A layout with only one turnout? One that offers diverse, hour long operating sessions without ‘make work’ complexity? A layout that could be built in two weekends and then morph into something that provides several years worth of craftsman projects? A gimmick? Absolutely not. It’s all a matter of selecting the right theme, understanding prototype […]
I’ve never understood crossing flasher behavior in industrial settings. Regardless of location when a train approaches a crossing at speed, industrial or main line, the behavior is simple enough. A predetermined time/distance away the lights activate and the gates drop. After the train passes a few moments later everything resets to normal. Not so during […]
Almost overnight I feel as though my layout has doubled in size, all of this without adding a single turnout or section of track. It’s becoming apparent that I probably have a lot more model railroad than I actually need to keep me entertained. What happened? In the past year I’ve learned an enormous amount […]
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 […]