Earlier this month PBS's American Experience presented a program about the Grand Central Station. Through interviews and archive footage, it traced the whole history of the Grand Central. PBS has the whole program available for us to watch on their website.

New renders have been posted on the MSTS site. These are the rolling stock from their BLS route. I was surprised by the level of detail in the their in-game video. Looking great so far.

Friday Fun! A great collection of high quality HDR images that you could use as a wallpaper. There are quite a few train-related images for us train-o-holics ;-)

I had come across Adventure in Miniature some time back. If your interests are in European railway modelling, you will find his a lot of his tips helpful. I particularly liked his detailed steps on ballasting the tracks. He also has sheets of German railroad and roadway signs that you could print out.

The sad thing however, is that this English-translated site will not be updated anymore but you can use Dutch to English Google Translation for his new site.

The 2008 Craftsman Structure Show will he held this year on November 13-15th at the Holiday Inn, Mansfield MA. I know its too early but they are offering a three day pass for $90. Here are some of the clincis that are scheduled. Please check the site for the entire list and dates.

1. Painting Little People with Dave Revelia
2. Painting and Weathering Detail Castings with Brett Gallant
3. Painting and Weathering Wood Walls with Bob Mitchell
4. How to Turn Your Hobby Into a Business with Scott Mason
5. Building Water with Dave Frary
6. Alternative Building Methods and Materials with Bob Mitchell
7. Quick Interiors with Michael Tylick
8. Structure Building Techniques with Brian Nolan
9. Model Railroad Photography with Lou Sassi

All of these persons are experts in their fields and their names might be familiar. I sure could learn some scratchbuiilding tips from the pros.

My received my order from Rusty Stumps yesterday. Their shipping was fast and the delicate parts were nicely packaged. I had ordered their stairs and HO scale windows. They are also very good with their emails. I had a few questions and their prompt response helped me decide on the correct product.

Ready to begin

The stair stringer was a great help in assembling the stairs. Though the slots in mine were a tight fit and i had to take care in taking out the stairs after they were assembled. This is not a fault and they do recommend using a 1/64" file to increase the slot. I cant wait to assemble a longer stair for the next project.

I recommend their products as they will add an extra "oomph" to your structures!

Stairs installed

I added the posts under the deck. I bought some 3/32 x 3/32 basswood strip from the local Michaels store. The cross braces were just strips of card.

Deck Underside

I then attached the deck to the structure and painted it a grey color. Finally added some oil drums and a figure.

I decided to add a loading deck/ramp on one side of the oil house that i am building. I did not know how to do the underside of the deck. After a lot of searching, i finally found some good details, at the All Model Railroading forum, done by mjAri.

While searching for the loading ramp design, i also came across a great tip for curtains by CPRailer, at The Whistle Post.

This hobby is such that one can spend a lot of money buying commercial structure details parts. By checking the various model railroad forums, you can learn a lot of cheap and great tips.

Hope these resources help you in your projects! Do let me know if you know of any others that you use.

Yesterday I subscribed, via iTunes, to a couple of model railroad podcasts.
Scotty Mason's Original Model Railroad podcast was 2 hour long and had a lot of varied news, tips and reviews.

Ryans' Model Railroad podcast also had good tips and reviews. His style is very personal and you feel as if you are listening to your railroader buddy.

Meanwhile, my favorite, the Great Train Show from Australia is on its third episode. This episode has a great sound recording of a Baldwin steam engine going uphill thatincludes some slippage.

Give them all a listen. They make a great alternative to drive time radio.

This weekend i finally got some time to complete a HO scale Oil House. I got the dimensions and ideas from the Hotbox. So far, i used to paint and create my own windows and they did not come looking decent. This time around i used ModelBuilder to create the plans. The windows are from Tichy Train Group that i plainted black.

Entrance side

I braced the corners with a wood strip. This provides more surface for gluing the sides/corners.

There is still some work do to. I need scale building accessories like a wall lamp, oil drums. I need to add a deck and stairs.

By the way, if you are into scratchbuilding using card stock, i recommend ModelBuilder. It saved me a lot of time converting real to HO dimensions.

First we had the TGV. And then today, France unveiled the AGV (Automotrice Grande Vitesse)
These trains will travel at up to 360km/h (224mph) and will have motors placed under each carriage unlike the TGV which has motors only at the back and front. However in April, last year a modified TGV did smash the record by reaching 574.8km/h.

Having seen the Stella Artois Beer and the CSX commercial some months back, that involved trains, i looked around for more. Here are some of my favorites:

1. Stella Artois Beer



2. CSX commerical




3. CSX commerical



4. GE Locomotive



5. Virgin Train "Apache"



6. Virgin Train "Classic"
This one on youtube seems skewed so you
might want to try the quicktime version version.


7. DHL Courier



8. TGV


9. Global Warming


10. Orange Obox
Not a lot of trains in this one but happens in a subway and is funny.

If you are located in and around Massachusetts, this might interest you. Massachusetts Bay Railroad Enthusiasts is an outfit that organizes railfan excursions all along the New England rail route.

On Saturday, May 17th, they are organizing a Berkshire Flyer trip from Lenox, MA to Pittsfield, MA and Canaan CT. This will be in cooperation with the Berkshire Scenic railway. The trip will start at 10:30am in Lenox, MA. It will have six vintage coaches and motive power will be provided by a diesel loco at either end. The costs will be $65 for their members and $75 for non-members.

This information is not yet on their website. I got it from their flyer at the Amherst Train Show. If you need more info please call them at (978) 470-2066 or email them at massbayrre@comcast.net