […]