It has been another very busy summer as my wife and I adjust to life in Germany and adjust to life as empty-nesters. Happily, time for model building is starting to pick up, although progress has been slowed somewhat by … Continue reading No. 210: Milwaukee Road H&D Layout Planning, Sep 2025
My wife and I moved back to Germany for work in January 2025. With all three kids in college in the US we thought this would be our last chance to live overseas prior to my formal retirement. I must tell you truly that it was terribly hard for me to move overseas again. I had to pull up roots again, leave my train buddies again, leave my weekend soccer crew again, and leave my old crew at work that I’ve known for decades–again. I left three kids in college out in the Mountain West, and some darn good health … Continue reading No. 209: Clear Track in Eulenbis
By Tom Holley, with Alex Bogaski This is all Alex Bogaski’s fault. Alex is a native Oklahoman and dyed in the wool FarmRail modeler. However, being stationed at Fort Bragg, N.C., and associating with the wrong crowd, he became interested in the Southern Railway. He acquired a few Southern locomotive models and some rolling stock and naturally needed a place to run them. So, he built the Somewhere Down South layout, a small, Inglenook-style switching layout–generic in nature–typical of a small, Deep South branch line. Being a third generation Central of Georgia district employee, the plan naturally appealed to me. … Continue reading No. 208: Somewhere on The Southern
A week before Christmas 2024 I dragged my buddy Lonnie Bathurst out to Swanea, Illinois to visit a fellow prototype modeler, Steve Goaring. Steve is a lifetime model railroader and models the Illinois Terminal System (ITS) O’Fallon District in HO scale in his basement. Steve graciously invited us into his home, introduced us to his family, and then took us to the basement to see “The Museum” as he called it. Below, here’s the view of Steve’s layout and workbench as you enter the layout room. The small swinging portion of the layout at the left allows unobstructed access to … Continue reading No. 207: Steve Goaring’s Illinois Terminal RR Layout
My wife and I are leaving the US at the end of January for another three-to-five year job at Ramstein Air Base, Germany. At 61 this will probably be my last full-time assignment working for the Air Force. After this tour we plan to come back to the US and settle down for a while. That’s the plan anyway… Leaving is bittersweet. I’ll miss family and friends, and we’ll be a long way from our three terrific kids who are all in college in the Mountain West. I’ll miss my modeler friends and all the fun RPM events, my footballer … Continue reading No. 206: Back to Germany
Last week month I sent a new engine to a buddy for DCC and sound installation. I got the engine back last week and ran an ops session with it right away on my Hermitage Road layout. Here’s the report. … Continue reading No. 205: Hermitage Road Ops Session, 17 Dec 24
The most recent Naperville Railroad Prototype Modelers Conference, now known as Chicagoland RPM, was held on October 10-12, 2024, at the Northern Illinois University Conference Center in Naperville, Illinois. Chicagoland is one of the premier railroad prototype modeler events in the country, providing attendees with clinics, presentations, layout tours, vendors, historical societies, and more. The best about RPM events is the gathering of friends from around the country for fellowship and collaboration on railroad modeling. More about this year’s event can be found at https://www.rpmconference.com/. A good RPM meet starts with a good party. A dozen of us from the … Continue reading No. 204: 2024 Chicagoland RPM
At Chicagoland RPM in October, our friend Tony Koester revealed his latest project, an O scale Tribute Layout on the Wabash “High Line” branch from Bluffs, Illinois to Keokuk, Iowa, which he’s building in his four-season porch. The real railroad gained notoriety in the 1950s for its locomotives. Because of a spindly bridge across the Illinois River the ‘Bash used a small fleet of lightweight 2-6-0s exclusively on the line. The little engines got a lot of press as the steam era ended. The right-of-way was interesting too; it was a friendly little railroad, running through Illinois cornfield country on … Continue reading No. 203: Freight Cars for The High Line
I got sick of work last week so I took Friday off and went up to Litchfield, Illinois to visit my buddy Lonnie Bathurst. Lonnie has a large HO scale layout in the back half of his office building and we spent the whole afternoon cleaning track and upgrading scenery. Above. This is the Litchfield Train Group layout that was featured in RMC a few years ago. The layout needs some scenery work before their big annual open house during Christmas. Lonnie and I applied static grass and 40 to 50 feet of layout. We applied static grass to the … Continue reading No. 202: Scenery Work at the Litchfield Train Group…and Stalled Projects
This is Part 2 of my trip to Minneapolis back in August 2024. Part 1 can be found here: https://railroadprototypemodeler.com/2024/09/19/no-200-visit-to-minneapolis/ After spending a fun Thursday with my buddy Clark Propst in Mason City, I drove north on Highway 65, which parallels the old Rock Island, to Northwood, Iowa, to try and find some inspiration on the railroad. I wanted to go to Manly but there was practically nothing left of the big yards, enginehouse and junction there. Then I drove north to Albert Lea, Minnesota to photograph the ruins of the old Milwaukee Road and M&StL there. The Rock Island, … Continue reading No. 201: Visit to Minneapolis, Part 2
