RailRoadFan.com

But I thought that BIODIESEL was going to be the savior of us all! (Or was that ETHANOL!?!?) :-) I've been reading a bunch of old Trains magazines I recently acquired. One of the magazines was from 1970, and there was an article mentioning diesel fuel was 10 cents a gallon. Wow. When I started drivi...

You just need to find some unused industrial building right next to the CSX tracks in Plymouth to house the layout. I'm seriously considering moving from Ann Arbor to Plymouth and have been watching real estate near the Plymouth North Yard. There is an industrial building on the east side of the yar...

Finally got an email response from Intermountain. They have no plans to change the incorrect discharge gates on the 2-bay ACF hoppers, so I guess I won't be buying any of their products!

-- Garry K

Fuel costs haven't gone up that drastically. Read the first line again where it mentions *insurance*! I used to volunteer as a carhost with the Bluewater Chapter NRHS in the 1980s, and they had to give up a lot of fan trips because insurance got way overpriced. I would bet that it was the insurance ...

Tuesday, March 4: Annie ran NB thru A2 just before 5am, returning SB thru A2 just before 7am.

-- Garry K

OK, so today I was browsing Intermountain's website, then went off to the Spring Mills Depot site (Spring Mills does custom runs of Intermountain cars). I was just about to order the six different numbers of 2-bay ACF Centerflow covered hoppers painted for the D&TS, when I noticed those hoppers have...

Tuesday, February 26: Annie went northbound thru A2 at 8:15pm, southbound at 9:35pm. Too busy to go chase the trains.

It would be cool if they could keep the evening schedule into the spring when it stays lighter longer. Then it would be worth chasing the trains to take pictures.

Garry K

I'm surprised they don't have a "Do Not Hump" sign on that!

-- Garry K

On Mon, Feb 25, I heard the Annie blowing for the crossings in Ann Arbor around 7pm. Not sure if they were headed north or south then, but I believe they were going north. I didn't hear them return later as I was busy with other things.

It is rare to catch the Annie crossing the Huron River bridge at Argo Dam in the daylight. Recently, they've been coming northbound through Ann Arbor around 5am, returning southbound thru A2 around 7am (at least when I've been awake to hear them). Occasionally, they run a Sunday afternoon grain trai...

This morning (Fri, Feb 22) it looked (from M-14) that both rails are in place on the shoo-fly track at Sheldon Rd in Plymouth, although the shoo-fly was not connected yet to the mainline track there.

I'll try to get some pictures of the shoo-fly on Monday after work.

-- Garry K

I use mostly Micro-Engineering code 83 flextrack for mainline and code 70 for sidings/yard tracks (HO scale). I have bought and used some Atlas code 83 also. I use mostly Walthers (Shinohara) code 83 switches, although the rails in those code 83 switches are bigger than the M-E code 83 flextrack. I ...

The CSX has finally (in mid-February) started building the shoo-fly track to bypass the Sheldon Road grade crossing in Plymouth so they can start work on the bridge that will eventually replace that grade crossing. They've had Sheldon Road closed at that grade crossing for a long time (seems like a ...

I just use a database program, FileMaker Pro, to inventory my model railcars. More folks should learn how to use database programs as they're very flexible and you can set up DBs for whatever you want. I keep detailed records on each car, including its real dimensions (if known, from Official Railwa...

I can't make May 10. The Detroit Derby Girls have their league roller derby championship games that day, and that's one of my other hobbies. I do stats for them. You can read game recaps on http://www.derbynewsnetwork.com under my "derby" name of "Rusty Wheeler." If you got bored of watching boring ...

That list included "Rails on Wheels" that I joined late in 2007. I ran some trains with them on their modular layout in Toledo in late December, and had a blast. They meet in Saline twice a month, but only run trains on their layout when they setup at shows. They can always use some younger, more ab...

I had a blast at the train show in Toledo! I got to run trains all day long with the Rails on Wheels folks. Up until very recently I've always been a "lone wolf" model railroader, and just ran my own trains around my own layout. However, running trains with a club where you had to wait for other tra...

I hate the "ready to run" kits as a fair number of them come with their wheels out of gauge (whether the wheels are metal or plastic)! Not to mention the RTR cars are usually too light, and thus they derail easily, and are difficult to add weight to in most cases. Also not to mention they usually co...

I just noticed the year--they must have cut and pasted from old copy! The show is definitely on for Dec 29-30, 2007, as I just went and helped Rails on Wheels set up their modular RR on Dec 28.

Garry K

Just a reminder that the Toledo Model Train Show is on Dec 29 & 30 at the Lucas County Fairgrounds, 2901 Key St (actually in Maumee, Ohio). Hours are from 11am to 4pm each day. Free parking, and only $3 or $4 admission. Web page at http://www.toledotrainshow.com/index.html I plan on being there at l...