Category: Prototype Topics, Railfanning & Museums

This category includes posts on prototype topics, railfanning, and railroad museums in North America and Europe. The primary focus of this category is supposed to be how study of the prototype relates to accurate prototype modeling.

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No. 164: Musée du Train, Brussels

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Last Saturday I went to the Musée du Train–also known as Train World–in Brussels, Belgium. Here’s a short report. Train World is Belgium’s brand new national railway museum. It’s headquartered in a large, retired, 1887-built station on the north side of Brussels at Schaarbeek. Above. This former passenger station now serves as the main entrance for the museum. Train World opened just a few years ago. It has a very-French National Railway Museum feel. It is very theatrical, with exhibits lit dramatically. There are video displays everywhere, and collections of equipment and paraphernalia all over. Unlike the French museum though, … Continue reading No. 164: Musée du Train, Brussels

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No. 159: 12:30 to Zermatt

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Over the recent fourth of July weekend I took my family to Grachen, Switzerland for a week of Alpine hiking. Grachen is a mountain-top village a few miles away from the highest peak in the Swiss Alps, the Matterhorn.  Incredible vistas are everywhere, but you’ve gotta earn them by hiking to the top. Above. One of my daughters a thousand feet above Randa, Switzerland, which we’ll visit later. Below, the fam and I are taking a break from a hard hike up the mountain before crossing the longest pedestrian suspension bridge in the world, about 7,700 feet above Randa. The … Continue reading No. 159: 12:30 to Zermatt

Prototype Topics, Railfanning & Museums1 Comment

No. 153: Dave Nelson on Prototype Track Weathering

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Over on the Ron’s Train Club site, Dave Nelson put together a nice post on track weathering last week and allowed me to share it here. This is a look at weathering and appearance of prototype track, not how to weather track. All photos are by Dave Nelson, but I did add a few more at the end. Here’s Dave: Here is a collection of track photos, with commentary, that I have used in two clinics—one on “Trackside Details” and another on “A Closer Look at Track”, neither of which I have presented since the 35mm slide era. This post … Continue reading No. 153: Dave Nelson on Prototype Track Weathering

Ackley, Iowa Layouts, Hermitage Road Layouts, Prototype Topics, Railfanning & Museums9 Comments

No. 150: Hermitage Road

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In October, 2019 my family and I moved from my house in Albersbach, Germany to a much more modern and efficient house closer to work. Doing so meant I had to dismantle my point-to-point M&StL Ackley, Iowa layout and move it to the new place. That wasn’t a big deal as I built the layout to move. Above. The Ackley, Iowa layout nearly complete in 2017. As I related in an earlier post, moving the layout did go so well. Most importantly, Ackley did not quite fit in the new layout space so I carefully stored it in the garage. … Continue reading No. 150: Hermitage Road

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No. 147: Standard Oil of Galesburg, Illinois

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Back in March, 2020, when all the COVID lockdowns began and train shows and RPM meets were all cancelled for the year, my friend Ron Christiansen built a private e-mail list of about 50 guys to talk trains.  He called it Ron’s Train Club.  Ron usually picked a subject and we talked about it for a few days, and then moved on to whatever Ron wanted to talk about next.  Ron also began hosting a weekly “Ron’s Train Club” Zoom call.  Anyway the new list took off, and it is still very active with hundreds of e-mails exchanged weekly. One … Continue reading No. 147: Standard Oil of Galesburg, Illinois

Prototype Topics, Railfanning & Museums3 Comments

No. 145: Milwaukee Road’s Mason City Freight House

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In August 2019 I took my family away to the Solk Pass, Styria, Austria, for a quiet mountain getaway.  We rented a little cabin literally in the middle of nowhere and hiked the weekend away.  It was wonderfully relaxing. Right out of our cabin we hiked to several mountain lakes.  This is the Kaltenbachsee, which my wife Kristina translated to “cold river”.  The hiking was rugged, the lakes were beautiful, the water ice cold.  The kids are taking it easy after a two-hour, uphill-all-the-way hike. On our last day we drove to the nearby village of St. Nikoli and hiked … Continue reading No. 145: Milwaukee Road’s Mason City Freight House

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No. 137: Trolleys of Prague, Czech Repulic

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Over Christmas week I took the family skiing in Slovakia.  It was a 13-hour drive from Germany to the Tatras National Park in Slovakia, so we stopped halfway–in Prague, Czech Republic–to enjoy a nice evening at the Prague Christmas markets. My son has been to Prague several times and told me all about the trolleys there.  I’m not much of a trolley fan but I was pleasantly surprised.  We stayed in a cool Air B&B on the east side of the river, overlooking the Charles Bridge, and on the morning of the 24th I got up early and walked to … Continue reading No. 137: Trolleys of Prague, Czech Repulic

Prototype Topics, Railfanning & Museums1 Comment

No. 136: More Modeling Considerations – The West Belt Line

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Over Christmas 2019, I took my family skiing in the Tatras National Park in Slovakia.  We usually ski in Austria but this year we wanted to try something different.  We stopped halfway for a nice night in Prague, enjoying the Christmas markets there, and on the way back we spent two days in Poland.  It was a great trip—very different.  By the way, the skiing in Slovakia was good! Of course there were trains everywhere, and I was able to break away from the family one morning and spent an hour chasing trolleys in downtown Prague.  Driving east through the … Continue reading No. 136: More Modeling Considerations – The West Belt Line

Prototype Topics, Railfanning & Museums2 Comments

No. 133: Brunswick, Maine Track Study

Golden1014

A few weeks ago I traveled to Portsmouth, New Hampshire to get my son to get his driver’s license.  Driving age here in Germany is 18, so we had it timed just right to arrive in Portsmouth and get his license on his 18th birthday. We stayed with our in-laws on the trip.  We spent some time with them, did a little shopping, and also went up to Brunswick, Maine for a few hours to visit Bowdoin College. The photo above is on the departure out of Frankfurt around 7:00 a.m. Frankfurt was levelled during the war by the British … Continue reading No. 133: Brunswick, Maine Track Study

Freight and Passenger Car Modeling, Prototype Topics, Railfanning & MuseumsLeave a comment

No. 126: Railfanning at Lesce-Bled, Slovenia…and Finishing a Few Freight Cars

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In June I took my family to Slovenia and Croatia for a little get-away after school ended.  We spent a week in Radovljica, Slovenia and then spent a couple of days at a seaside resort in Pula, Croatia. Radovljica (pronounced Rad-ol-ska) is one of the most beautiful, pleasant places on the Earth.  We love life there.  The people are wonderful, the cost of living is low, and the scenery there–near the magnificent, unspoiled Triglev National Park–is breathtaking.  If I could move there and retire, I think I would. One morning during our week I went to a nearby mainline railway … Continue reading No. 126: Railfanning at Lesce-Bled, Slovenia…and Finishing a Few Freight Cars