October fun

In October I had all the switch machine controllers installed and was ready to put fascia on the lower lever. This is necessary mainly to keep things from falling on the floor. I had already lost a brand new sound-equipped Rivarossi U25C, which wasn't pretty.

I cut slots in the masonite in where gaps between the buildings will be. I will eventually add brick to the track side to represent buildings. These will really only be seen if you look over the fascia, but it will give the effect of looking thru a canyon of buildings that you get when you are in Billings.

A little paint gives the facia a clean look and ties the fascia together with the valance.

We cut some vinyl signs on the Cricut.

The first operators on the layout were Peter Bryant from Houston and John Emerson from Amarillo. They were two of the 35 or so out of town guests to come up for the 2016 DFW Interchange operating weekend. Speed Muller is on the other side of the peninsula, but he didn't count since he was a local. Actually, Speed was a big help getting the switches plugged into JMRI.

The next day David Perkins and his girlfriend Pheriche from Baton Rouge operated the last session of the DFW Interchange. The night before, the third operator decided he couldn't read HO scale car numbers and went home. Pheriche has a Kindle Fire tablet in her hand throwing the switches. The tablets will eventually be mounted on the fascia at eye level.

September Update

In September I was still preparing for the DFW Interchange, but that didn't keep me from taking a trip to Washington, Idaho, Utah, Wyoming and Montana.

I started by flying into Spokane and picking up a Wyoming economy car. So much for a Toyota. At least it had Oregon plates... the only Northwestern state I wasn't driving thru.

First stop out of Spokane was Salt Lake City, UT for Great Basin Getaway. Yes, there is a plan to my madness. I knew it was going to be a good weekend as I was following the Northern Pacific and Milwaukee Road Mainlines thru Montana and these double rainbows ended on the double tunnels at Revenna.

I've attended 5 Great Basin Getaways over the lasts 14 years and each time I have operated on Ted York's Cajon Pass and Gary Peterson's Great Salt Lake.

All 5 times on Ted's layout I have been in the yard, although I've never had the yardmaster's job.

I worked this town on Gary Peterson's layout. This didn't even exist the first couple times I operated with him He did a massive reconstruction 10 years or so ago and this area is all new.

This is the first Great Basin Getaway that I didn't get to operate on Lee Nicholas's fantastic Utah Colorado Western, but we did go out and see Lee's expanded layout where he moved his mole operation and added this scene. I fell in love with his sugar factory.

The reason I didn't get to operate on Lee's layout is that I had requested to operate on rob Spangler's Western Pacific and it didn't disappoint.

Next day, on to Wyoming. I didn't see one damn train thru the canyon while in Utah, but once I crossed into Wyoming I did catch some traffic. Here we see the east main above the west main. I thought about stopping here to pick up a used car but I had a schedule to keep, I was headed for Sheridan.

They have done a great job turning the roundhouse in Evanston into an event center.

Every since operating on Michael Borkon's in Kanas City I've been excited to get back to Green River. It is an amazing place to rail fan. Too mad I'm only about 70 years too late for the big steam.

I planned on spending a whole day photographing around Sheridan and Gillette and another day between Sheridan and Billings. Of course, not only was the weather crappy, but trains weren't running.

The yard at Donkey Creek near Gillette had hundreds of locomotives stored because of the slow down in coal. I couldn't get an angle that showed them all at once, but here is a bunch next to the highway.

What would a trip to Wyoming or Montana be without catching some 737s heading to Seattle. These were sitting outside Laurel waiting to get into the yard.

I got up early the next day to see what was going on before heading to Wallace, ID for the Northern pacific Historical Association's annual convention. The weather still sucked and it was raining, but I did see more 737s, this time in Billings next to the old coach yard.

The sun started shining some by the time I made it to Garrison, MT where the BNSF still operates from here to Butte while Montana Rail Link has a lease on the NP main from Billings into nearly Sandpoint, ID.

The Wallace convention was a lot of fun and I really enjoyed the week in Northern Idaho. A couple highlights were a trip up the canyon to Burke, which is just a shadow of its former glory.

We also had a guided tour over Lookout pass between Idaho and Montana including this spot where famous S bridge trestle was located. The trestle was famously taken out by a slide with a train on it, which was well documented in photographs.

March progress

With most of the upper deck of the west peninsula wired, I added some facia to see how it would look.

I need to secure it better and trim the top to match the profile and paint, but this gives a pretty good idea what it will look like. I also need to clean up a little.

I operated with Eric Mumper on March 1, which is always fun. Eric models the Fox River Branch of the CB&Q in the transition era. He's my go to guy for all things Burlington around here.

I started adding a lower deck. I used 1x4 joists. Mostly salvaged from the club layout.

The deck is pretty high grade 3/4" plywood. I like to be able to put track right on the plywood if necessary.

Prairie Rail 2016

I was lucky enough to get another invite to Prairie Rail this year and jumped on the chance to operate in one of my favorite places. Dean Ferris and I traveled together. We started the weekend by having lunch at Union Station, which is a fantastic building. I didn't think to look for bullet holes.

I operated on Mike Borkon's fantastic Union Pacific Wyoming Division layout. Mike models the UP mainline thru southern Wyoming around Green River in the late steam era. His space is amazing and he really captures the feel of Wyoming. I had the west yard job.

Saturday morning I went over to Kevin Leyerle's Katy in Oklahoma layout and was the yard master. Keven has done a fantastic job and his railroad ran great. It was amazing how much detail he has in his scenes even though he hasn't really started scenery yet.

That afternoon I was off to Joe Kasper's to run his giant n-scale BN Kansas City yard. So many cars to switch into dozens of tracks. What a blast. Joe's layout is really something to see.

The last session of the weened Sunday morning was Eric Goodman's Santa Fe Emporia Subdivision in 1995. As you might guess, I took the yard master job completing a perfect weekend. It is always fun seeing big modern cars and big modern trains on a model railroad, although 1995 was 21years ago, is it really modern?

A special treat was a visit to Steve and Cinthia Priest's publishing empire for an early look at the Priest family's new AT&SF St. Louis Division. Wow! I think Dean's expression says it all.

2015 Indian Nations LDSIG/OPSIG meet

One of my favorite annual events is the Indian Nations LDSIG/OPSIG meet in Tulsa. I've been fortunate enough to have made around 20 operating trips to Tulsa since 2002. Besides attending the Tulsa Line operating weekend every three years, a group of friends from the DFW area have been making semi-regular trips to Tulsa for impromptu operating weekends over the years. However, the LDSIG/OPSIG weekend is something special.

Besides the opportunity to operate on three of the region's best layouts, every year Saturday is filled with clinics from top notch layout design and operating experts. There is also a chance to bring your own track plan to the group to solicit critique.

This year's meet featured clinics from Charlie Duckworth, Ken Ehlers, Dean Ferris and Michael Borkon. I've been fortunate to operate on all but Charlie's layouts. Mostly, the presenters talked about lessons learned in designing and operating their own layouts. Dean's was unique in that he talked a lot about what it is like to be a prototype yard master and how that relates to modeling.

Claremore and Southern Model Railroad Club

On Friday evening, I operated on the Claremore and Southern club layout in Claremore. I learned years ago that if you want a choice job on the C&S, come early and mark up. I always like the Claremore operator job where you run the small yard that interchanges traffic between the C&S and MOP. I have taken that job a couple times in the past and it can get very busy. I think the Muskogee job was a little light, so the evening was pretty laid back.

Steve Campbell's Frisco Cherokee Subdivision

On Saturday evening, I went to Steve Campbell's Frisco Cherokee Subdivision. Steve used to have a very large version of this layout at his old house. I really enjoyed the 5-6 operating sessions I attended on the old Cherokee Sub - especially the time I drew the yard master job. My other favorite job on the old layout was the refinery, which sat on the back side of the yard peninsula. The refinery spends the whole session transferring tank cars back and forth to the yard.

Steve's new layout is a smaller version of the old Cherokee Sub with more emphasis on interchange between the various railroads that operated in the Tulsa area. As with the old layout, jobs are chosen randomly. I drew the AT&SF operator which has a fairly isolated industrial yard at the end of one peninsula.

I noticed that like the old layout, the refinery job moves the most freight. As I was waiting to get into the yard, Pat Hiatte came in behind me with 36 cars. The yard is only about half as big as the old yard and isn't set up for trains that big, but it sure looked good.

Sammy Carlile's AT&SF Herford Subdivision 

Sunday morning I was Don Winn, Wayne Snider and I were off to Sammy Carlile's Herford Subdivision of the AT&SF along with Dean and Brian Ferris. Sammy has a nice double decked nolix design in a 3 car garage. His layout photographs very well with lights, but I had some trouble getting good photos using available light. His scenery really feels like the Texas Panhandle and he runs fairly long, high speed trains.

Since I operated there last a few years ago, he has the layout signaled, which works very well. Also, the scenery has come a long way and he has added a lot of detail. He added a big grain elevator above the dispatcher. Wayne and I drew that job as our local. Here it is after we switched it out.

As always, the group in Tulsa put on a great event and it was a lot of fun. If you can make it to Tulsa next March, I highly recommend the trip.