SOO dollar caboose Elkhart Lake Wisconsin

Ethanol Train in Freeport, IL

Ethanol trains: as boring a train as a train spotter can spot.

BRC Alco C-424's at work

Potlatcher's video of BRC alcos at Clearying Yard.

I'd hear these pass by every day when I lived in La Grange Park by the IHB tracks. Always knew they were coming. They sounded unlike any other locomotive.

Green Bay and Western Depot and Corporate Headquarters

A very impressive model of the Green Bay and Western Depot in Green Bay offered by Engine House Services.

I have pictures taken there as a kid. I'll scan and post those.

Ken's idea for a Model Railroad

Thanks to Ken.

MRL's M-L in HO Scale

A nice video by someone who knows to model the whole train.

Bob Coolide's Trains

A guy who really gets around with his camera.

Naperville 2007

Lots and lots of pictures here.

Prairie Scale Model Railroaders

They had a nice brochure on the counter at Lombard Hobbies yesterday and a nice website.

Structures and Trains by Fred

A new hobby shop in Geneva, Illinois.

Not a lot of inventory but it looks like Fred will be doing workshops. That's a business model for a hobby shop not too common around here.

Our next workshop is scheduled for Thurs. November 29th at 7:30. We will begin construction on the Black River Junction layout that was featured in Model Railraoder starting with the January 2007 issue.

Like any layout we will start by constructing the benchwork. Be a part of this project and learn how really simple it is to build your own model railroad. Unlike the layout in the series we will be using cork roadbed and code 83 Atlas FlexTrack.

Structures and Trains by Fred
DATE: November 29th, 2007 Address: 12 North Second Street
TIME: 7:30 PM Geneva, IL. 60134

For Information: 630.208.9011 or 630.584.3429

Future Work Shops:

Black River Junction (We will actually build this layout )
Structures: Plastic & Craftsman Kits building, Painting and Weathering
Digital Command & Control
Scenery Construction

Wish him luck... I'll try and visit one of the workshops.

Lombard Hobbies

The new front to the store. Jeff reopened a few weeks ago and I got hooked on some great deals on Athearn Genesis F units. He ought to consider inhouse marriage counseling at the store because it's tough to explain a great deal on Athearn Genesis F units when a guy gets home.

FRN Blog

A nice Railroad blog by a blogger who stopped blogging. It takes work....believe me.

GP9s in TP&W and CRANDIC schemes

Walther's announcing paint schemes I thought we'd never see.

M.T.H. To Release HO Triplex In 2008

MTH takes some flak in comments over at Model Railroader,

This model is the least asked for model in any poll I have seen, but here it is!!!!!!!!!

WOW! I can't wait to run out and NOT buy one of those!!
I hope any future releases are a little more grounded in the reality of the hobby

It's not on my wish list, but it's a very neat looking model. I might become an Erie fan.

Davis Junction Illinois July 2007

EJ&E steel coil cars and a DM&E gondola at Davis Junction.

Al Warren's HO Scale CNW layout

Some nice pics of a CNW layout here.

Dennis Storzek: Station switching in days of yore

Dennis posted this great picture of Cal Zephyr being switched at Oakland Mole in 1954. via Passenger Car List

CA&E Pictures

Some pics I had sitting on the computer. No idea from where I downloaded them. I remember them tearing down the gas tank in Forest Park. That's the tank in the background of the bottom picture.

Chicago and West Towns

A site with lots of pictures. Also Central Electric Railfans new book by James Buckly.

John Flinn: World's loftiest train ride a breathtaking feat

From today's Chicago Trib on the new Lhasa Express,

The atmosphere here holds between 40 and 50 percent less oxygen than at sea level. Extra oxygen is pumped into the unpressurized rail cars as they roll across the Tibetan plateau, but it's not clear that it does much good. All around me in the dining car, passengers were suffering the hangover-like symptoms of altitude sickness: throbbing headaches and severe nausea.

I was feeling relatively chipper due to Diamox, a prescription drug that prevents altitude sickness. Even so, I was lightheaded and a little dizzy. Back in my compartment, I plugged the oxygen hose into the wall and inhaled deeply. Almost instantly my mind cleared. But the effect lasted only as long as I breathed oxygen from the hose.

The surrealness was heightened by what looked like hundreds of enormous golf tees lining the tracks. They're an attempt to solve the railroad's most vexing problem.

Four hundred miles of the route lie atop a particularly unstable form of permafrost that thaws during the day and freezes at night, causing the tundra above it to rise and fall by inches. To try to prevent tracks from buckling and cracking, Chinese engineers elevated more than 100 miles of it and installed the giant golf tees along other stretches. These are cooling pipes that use solar energy to turn liquid ammonia into gas, chilling the ground and preventing the permafrost from melting.