Voodoo and Palmettos!

It was a Saturday afternoon, and I finished an ops session at Gold Coast Models. It was then that, unexpectedly, I received an email from Lance Mindheim saying he was going to come down to Miami!

As some may know, Lance is a talented model railroader responsible for very efficient shelf model layouts. In fact, he runs a business called the Shelf Layouts Company, and does commissions for customers. On the side, he has done three very awesome layouts, the Downtown Spur, East Rail, and the new Los Angeles Junction.

His visit to Miami was set for a Wednesday afternoon, which for the first time ever worked for me. The purpose was much like past trips, a day trip from DC to do recon and railfanning of the local rails. The last time he came down here I was still in high school; that was back in 2013. Taking a day off was practically out of the question.

Two things just so happened to fall beautifully into place.

One was that Anthony Reyes, known by some as "Train Hunters" (that is his YouTube handle, after all) wanted to do some railfanning. He arranged for a Monday or Wednesday morning, and Wednesday worked out perfectly. So not only did I get to finally meet Lance (and his friend Brad), but I got to catch up with Anthony as well. By the way, Anthony did contribute some information and input to the Downtown Spur project as well. :)

The outing that Wednesday was quick yet productive. We had lunch, caught FEC PM2 and 202, and scouted spots around East Rail on both CSX and FEC sides. I headed back to university catching O721 leaving on its new early schedule with straight EMD power.

The other thing was that I quickly remembered that Lance lived close to DC and that I was going there the weekend after for a conference. From past experience it was determined that setting aside a couple of hours to tour Lance's awesome layouts was doable, and plans were quickly forged for it.

Alas, this video happened.


One, his layout looks phenomenal in person, and I felt right at home despite the snow falling outside. It's so detailed and so well done that a one hour run doesn't do it justice! Two, I want to thank Lance for his hospitality and for giving the chance to see and even run on the layout. Yes, that was me doing those botched switching movements and hard couples, LOL.

All in all enjoy the video!! Maybe someday we'll stage a full operating session in the future.



Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

HOT, HOT, HOT! News from FEC and a Special Miami Vantage Point

The Florida East Coast Railway has just announced that it will purchase twenty-four GE ES44C4s from General Electric Transportation . It sounds like the once-stubborn Shortline by the Shoreline finally listened to the pleas of its folks and fans and broke down about 55 million buckaroos to get some clean locomotives. The ES44C4s have different traction mechanisms than the popular ES44AH. This follows semi-official word from Jan 15 that the purchase was to be green-lighted. Many folks are had upset that the railroad is no longer a virgin to GE, and are puzzled that they are getting more engines than they need. It needs to be remembered that as it is, the railroad is power short. Plus, the SD70M-2s, which had left the company in dissatisfaction are going to be handed back to EMD soon. Needless to say, this might have been one of the draws  for the decision to switch to GE, absent the fact the engines are in some ways obsolete per ECH. They are also going to need it for the Port ...
Read more

REBRAND!

Image
It's been four years since I used this platform. The rails are rusty on my blogosphere, but I feel that it is time to put some shine and share my perspectives in the model railroading, railfanning, aviation, and LEGO hobbies.  A lot has changed. I have taken up model railroading more seriously than in the past. My railfanning has expanded greatly. The recent pandemic has encouraged me to go out and document local railroading with a vengeance, like never before. With that, there are certain aspects picked up that will be reflected through an in-progress model train layout and shared on this outlet. Sit back and enjoy. There is certainly more to come.
Read more

The "Model Train of the Year"... or something like that...

Image
Time Magazine has its Person of the Year, therefore we shall have the Model Train of the Year. Their choice of PotY is always characteristic of that person's impact on the year's events. In 2023, the choice was surely clear. For us, when evaluating the various model railroad projects I've taken on at my leisure, the choice couldn't be clearer.  Since 2019, ECHOES, the East Coast HO Exhibitors Society, has displayed at Pinecrest Gardens on a new, sweet, extended arrangement for their holiday-themed Nights of Lights festival. Gone was the short opening weekend stint that usually happened on the second weekend of December. Our display time and scope swelled up like a sweet tooth only would during the Holidays into a three week affair. The two end-loops with five lucky 2'x4' modules turned into a much more appreciable fraction of our maximum possible footprint. Our Nights of Lights display has become the marquee event, trumping the annual Harvest Festival that has a...
Read more