Wednesday, 2 March 2011

Next Operating Sessions

March 9 - Charlie Turnquist
March 16 - Jim Menzies
March 23 - Bill Hornung
March 30 - Ernie Barry

Georgetown RR - Washrack




On the north side of the enginehouse was their washrack and lube equipment station. If you're modeling a shortline, these features might make some interesting features to add.

Thursday, 24 February 2011

Georgetown Railroad - Texas






We were about 30 miles north of Austin this morning and I saw this off to the west, it looked interesting so we exited and went around the block and look what we found. Georgetown RR owns 23 miles of track that connects to the BNSF on both ends. The main interchance is 6 miles south of this location and is with the BNSF. The main products are aggregates produced by The Texas Crushed Stone Company, whose quarry can be seen far behind the horses. Here's some photos, they had a great engine service facility and I got a bunch more photos before they politely asked me to leave.

Tuesday, 22 February 2011

Can't Miss Railfanning?

Hey, Katy and I are off in an hour or so to drive to Austin Texas. Are there any railfan spots I shouldn't miss?

Monday, 21 February 2011

Up-Coming Operating Sessions

February 23rd (afternoon) - Ernie Barry's Santa Fe RR
March 2nd (evening) - Dave Capron's Great Lakes Northern RR

Lewis Hine (1874-1940) - Photographer


Lewis Hine was a photographer who recorded an important era of the American worker. His most important contributions include his photos of child labor along the Eastern Seaboard and his photos of "Railroad Men." This photo is of Edward Reynolds a PRR Engineer photographed at Rahway, NY sometime shortly before 1921.
Lewis' will specified that his photo collection was to be released to the common domain and be used to chronical the American worker in this period of the Industrial Revolution. Many of his most important photographs can be downloaded at http://www.shorpy.com/lewis-hine-photos .
If you are ever at Horizon Books downtown Traverse City, take a look at the Lewis Hine photo collection on the walls in the coffee shop. I curate the artwork for Cuppa Joe's several locations and this collection is of bike messengers, textile and seafood processors along the Atlantic coastline circa 1908-1918 and the photos are striking.

Monday, 14 February 2011

Feb 16th at Bill Hornung's Rio Grande Midland RR

Hi All,

I hope everyone is healthy and ready for another railroad evening! This weeks operating session is on my Rio Grande Midland Railroad. I am in the midst of rearranging the structure and building new benchwork in preparation for moving the Grand Junction Yard so it is no longer directly below the Pueblo Yard. As a result, the layout may appear to be in a bit of disarray but everything should function as it has in the past.

Most of our group arrive sometime after 7pm with the hope of beginning operations around 7:30 to 7:45.
To help me plan jobs for each engineer I would appreciate your letting me know sometime before noon Wednesday if you intend to come.

I hope you all can make it this Wednesday and look forward to hearing from you.

Bill Horning

Saturday, 5 February 2011



Hey all, here's a photo taken by Dave Capron of my layout setup in the driveway of his old house in Suttons Bay circa 1998 or so, eh Dave?