The Lowly Shuttle


My first encounter with The Downtown Spur was in February of 2006 where I caught GP38-2 #2639 (above) heading light back to Hialeah Yard. Clearly it was a shuttle of some sort, the details of which I have no clue. I think it’s safe to assume he had a car (or several) that needed to […]

Sungas Ops. Trial Run


Having made the trip down to the run around to get on the correct side of the train, the local has pulled the empties and is getting ready to cut off the loads and spot them. The two loaded cars are by the locomotive. Since I hadn’t built out the structures for Sungas until recently, […]

New Miami Video


For the Miami rail fans and modelers in the group, Tolga Erbora has just produced a new video. Among other places he highlights East Rail and the Downtown Spur. He really does a great job of laying things out A to Z. You can watch the video HERE.

Downtown Spur Operations


One of the biggest advantages of modeling the present is that research information is so easily attainable. For example you can make site visits to measure and photograph structures, streets, or rolling stock. It also makes having all of your answers relatively easily answered in terms of how operations unfolded. Case in point, yesterday Tolga […]

Track Planning Based on Op. Session Length


Certainly, there are many reasons to feature rail served industries on a layout beyond the operational aspect.  If you’re modeling a section of a specific prototype, and the industry is there, you’d probably want to include it on your layout just to be accurate.  You’d do so whether you care about operations or not.  If […]