Confessions of a Model Train Geek
A model train geek, learning as he goes.
I recently gathered all of my grain fleet into one place on my layout, at the Cargill elevator tracks at Helene. It turns out that I have a lot of grain cars! A grain elevator would never get this congested “in real life” but it was interesting to see all of my grain hoppers and … Read more
I was out railfanning this morning along the CN Redditt subdivision. I photographed an eastbound freight train and snapped a few photos of the rolling stock. One that I photographed was ALNX 396400: When I was processing them in Lightroom, I recognized the road number as being the same as a model I have! Here’s … Read more
On real railroads, a car checker / carman (or “car knocker”) would inspect cars as they passed through yards to ensure they were in good operating order, and “bad order” cars that were not. These rejects would be repaired on the “repair in place” (RIP) track or be forwarded on to another location if heavy … Read more
Proving the old adage that there’s a prototype for everything we do in model trains, here’s a tank car body on a flatcar. I spotted the remnants of GATX 54324 strapped on flatcar CP 315208 in Winnipeg. This would be a quick little modeling project. Note the dent in the far end of the tank, … Read more