After Russ pointed me in the direction of modeling something closer to home (actually very close to home, about an hour at most from me), i have decided to go with a spot local to me, which is La Mirada, California. The BNSF serves quite a few industries in this little area. There are 2 what looks to be small yards just off the mainline that runs through the area. This is a definite plus since this will not be a continuous run, and instead a group of modules.

Rather then start a new thread, ill just edit this one.... lol

It all comes down to this area, the yellow markers border the industrial district that the BNSF serves:



This will give my M&ET some serious competition, And i may just go all out on this one and scratch the M&ET plans (well not scratch completely, just hold off for a long while and maybe something later on in life lol). 2 Reasons for this, 1. is this area is SO CLOSE TO HOME for me. I can make several trips out there when i need to, and the M&ET located in Modesto, CA is about 6 hours away from me, so getting pictures will be pretty dang hard lol. 2. i can use all my locos for this project, i will not have to get locos in other paint schemes like the M&ET since the BNSF does its own switching in this area..... More money to spend on building supplies and track laying lol

Here are some pictures of the overall area i snapped off real quick. I know the tracks are pretty hard to see :oops: close-up pictures will be posted when im working on certain areas to better see the tracks....



Shows one of the small yards id like to model. Right/Center














Thanks Russ for pointing this area out to me, this will definitely make the prototype modeling process alot easier on me

Next to come will be the start of the area in the planning program

Inaugural Photo Contest Voting is now open in the Contet Forum:

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Hello all, with regards to my HO layout code 83, I am fed up with my Atlas Snap Switchs, and am going to tear them up and replace with either Peco, or Micro Engineering. I understand that Peco are great, but I haven't any feedback on Micro Engineering, does anyone have any experience with Micro? Any advise would be appreciated here. As Always, Thank You All in advance,

Duane H :?:

Vote for Prototype Engine Photo contest Thread located here:

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then go to our other poll, here:

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And vote for the Model Railroad Engine Contest!

Vote for Model Railroad contest thread located here:

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then go here:

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And vote for the Prototype Engine Contest Poll!

I posted these at the request of a buddy at the "other" place, and thought I would share with you all as well...
These are a few of the oldies that were first purchased by my ol' man waayyy back in 1950-51 +/-, and were the first "consist" we had until the early 60's when we started a layout. All of these are Athearn metal kits, with the exception of the hopper, which is a Varney plastic kit, and the caboose, which is wood. Most of these have undergone some minor restoration, as time & travel have taken their toll, but all are operational on my LC&P. As can be seen, all have been converted to KD couplers.

First up, a WP 40' silver box car.




Next, a Northern Pacific "classic" orange reefer...



A CYTX tanker follows...(Note it still has the original trucks with oversized flanges, as does the caboose...)



A Seaboard 50' boxcar (I have recently acquired another one of these with a different #..!!)



The Varney NYC hopper...




And bringing up the rear, Ol' Faithful. I had at one time considered lettering it for the LC&P, but thought it should be left as my Ol' Man left it....



There's also a flat car in the collection, as well as a 0-4-0 and 4-6-2, all from the same time period. Unfortunately, they've fallen victim to Zamac "disease"...and are slowly desintegrating....

Well, that about wraps it up...!!

Nice sharing a bit of history with you all.....

on picking a spot to model somewhere in the US.

As you might know, i model primarily the BNSF and UP with a splash of CSX lol

I am a industrial type modeler so scenery comes second for me lol. Can anyone suggest some possible modeling locations of real life areas that the BNSF, UP, or CSX serve? Im looking for lots of switching here. A couple large industries maybe, but the majority of them small to medium in size. And again, BNSF, UP, or CSX locations are a must.

if you can help me choose a spot to model, i would love to hear or see where

I will be modeling on small modules, 16-18" wide and 4-6' in length....

Thanks to anyone who can help

In this thread, I'm going to document progress on scratchbuilding buildings associated with the semi-ghost town of Galena, SD, around 1915. This town is going to be the centerpiece of a modular HOn30 layout that I plan to construct this summer. For now, I've been working on scratching structures that either were in Galena or that would fit with the general location of a narrow gauge silver mining line in the Black Hills.

Earlier this month, I wrote up a history of narrow gauge in the northern Black Hills: (http://www.the-gauge.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=18&t=744. My layout is going to be based on the Branch Mint Railroad, a 3 mile mining narrow guage tram linking several mines in the Strawberry creek gulch area to a crushing and smelting operation based in the town of Galena. Part of this line ran parallel to a spur of the Deadwood Central. I think this will provide a lot of interesting scenery options and I have been able to track down a treasure trove of historical photos of the region, particularly the mines, mills, and town buildings.

I tried the show thing but was not very successful compared to other people there so I thought I would try and see if anyone wanted any of it here .
HO SCALE


Bachmann train set locomotives
CN GP 40 road number 5075
runs well , no broken parts I am aware of
$8.00
UP F Unit (F7 or F9) road number 1206
Front coupler broken $4.00
SF B37 some scratxches and broken front hand rail.
$4.00

Sf FT Unit no road number
$4.00


Model Power
CP road number 4500 Alco 630
has broken rails, been converted to Kadee couplers
$4.00

Life Like

SF F7 no road number, never used was received as a gift and placed in round house near mint.
44.00

Lionel Ho Scale from the 70s
CP GP 30 road nuber T-12020
broken hand rails
$4.00

Athearn Blue Box kits not DCC

SP GP 40 road number 7959
missing detail parts but has handrails , flywheel drive system
$16.00

B&O GP 30 road number 3509
Metal trucks, flywheel drive, handrails intact
$8.00

Cotton Belt Sd40T-2
Road number 8326
all details added , handrails intact, flywheel drive system
$20.00

B&O S 12 shell, 42.00
UP GP7 shell $2.00
Custom Painted S12 shell $2.00
frame and powered metal trucks for SW 9/1200 no drive grear, just trucks and shell $5.00
SF FB unit shell $2.00

Rolling stock

Athearn blue box kit cars built, some have couplers , some do not

PRR Streamlined Vista dome car $5.00

Wabash 86 Foot 4 door Hi Cube Box Car $7.00

NYC SL Baggage car $5.00

Seaboard 4 door auto parts car.The Courteous Service logo $4.00

Seaboard 4 door auto parts car, SCL logo $4.00

ST. Louiswestern 4 door auto part car, Blue Streak Cotton Belt Logo $4.00

Greant Northern 4 door auto parts car, red in colour $4.00

Covered Hoppers

Sanata Fe $4.00
MKT $4.00
D&RGW $4.00

B&O 40 foot High cube box car metal trucks, with springs $4.00

Milw Refrigeration car $4.00

Walthers

B&O 40 foot Boxcar $4.00

Round House
Rock Island 50 foot plug nose boxcar $5.00

Stewart
70 Ton 12 panel tripple hopper car $3.00

Decals
CDS rub on transfers

Canadian Wheat board 3 sets , 75 cents each
CP rail road switcher 1 set 75 cents

TH&B caboose 2 sets 75 cents each
NAR Locomotive 1 set 75 cents
CP rail Bathtub Gon 1 set 75 cents
CP rail Hearld King Flat car wet decals 2 sets 75 cents each
or you can have all 10 sets for $5.00 including shipping on them.

willing to deal on just about anything. If you think I might like your price better , make an offer.
Shipping will be by Canada Post at the lowest rate to keep costs down.
All prices are in US Dollars. Willing to aceppt trades. Perfer Canadian Road Names. Money orders from the USA must be the International money orders as all others cannot be cashed here.
I accept paypal, I do not charge for packaging or for anything else but actual postage costs.

Any questions please ask and I will try and answer them in a quick turn around
Pictures upon request.
Thanks for any interest, and please buy so i can clear the storage yard out
Stuart Warren
Renfrew ontario

Yes that's right my compressor caught on fire. I was painting a couple nights ago and my wife said something smelled like it was burning. So I unplugged the compressor and quit painting. Yesterday I took it apart. I cleaned and oiled all moving parts that I could see. I used contact cleaner and air to clean it. Any way I luckily left the cover off, plugged it in and turned it on. It ran for about a minute all seemed well. No burning odors. Then all of a sudden it was on fire. I tried to blow it out but even though some say I am full of hot air not enough hot air to blow it out. I drug it out of my shed where I was working on it (not in the house luckily) into the rain where it was extinguished by the rain. The only thing I can figure is some contact cleaner was still in it and something sparked. Needless to say I now have a new compressor.