This blog is to document the building of a model railroad, the Paducah and Lake Erie. The free-lance design is set in the current time, and meant to replicate the coal-hauling roads of southwestern Pennsylvania. This version of the P&LE is a bridge line that derives its name from my wife's home town (and well known to Illinois Central buffs) and our former long time residence about 50 miles south of Lake Erie.

Monday, April 11, 2011

Christmas in Springtime

Now that Attica Yard is in, I have started unpacking boxes of rolling stock. Not having seen any of this stuff since packing up in Ashland 3 1/2 years ago, it's like Christmas in the middle of April. As you can see from the photo above, the yard is already filling up; the two "empty" tracks are the main lines. The Peabody coal train is on a passing siding. With several more boxes to go, obviously building the planned storage yard has to move up on the "to do" list. As many of you already know from experience, that "to do" list does not get shorter, it lengthens on a daily basis. But, that's what it's all about.

A Visit to John Peluso's Railroad



Last Thursday, our Gandy Dancers group visited John Peluso's outstanding railroad in our weekly meeting. I came away with at least three distinct thoughts: 1) you can get a lot of railroad in a 16-inch wide space - all of John's two-level railroad (top photo above) except the yard (also above) is just 16" wide; 2) when done correctly (and it is by John), just how good photo backdrops can be - John uses ScenicKing photo backdrops blended in with the foliage - note the tree next to the foliage backdrop just left of the brick building backdrop in the yard photo, and the entire line of trees against the photo backdrop in the bottom level (top photo); and 3)John uses all four-axle power, and it works well and looks good on a smaller railroad. His entire railroad is of very neat, clean design, and runs well. An enjoyable evening.