Good bye and Hello

Happy Train Day 2022 to all. It's been a long time, and there have been plenty of long trains that have passed in the meantime. I'll fill in some missing railroad-related adventures in future posts, but the most important events in the past 29 months involved a good bye and a hello.

Just before Labor Day 2020 I got a call from my Uncle Bill Monteleone, a great man and model railroader. He has always been a part of my enjoyment of this hobby and my interest in trains in general. We had a wonderful conversation, about family and trains. When we finally said “good bye”, I had no idea it would be our last good bye. He passed away about two weeks later. Maybe some future posts will relate some of our train tales; until then:

Here's a toast to Uncle William, may his name forever stand

And always be respected by folks throughout the land

For when his mortal race had run and the curtain around him fall

We carried him home to Glory on the Wabash Cannonball

And five months later I said a loving hello to my son Maverick (“Ricky”) Zephyr, who arrived in February 2021. He's exploring everything now, including trains, along with his older brothers Wesley Hudson and Cody Selkirk. So, much of my model railroading quests of late have occurred with Ricky in a baby carrier on my back (Lille Baby – a fantastic product for new moms and dads). Perhaps he is absorbing lots of railroad experience... in addition to locomotive oil, grease, and smoke fluid...

Anyway, in celebration of Train Day the boys and I watched some steam locomotive videos on YouTube, and later Ricky and I repaired a diesel locomotive, and now we have a fully functional roster again. I also did some initial research on replacement diesel truck side frames.

Young Railroaders

I've had a used Canadian Pacific GP9 in storage for some time, but hadn't had the opportunity to run it until now. After initial lubrication, it would run smoothly at first, but then behave strangely – slowing down and speeding up on its own, and eventually slowly coming to a full stop. And regardless of what speed it was running, the rear pickup roller would spark more than any Post War Lionel locomotive I've seen! This is a dual motor model 206, road number 8488 manufactured by Williams. I performed some basic troubleshooting steps before poking around with anything. I overturned the locomotive and placed it on some fabric, then connected leads from a transformer to the rear pickup roller and one wheel. This powered both motors without all the sparking that was present when the unit was on rails. For another test, I put masking tape over the rear pickup roller and applied power with it on the track. This resulted in no power at all to the locomotive, which told me something was amiss with the front pickup roller. I removed the shell, and thankfully this is one of those times when the problem was immediately apparent. An important-looking red wire near the front motor was attached to * nothing *. I could see where it was originally attached to a crimp-style connector, but the front truck had likely been swung too far to the engineer's side at some point, which broke the wire. So, I removed the old crimp-style connection, found a new one, and attached it to the important-looking red wire. After re-affixing everything I ran the shell-less locomotive on some test runs around Track 1 with great success. I reattached the shell, and was able to run the all-CP freight train continuously at a relatively slow speed. So, a bit of time and ingenuity netted me another fully functional Geep on Train Day – not bad!

Seems like that important-looking red wire should be connected to something...

A shell-less test run

Back on track

I have a different used diesel locomotive set that is in need of several replacement truck side frames. The set seems to run perfectly – it just needs a couple cosmetic parts to complete it. This is an MTH Premier FT set, and currently there are no parts for this listed on MTH's (new) parts website, and I have a feeling that even if they were listed, they would be out of stock. So, I've started looking at other potential ways to get decent looking truck side frames for this locomotive set. I have seen various Post War Lionel truck side frames for sale on eBay, and they are plentiful. Perhaps one of these parts would be close in style to the ones I need? I inspected one of my existing truck side frames, and compared it visually to the many Post War styles online. I found that replacement truck side frames for a Lionel 2343 may be built in such a way that one could be augmented for my purposes. I then referenced my big Post War Lionel Repair & Service book, to see what would be involved in removing a side frame from one of my PW locomotives for comparison. While there was lots of good information to be found, none of it was overly helpful for this particular quest. I believe a bit more online searching will give me the answers I need.

Truck Side Frame Research

Okay, lets get to my current fully ARMED and OPERATIONAL roster!

On Track 1 is an all-Canadian Pacific freight headed by the Williams GP9 mentioned earlier, sporting the handsome grey/maroon paint scheme. The freight cars are a Lionel single-dome black “water only” tank car, an MTH grey/maroon boxcar, and an MTH red bay window caboose. This is the first run for all four members of this train.

On Track 2 is an all-Chicago Northwestern freight train, headed by Lionel 4-6-0 “Ten-wheeler” #361. This loco had a guest appearance at church last year – I'll get to that in a future post. The rolling stock on this train features a K-Line yellow/green woodside reefer, an Atlas brown outside-braced boxcar, and MTH green hopper with coal load, an MTH boxcar in boxcar-red sporting the “Challengers” motto, and a sporty yellow/green bay window caboose. This is the first appearance for all of these cars except the reefer and the hopper.

On Track 3 is another Chicago Northwestern-helmed freight, but this time all the freight cars are reefers of various small-to-large companies. Oddly, but by popular request from my boys, it is also headed by a CNW rotary snow plow. This MTH yellow operating plow has seen plenty of action on this layout, but it is always a crowd pleaser and is genuinely fun to run. The locomotive is a Lionel 8056 Fairbanks Morse Train Master, which I've had since high school. Ever the trend setter, I posed with this locomotive in my senior pictures! Anyway, the motors in this loco can growl along with the best of any of its older Post War brethren, and it is strangely refreshing to send this one around the loop surrounded by more technologically advanced steam locomotive models on neighboring tracks. Following the Train Master is a colorful assortment of reefers: K-Line white/blue Rath's Blackhawk Ham, Atlas grey/brown Marty Cheese from Monroe Wisconsin (relatively close to where I grew up in Illinois), MTH yellow/brown Lakeshire Cheese from Plymouth Wisconsin, K-Line McLhaney Creamery from the breezy plains of Texas, Lionel green A&P milk car based in West Bend Wisconsin, K-Line red/yellow Black Hills Packing from Rapid City South Dakota, and the reliable MTH yellow/green CNW center cupola caboose. This is the first run for all of the reefers.

Track 4 is a shay-powered caboose train. You may find a real-life version of this train at the Illinois Railway Museum on steam days throughout the summer season. Powering this tourist train is Lionel Elk River 3-truck shay #12. Shays are fascinating and fun to watch and experience. This Lionel model does a pretty good job of capturing the motions and sound of real shays, and the resulting ultra-slow speed operation is strangely peaceful, despite the cacophony of motion required in the engine's gears to make it happen! The six cabeese in the train comprise some old favorites and some first-time runs. It starts with a K-Line orange woodsided Milwaukee Road rear cupola, followed by an MTH Tuscan N-8 Pennsylvania Railroad cabin car, then a K-Line red woodsided Illinois Central rear cupola, then an MTH blue/white Electro-Motive extended vision, followed by a K-Line silver Chicago Burlington & Quincy offset cupola, and finally an MTH red Great Northern extended vision.

Shays look fascinating 

Until next time, here's another toast to Uncle Bill, and keep your rails shiny

On Schedule

Against the odds (and there has been plenty of odd in my life lately), I got the new roster running on time. My self-imposed schedule is to have a different roster set up by the last day of each even-numbered month, and last night I got everything rolling successfully.

So, what’s on display this time? Freight Trains

Track 1 is a salute to the Illinois Central, with all IC equipment: the black GP9 (Williams), a boxcar painted in the passenger train livery (MTH), a black hopper hauling southern IL coal (Williams), and a handsomely-detailed red, wood-sided caboose (K-Line). The locomotive is a very dependable, smooth runner, and the rolling stock handles the crossover track with ease.

Track 2 is all the logs, all the time! CNW 0-8-0 steam locomotive #65 (MTH) is pulling and pushing all of the log cars in the fleet. At the front are two CP log cars (Lionel) followed by the switcher loco. After that are two NP log cars (Lionel), followed by 3 skeleton cars carrying extra-large hunks of trees (Lionel). All of the logs at once, along with the mid-train steam engine, make this a neat train to watch. Only issue I’m having with this one is a noisy smoke generator on the loco.

Track 3 brings back the CB&Q GP7 (Lionel) and a unique freight consist. Behind the engine is a D&RGW reefer (MTH) in the striking orange/silver paint scheme. Then there’s the nifty ATSF autorack car (MTH) carrying four 1952 Cadallacs. Following this is an ATSF boxcar decorated in one of the best non-prototypical paint jobs around: the black/red of the “Midnight Chief”/”Black Bonnet” train, first advertised by Lionel in the Postwar era but actually engineered by K-Line in the modern era. Next up is a bright red Swift reefer (Lionel), with tasty meats inside. A yellow Pure Oil tank car (K-Line) comes next, and then the Yule Marble depressed center flat car (Lionel) with its load of a (real) chunk of marble. Topping everything off is a steel-sided, offset cupola CB&Q caboose (K-Line) with a red flashing light above the rear deck. This train had an issue to resolve: the rear coupler on the ATSF boxcar would open frequently, and without warning. Inspection did not reveal the cause – apparently this car’s particular type of magnetic uncoupling system is susceptible to false opening signals when running on Track 3. I tried good ole’ Scotch tape, and this failed spectacularly 3 times, so I got some metal wire and fastened the ATSF boxcar to the Swift reefer manually. So far, it is proving to be a sufficient (albeit annoying) solution. I haven’t noted any permanent damage caused by the uncoupling, and subsequent unplanned head-end to trailing-end meets, but I’ll note that the autorack car does NOT like sudden bumps or stops! Thankfully there are bumpers in place to prevent the Caddies from going too far! The other note for this train is the engine: the motor is loud and emits a high-pitched sound sometimes, even after lubricating it. Maybe this is intentional, to more closely mimic its Postwar ancestor, since this is a PWC loco…

Track 4 marks the return of GN 2-8-2 (Williams) after two years in storage. After the repairs made in 2016, it actually pulls rather well, although the loco’s operation can best be described as “goofy”. First off, for a premium brass scale steam locomotive, you’d think they could have found a smaller headlight bulb. The bulb and casing are uncharacteristically huge compared to the rest of the engine, making it seem like a well dressed, well proportioned, refined fellow with a giant honking nose! BUT, the headlight works flawlessly, and the loco looks great from most angles. The unit still suffers from sound problems, which I’ve mostly gotten used to. Neutral sounds are fine, but the moment it starts moving it sounds like it is already out of breath. Instead of “CHUFF - chuff – chuff – chuff, CHUFF - chuff – chuff – chuff” it emits “CHUFFCHUFFCHUFFCHUFF, CHUFFCHUFFCHUFFCHUFF”. Additionally, the whistle most commonly becomes stuck when activating, necessitating a return to neutral to silence it. Occasionally the whistle will function properly, but then again, sometimes it activates randomly, or more disturbingly, it activates when I blow the whistle for the switcher on Track 2! ANYway, despite this, the locomotive performs quite well, originally pulling the Bozeman Zephyr around the layout before I had the freight consist prepared. Following the Mikado, in place of the originally scheduled express mail car, is a black MRR tanker (K-Line), which I figure is carrying extra water for the steamer. Next are three hoppers: yellow/green covered CNW (Williams), black NP with coal load (MTH), and green CNW empty (MTH). These are followed by more CNW rolling stock: a green tank (MTH) and yellow/green stock car (MTH). Towards the rear of the train is an NP flat car with two truck trailers riding piggyback (Lionel). Between the flat and the caboose, I placed the aforementioned GN express mail car (Weaver). Initial tests with this car made me worry that its thin plastic frame, coupled with the peculiar way it sits on its trucks, would prove to be an unreliable candidate to transfer the majority of the locomotive’s drawbar force to the rest of the train. Normally, express mail cars show up at the very front of a train (or the very rear, to make them easier/faster to switch out). And normally, they show up on passenger trains. As I’m currently without a GN passenger consist, this mail car will have to take what it can get! It will look great heading a streamlined Empire Builder, but it will likely require some re-engineering to actually stand up to the physical stresses of such an assignment! At the end of the train is red GN caboose X54 (MTH), which looks very sharp. Actually, all 3 cabeese in this roster are very prime models. For the past few weeks, I had the CNW switcher pulling just the skeleton log cars and a yellow/green, steel, center-cupola caboose (MTH). This is another great caboose, but it isn’t on the official roster, so it’s off to storage for now… but is scheduled to return with a LOT of cabooses in February 2019!

Hope you enjoy the pics below. I’ve started posting videos of each roster, or other train-related goodness to my YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC00Sk1pE7ZSZSRYyVRXS7Ig?view_as=subscriber

Through-lines coming Through

Here's an update from the train room for March 2017. I'm very happy to report that my son, now 3 months old, really enjoys model trains. When he's upset, I run the trains for him, and he calms down every time. The combination of the train's motion and sounds have a lulling affect, and he's even fallen asleep a couple of times as the trains circle about in front of him.

Since my last post, I celebrated another birthday, and my parents and my parents-in-law all gifted me some nice railroad-related items. I received two nice posters of steam locomotive paintings, for the Northern Pacific and Great Northern railroads. I was also given several model railroad scenery supplies, including a bag of real coal. I also received an authentic chain for my railroad pocket watch. And, my wife gave me an evening with just the two of us, which meant a lot more to me than a thousand trains. Thank you to everybody for your generosity!

I've been running NP 0-6-0 for my son (well, for me too) and haven't had any problems until recently. I warmed it up one day, and there were no audible sounds from the speaker. This is the same issue I encountered last year, and took it to Caboose Hobbies in Denver to have it repaired. I've contacted The Caboose (new owner and location) to see if they have detailed records of what was specifically repaired last year, in hopes that I can duplicate it.

Over the past week, with help from my father and son, the train layout roster has been changed. We also performed a bit of inventory on the previous and new roster items. As of now, there are 97 items remaining to inventory. The theme of the roster is "through-lines", meaning that these trains are not run by local/regional railroads - they are "passing through". The locomotives in use are the only ones in the collection from their respective railroads. So, here's the new March-April 2017 roster for your review and entertainment:

On Track 1, the Blue Train makes its first-ever run this month. With the majority of its members hailing from the mostly-blue livery of Montana Rail Link, I developed this train simply because my bride likes the color. With last year's acquisition of the Union 76 tank car, this mixed freight now includes three scale-and-time-displaced cars with a locomotive and caboose. As more primarily-blue rolling stock is collected, they will be added to this special freight. This version of the Blue Train consists of the MRL SD9 (Lionel), a Needham Packing reefer (MTH), a Union 76 oil tank (K-Line), an MRL double-door boxcar (Lionel) and an MRL extended vision caboose (Lionel).

Track 2 hosts an all-dairy-related train. The Dairy Express is led by the MPC-era MKT NW2 (Lionel), a GN stock car (Petersen) a Borden milk tank car (Lionel), a Carnation reefer (K-Line), a Dairy Men reefer (Lionel) and an MKT extended vision caboose (Lionel). The NW2 is a single-motor unit and runs very well - it growls like a Postwar locomotive and was the first diesel model I had as a youngster.

On Track 3, reliable and mighty Mikado #4100 pulls mixed freight #408. A variety of goods and materials are in tow behind the Frisco 2-8-2 steam locomotive, built by Lionel in 1993. First, a CP log car (Lionel), followed by two recently acquired Lionel tankers with Philadelphia Quartz and Army liveries, a Midnight-Chief-inspired boxcar (#97191, K-Line), a Peacock reefer (K-Line), an Old Dutch reefer (K-Line), a GN hopper laden with coal (MTH), a CNW flatcar with semi trailer (called a "piggyback") (MTH), a late-80's MRR tank car (Lionel), an IC hopper (Williams) and a Frisco wood-sided caboose.

The ATSF boxcar has a brake-side coupler issue. It's opening at certain spots on the loop, but I haven't determined the cause yet. I thought the magnet was activating, but I've proved that isn't the issue. It only opens when it is coupled to another car, so weight and force, combined with certain sections of track are somehow causing it to malfunction. I'll keep troubleshooting, but for now I've placed the boxcar at the end of the train to prevent uncoupling problems.

Also, as I learned while holding my son, one should not shift the Frisco Mikado into forward from neutral at 25% power. I had gotten used to running the NP Switcher, which has a very gentle shift and can run smoothly at low speeds, but the 2-8-2 experienced extreme acceleration. The log car uncoupled from the tank car and both derailed. Of course, this happened at the inaccessible corner of the layout, so it took some ingenuity, while holding a baby, to pull the cars closer and re-rail them. No harm done, and everything is running again, but it was a small adventure to fix it.

And on Track 4, I've assembled the longest-yet version of the Northern Range heavyweight coach train. This time, its being pulled over Pennsylvania Railroad ROW, so the train is called the "Philly Phoenix" and is pulled by a big GG1 electric locomotive (Williams). The real-life prototype for this locomotive is nicknamed "Blackjack", and can be viewed at the Pennsylvania Railroad Museum. Behind my O-scale version of Blackjack is a troop car converted into an REA head-end car (Weaver), the Van Twiller combine (Lionel, first time on rails ever), the Willow River coach (Lionel), the Willow Valley coach (Lionel), the Willow Range coach (Lionel), the second Willow River coach (Lionel), the Highland Falls sleeper (Lionel), and the Granite Canyon coach (K-Line) takes up the rear.

The GG1 horn sputters frequently while pulling the Philly Phoenix. This can be prevented by holding down the Bell button on the controller. I think this is just a symptom of something fishy going on electronically with Track 4, as I’ve had problems with Whistle/Horn-Bell functionality in the past.

With my son around, the trains are all getting a lot more run time, which means more fun for everybody!

Have a blessed day, and keep those rails shiny!

Bday steam locomotive artwork

The Blue Train

Dairy Express

Frisco 2-8-2

"Chicaqo" piggyback

Santa Fe Blackbonnet paint scheme

Mike and Blackjack

Part of the Philly Phoenix

Geepers!

Happy New Year and welcome back to my occasionally-updated blog. For the next month or so, a gang of General Purpose ("GP" or Geep") diesels have control of the layout, so let’s go check them out!

First, on Track 1, Williams-made Illinois Central GP9 #8959 leads a short freight consisting of a CNW hopper, NP reefer and a Texaco tanker, trailed by a wood sided Illinois Central caboose.

Next up, the snappy looking Rock Island GP9 (also manufactured by Williams) pulls a mixed freight on Track 2. Here's the roadnames, car types, and builders: NP hopper (MTH), D&H hopper (Lionel), MRR gondola (MTH), CGW tanker (K-Line), NP log car (Lionel), CSS boxcar (Weaver), Baker's Chocolate tanker (K-Line), and a Rock Island caboose (Lionel).

Track 3 hosts an abbreviated Bozeman Zephyr with a Lionel Postwar Celebration Series Burlington GP7 at the point. Behind the locomotive is the newest addition to the roster, a boxcar celebrating and commemorating the birth of my son Wesley Hudson last November. This short Zephyr includes a baggage car, coach and observation car.

And, Track 4 finds a double-headed snowy reefer freight! Lionel Chicago & Northwestern GP7s numbers 1518 and 8375 haul an 11-car train while pushing the CNW rotary snow plow through the drifts. The colorful reefer cars are filled with dog food (Doggie Diner), ham (Dubuque), baked beans (Heinz), assorted groceries (IGA), butter (Land-O-Lakes), biscuits (Merchant), mustard (Nash), bananas (Northern Refrigerator), fruit (Pacific Fruit Express), and cheese (Phenix). The whole deal is followed by a red CNW caboose.

Hope you enjoy these views of the new GP roster! Keep those rails shiny ~

The double-headed snowy reefer freight

Burlington Geep and Special Addition Bozeman Zephyr

Spiffy CRI&P Geep

Logs and South Shore

Geep Season

Mid-layout view

IC Geep

Four F-Units

This week I finished inventorying the new roster. Here are the trains that are now set to run:

Track 1 – C&NW F7 AA and short freight

Track 2 - SR F3 AB and long freight

Track 3 - CP F3 AA and the Northern Range

Track 4 - NP F3 ABA and 5-car Vista Dome North Coast Limited

Notes:

-The Lionel Northern Range (actually Commodore Vanderbilt) heavyweight cars are made for O-54 track, but Track 3 is only O-42. This train needs to run slowly, and will bump passenger cars on Track 4, so I run it independently.

-First all-F-unit-powered roster.

-SR Postwar #2356 is performing well after making repairs last week.

-First time running for K-Line ATSF “Midnight Chief” boxcar 97199, Lionel GN boxcar 24872, and Weaver GN boxcar 2512.

-First time running (on this train set) for Weaver CNS&M boxcar 500814

-NP #2390A seems to need a new battery, as the sounds are acting strangely.

The all-F-unit lineup

Williams C&NW F7 and a short freight

60-year old SR F3 pulls a scale boxcar freight

Brand new boxcars on Track 2

North Shore boxcar and a brand new GN boxcar

CP locos pull a 4-car Northern Range

Lionel NP engines pull a 5-car MTH NP passenger set

Catch Up

Howdy - this post will give some brief details about my railroading exploits over the past year, when this blog was on hiatus. And of course, there are spiffy pics at the bottom!

July 2014
-Took some photos of individual trains while changing out the roster.
-Trains on track included the CNW Doodlebugs, Lionel Lines Columbia-class 2-4-2 Postwar steamer "trying" to pull the Rock Island Denver Rocket, Rock Island Northern 4-8-4 with a reefer freight, and Illinois Central GP9 with a caboose train.
-Repair work on the CNS&M Electroliner. One motor was failing to run, putting a lot of pressure on the second motor. I deemed that either the motor was bad, or that I did not have the tools/skills to repair. I send the Electroliner to Illinois to await repair in Michigan.
-On a hot day I photographed track repair equipment at work near the Billings Depot.
-I won my first game of Ticket to Ride.
-Set up the new roster: Track 1 - CBQ GP7 and small freight, Track 2 - CNW F7 and freight, Track 3 - Trackside Construction set headed by MP-15, Track 4 - Frisco Mikado 2-8-2 and freight

August 2014
-Saw a wacky-looking ballast recycling machine near the Depot.
-Also at the Depot, a special MRL train pulling a mix of modern and heavyweight passenger cars was parked for a day.
-Repaired Postwar #2034 to working order

September 2014
-My bride gave me a beautiful piece of artwork - a hand painted historic map of the Montana Railroad
-A string of nine BNSF locomotives came through Billings
-My folks were in town and visited the train layout
-While traveling, saw two enormous new MRL EMD SD70ACe locomotives followed by two little SW switcher locomotives in an EB train

October 2014
-Set up a model logging train at work as part of a "north woods" Halloween theme

November 2014
-Set up the new roster: Track 1 - LL 2-4-2 and small freight, Track 2 NP 0-6-0 and logging train, Track 3 - CNW GP7 #1518 and reefer freight, Track 4 - complete Vista Dome North Coast Limited passenger train (chasing its own tail)
-Decided to sell the K-Line Milwaukee Road GP7, as it is not a scale locomotive

December 2014
-Set up Christmas tree on the layout, with train ornaments
-Set up permanent Christmas lights under the layout for storage illumination
-Hosted family on Christmas day in the train room
-Set up CNW 0-8-0 freight around Christmas tree in the library room
-Prepared train tickets for visitors to the train room, and stamped them upon admission

No activity for a few months

April 2015
-Set up the new roster: Track 1 - green Brill trolley, Track 2 - CNW 0-8-0 and ore car train, Track 3 - GN 2-8-2 and mixed freight, Track 4 - CNW F7's and bi-level passenger train with the UP American View.
-Took various photos of the roster

May 2015
-Got to see a Lionel Smithsonian-edition NYC 20th Century Limited set at an auction in Lewistown. Only 500 of these were produced.
-At the auction, bought: ZW transformer, mint BA&P freight tag, numerous railroad paperwork items (majority from 1893), several railroad maps, framed painting of an NYC steam train, a heavy box of railroad spikes, and a large 1961 Burlington wall map of its western US tracks

June 2015
-Set up the new roster: Track 1 - CNW Doodlebugs, Track 2 - IC GP9 and caboose train, Track 3 - RI GP9 and CNW GP7 #1518 with the CNW Minnesota and Black Hills Express heavyweight passenger train, Track 4 - CNW 4-6-2 with a hopper car train
-Put all of the trains away in preparation for the remainder of railroad items to arrive from IL
-At the end of June, we set out for Illinois, and the rest you know! Now we're caught up, and keeping those rails shiny ~

CNW Doodlebugs take a ride on Track 4

A fast reefer freight heads around Track 4, pulled by the RI Northern

Electroliner under repair

Removing old, and installing new ties on MRL tracks by the Depot

First time playing, first time winning - Ticket to Ride

CBQ GP7, CNW F7, Trackside MP15, and Frisco Mikado all pulling freights

Special MRL passenger train at the Depot

Wacky looking ballast machine in Billings

Postwar 2034 undergoing repairs

Example of O27 vs O steam locomotives in action

Hand painted map of the Montana Railroad

9 locos at once

2 big locos and 2 small ones

Halloween at work

NP 0-6-0 pulls a log train

The Vista Dome North Coast Limited chases its own tail, while the 2034 zips around Track 1

Christmas time in the Train Room

Under-table illumination

Special Christmas tickets for the Train Room

My nephew enjoys the CNW 0-8-0 circling a Christmas tree

A trolley, the CNW 0-8-0, the GN 2-8-2, and the CNW F7's are all featured in Spring 2015

The switcher and the road engine at night

The illuminated 21" CNW Bilevels

The trolley takes a night trip

Busy day on the layout

A steel caboose follows the ore train

One of 500 Lionel Smithsonian NYC 20th Century Limited sets

Hat is a wee bit small for me

CNW Pacific #2903 pulls a long row of hopper cars

RI and CNW geeps team up to pull a heavyweight passenger train

Doodlebugs and cabeese