This scene on Tom Johnson's Cass County Railroad demonstrates a variety of textures and layers he used to get the amazingly realistic...

Cass County locomotive 702 prepares to couple up to a covered hopper spotted at Farmer's Grain & Supply on Tom Johnson's new layout....

Don Irace's Providence & Worcester locomotive facility located adjacent to Worcester Yard is the hub of activity on his double deck...

Back in August, after visiting Scott Lister, I made a trip over to see Alex Bogaski and operate on his layout. Alex is modeling Farmrail...

In August I had the opportunity to meet Scott Lister, and see his amazing Greenville and Northern Railroad in S scale. Scott has spent...

Yard operations can be the success or the downfall of an operating session. When the yards get backed up it creates a domino effect on...

Composing a scene on our layouts requires careful consideration of many factors. On May 3, 2022 the Second Section Podcast, hosted by...

This CSX 2-bay cement service covered hopper car looks like it has been on the rails for some time now that it has been weathered and...

The crew works Tate Yard, switching out cars for the Marble Hill Local. I have talked about operating sessions in previous blogs, and...

In the modern era where having a caboose on the end of a train is a rare occurrence, railroads now require an End-of-Train Device (ETD),...

The Inland Paper Company switcher works the large paper industry on Don Irace's Providence & Worcester Railroad. A couple of weeks ago I...

Members of the Tri-State Model Railroad Club gather to hold their monthly ops session. As we close out 2021, it’s time to look back at...

Using a Trackmobile, the crew at Imerys moves cars to the loading area. This large prototype facility is modeled using building flats to...

The North Local arrives in Marietta to switch the industries located there. Working this one switch job is more than enough layout for...

Now available from Kalmbach Media is my new book, Building The Right-Sized Layout, Designing and operating a small switching layout. A...

Georgia Railroad locomotive 802, an 0-8-0, works Hulsey Yard in Atlanta, Georgia. In July I had the opportunity to operate on Dan...

L&N locomotive 225, a 4-6-2, rolls across the Cartecay River bridge, just south of Ellijay, GA, on the Tri-State Model Railroad Club...

The GNRR maintenance crew discuss their repair options for GNRR locomotive #4125, and it’s not looking good. When I was taking photos of...

Under the watchful eye of the conductor, the crew traverses a grade crossing near the yard. After testing the staging cassette to make...

The GNRR North Local works Elizabeth Yard on the new staging cassette. With the construction of the staging cassette benchwork completed,...