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Paper Bus Barn contains PDF templates of HO-scale transit buses, some collected and some created by hudatdere. The collection range from the 1940’s to the 1960’s and even has some non-US models. These would be an excellent additional to a busy transit hub in your layout.
The Center for Railroad Photography & Art organizes a contest every year to judge the most outstanding contributions to railroad images. Through these contests they want to push the limits of railroad photography.
This year’s theme is “Beyond the Locomotive“. The photographer should understate (or even eliminate) the locomotive in the photograph and emphasize other aspects of the railroad environment.
The first prize is a Canon EOS 50D digital camera body. Second and Third place winners will get $500 and $300 respectively. This contest is open to all photographers. There is no fee for members of the Center but non-members have to pay a $10 entry fee.
Here are some of the winners from the 2009, 2008 and 2007 contests.
The winner of both the 2009 and 2007 was Keith Burgess, I really liked his night photos and searched for him and found more of his photos at PBase and a Black & White set at Flickr.
The Top Gear presenter, James May was attempting to create a world record by building the longest model railway in Devon. But sadly, the attempt suffered a setback after thieves stole parts of the track and used 2p coins to blow the batteries.
400 railway enthusiasts, from over 60 different community groups were involved in the record attempt. They are “appalled” by the “idiots who come along and ruin it”.
A detailed amusement park diorama created with Kibri, Faller, Brawa and Vollmer kits. Don’t forget the video of the cable cars in motion at the bottom of the page.
Launceston Steam Railway is currently hosting the oldest surviving Darjeeling Himalayan Railway Locomotive No: 19. A gala event was organized on August 19 and 20, when they transformed Launceston into Darjeeling. The station crew were dressed in Indian costumes. A range of Indian crafts and stalls were on display while piped (shehnai) Indian music played in the background.
Video of the Loco being prepared:
Actual run of the loco with cab views:
The locomotive will run for four more weeks at the station after the event gets over, providing opportunities to toy train enthusiasts in the UK to enjoy the “Darjeeling ambience”.
Hellokids have some scenery, station and trains coloring pages that would be perfect for the little ones while you work on your railroad.
Kid’s projects previously mentioned on Passingloop:
» Fun things to do with lil’ model railroaders
» Railroad Repair for Kids
» Free Paper Railroad Layout
The world’s most luxurious trains as determined by Business Week.
The 21 day trip from Beijing to Moscow on the Silk Road is the most costly at $32,995 for a one-person Gold Class cabin. On the other end of the spectrum, the “cheapest” luxurious trip is on the Andean Explorer, a bargain at $220 for a one-way trip.
This year Scott Kellby’s Worldwide Photowalk took place on July 18. The winners of that contest were announced yesterday. Photographers from around the world, all took pictures on that day. Winners were chosen from each location from which Scott selected the winning photograph.
The railroad’s form and structure always are a great photographer’s subject. Surprisingly, this year too, there were many railroad-related photos in the entries. Here are some of the location winners with railroads as their entries. (You could also click on the location/city link to see other photos from the location – there are more railroad-related photos among them)
From Temuco, Chile – Photo by Luz Roja
From Sacramento, USA – Photo by James Moehrke
From Raleigh N.C. State University Area, USA – Photo by Robert Weisgal
From Old Sacramento & Railroad Museum, USA – Photo by Margaret Smith
(many railroad pictures here)
From Limerick (Adare), Ireland – Photo by Billy Gleeson
From Kamloops, Canada -
From Blue Ridge, USA – Photo by _fdm3411f2blueridgetraincabs
From Birmingham, USA – Photo by Josh Langley
From Lynchburg, USA –
Palmer, MA is known as the town of seven railroads but it’s winning entry was not railroad-related though they did take some pretty good railroad photos.
A First Class Ticket for Trainz allows us to skip bandwidth restrictions and download items quicker. I was surprised to see them offering a life time subscription for $82.50. That’s a lot of change! Their yearly subscription rate is $19.99 and for the lifetime subscription to be worthwhile, the Trainz brand should be viable for 4 more years. In the gaming/simulator world, 4 years is a long time. One does not know what will happen to Trainz in the next 4 years. $82.50 is a pretty steep commitment!
Their 3-month to 1-year subscription range from $9.95 to $19.99. My take on this is that you could save a lot by taking a 3 month subscription and downloading all items/routes you like. Save the downloaded content or burn it into a CD or DVD. You can do this once a year and thus save some money while getting all the items/routes you’d like.
Related: I have grumbled about the pricing before in First Class Ticket pricing Woes
Digital Photography Review recently held a “Railways in Color” challenge to photograph railways from around the world. Here are the results of that challenge. (slideshow)
