Recently, blog reader John Moenius recommended Railroad Man by LA-based Santa Fe switchman, Richard Paseman. Meant to be a series of entertaining short stories about life on the rails, the book goes into a level of detail about switching operations that I’ve never come across before. Employing these practices stretches the length of an op. […]
Category: Operations
From Aerials & Maps to (some) Clarity.
Conceptual sketch, with thoughts and notes, on where I’m thinking of taking the LAJ 1960s version. For a number of reasons, I plan to focus my upcoming efforts on the LAJ layout. I like the feel of the room, its openness, the mid-century modern interior design, and the way the sun floods the space in […]
LAJ ops, Putting it all Together
The crew keeps a watchful eye out for traffic as it works Longview Fiber. My post on the 1960s era version of the LAJ layout garnered more interest and questions than usual. That being the case, I thought it would be helpful to circle back and have a quick review and pull some of the […]
LAJ ops Insights From the Professors
One nice aspect of modeling The Los Angeles Junction is that there are a few retired employees on the forums who are very generous with their time from the standpoint of explaining how they did things. Additionally, there are a handful of highly energetic young videographers who do a great job of documenting the routine […]
Unveiling My New Layout
Having wrapped up its work on the LAJ’s Horn Lead, the local crosses District Blvd. on its way back to “B” Yard on my LAJ layout. The Foster & Kleiser Methyl billboards were a signature feature of LA during the early 1960s. It’s removable in the event I want to update to a modern era. […]