Tolga's Railroad Repository

Action on the Main Street. Todd T. Photo.   October 8 was the NMRA Sunshine Region Train Show, part of their Fall Convention meetup. The Sunshine Region comprises of four divisions of Model Train enthusiasts in the state of Florida, the North, East, West, and South, and the East Coast HO Exhibitors Society, which I am a part of, is a part of the Southern Division. Also part of the Southern Division is the South Florida Railway Museum, whose members had a large presence at this meet.  However, my main participation at the Plant City Show was with the Greater Florida LEGO Users Group. GFLUG member Todd T. and I covered this event. We had a 32'x5' space allowed for the brief set-up, which was approximately 7 hours setup to teardown. Keep in mind, with that small of a window, there is no need to have a massive setup nor go insanely all out with high levels of line-side detail and props.  I had thought it was 16'x5' in total, but that turned out to be the space I was actu...

Here's a retroactive show report; a small one but with remarkable implications. That's what the Takeaways series is all about. The Greater Florida LEGO Users Group was at the Plant City Train Show on October 16, 2021. Organized as part of the NMRA Sunshine Region Convention, it was a nice way of easing in back to public train displays amid the already passed exhibits at Tampa Bay Comic Con and Orlando MegaCon. The layout received contributions from David G, Chuck I, Todd T, and myself. Here are my takeaways from displaying: We were the only layout at the show! The entire show floor was dominated by vendors selling trains. The market reach in the morning was members of the NMRA Sunshine Region, including folks from the local South Florida Railway Museum, and enthusiasts among the general public. David and I were able to make this happen partly on this basis having worked with folks at the SSR. We got a nice centralized spot near the stage of the Trinkle Center and offered the ...

 The Greater Florida LEGO Users Group had a train show display at Bradenton, FL. While the club members did a multifaceted display at both MegaCon and Tampa Bay Comic Con, it has been a while since the club displayed a full train display at a two day event, perhaps before the COVID-19 pandemic for a display this size or larger. We did the one day Plant City NMRA SSR show, and I will cover takeaways from that soon, but RealRail is among the larger shows and this one did not disappoint. Without further ado, here's Tolga's Takeaways: Three's a Crowd -- logistics of transporting high rises Since May 2018 I made the decision to build Midtown Miami highrises in LEGO bricks to model an attainable Florida scene, as the buildings look cool and line the FEC/Brightline mainline (the Port Lead). Unlike the downtown skyline the buildings are at about 350-400 feet in height in Midtown and are easy to model and transport in this hobby. 2 Midtown and Hyde Midtown were finished in 2019, and...

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.

On August 7, my YouTube channel, one of my most prized possessions per se, is about to turn 10 years of age. It has had an interesting history. For one, the channel has been built from the ground up. It started as a rogue attempt at vlogging LEGO stuff and eventually evolved into a local railfanning and model train channel. I still do LEGO videos time to time, like the 10159 City Airport reboot video I just published. But what this particular entry is about is a celebration of one of the leadups and Precision Hobbying elements I have enjoyed about ten years ago. From July 17-21, 2007, I went to Orlando and visited Epcot and Animal Kingdom. I was a seasoned LEGO and somewhat-Disney geek. (I still follow WDW, as does just about everyone I know). Aside from some family memories I enjoyed at those parks, and a few scoots around Downtown Orlando and Winter Park, including the sight of Amtrak #97, I had an immense and influential haul from the Downtown Disney LEGO store. This haul has do...

My first all inclusive Power Functions locomotives, which are CSX General Electric ES44AHs are in the process of being rebuilt to adapt to numerous design improvements made and tested with my Florida East Coast Models. One of two of them has been completed and here are pictures. Over the old design, the improvements include the following: Reduction of height profile by one plate Reduction of Flame Yellowish Orange sil to one plate instead of two. A layer of black plate lines the bottom of the base. New handrail design. This uses cut up hose elements acquired from Bricklink. Granted it wasn't cheap, but these locomotives come with some of my heaviest investments. Easier Power Functions operations. For one, the battery box is now better connected to the locomotive. Also, I don't have to remove half of the locomotive to power it on or off. Just the section with the horn and exhaust stack has to be pulled out to access the battery box. This makes the engine sturdie...

Last year I built an interior for a previous modular building after a Pasión del Cielo coffee shop. Having decided to abandon the building, I saved the details for a new home, and I can happily say it's finished! Comes with an upstairs fitness store and yoga studio as well.

Time flies! I "eat" a McTolga's (friend-proclaimed) quarter pounder with cheese. As a YouTuber and LEGO hobbyist the Brand Ribbon was one of the highlights of my time with the site (even though the videos haven't gotten much exposure) Nine years ago on this day, August 7, 2007, I decided it was the day to finally begin networking on YouTube with fellow LEGO buffs. I had been following the site for a while, and was somewhat blown away by the just-released videos of National Model Railroader's Association National Train Show 2005 (Yes - two years late but I think it was when the Detroit show was abuzz, and those videos followed) here and here (the second video appears to have been deleted and reposted). Add to that fellow fans who were active on those videos. There was a full fledged discussion forum between fans of different ages.  brickbuilder711, a handle that I already reserved for the LEGO Message Boards, LEGO Factory, and Brickshelf, was final...

FEC ES44C4s roll by on my proto-freelance South Florida layout at Gold Coast Railroad Museum. After several months I am happy to say LEGO building on my end is expected to pick up. Keep in mind I will use only the parts I have on hand and do not plan to go out in the wild looking for parts. The following projects can be anticipated for the months leading up to the holidays, and future changeovers for my on loan display at Gold Coast Railroad Museum . (and very important contributions to the GFLUG NMRA 2017 display in Orlando, FL) List likely incomplete and subject to change. Town - all the exciting builds Pasión del Cielo Modular Building retrofit (2015) Pasión del Cielo Coffee Reboot The modular building that was built in 2013 was fitted with a PDC on the ground floor, but lost sections in the process (they went missing/dismantled). Thus, a decision was made to scrap the building altogether. The details were salvaged and belong on a standalone, which will likely sit ins...

The return of the academic year for me means the Holiday season is fast approaching. At this point in the year it is not too early, rather just right to begin conceiving how the annual Holiday display I do shall look this year. Past photos of the mostly suburban layout available here: https://www.flickr.com/photos/brickbuilder711/sets/72157637527799965/ This list of projects for the Fall-Winter is not limited to what's going under the tree but does set up well for that layout: Promenade resort and night club. The big centerpiece for the holiday display will be a beach resort with an outdoor version of a nightclub, probably similar in essence to LIV Miami. It will join a strip of a marina on the left side, hotel in the center, and lead to a beach on the right. The beach could be parallel to a double track section of LEGO track that turns around at the end. Similar in essence to Escambia Bay, FL or even stretches of the Pacific Surfliner. I even anticipate installing state of...

Nathan Sawaya's "Art of the Brick" will be returning to South Florida this June, and so will the biannual contest that supplements it. I have been a previous winner of the Brick Creation Challenge in 2008 , and am delighted to see this contest return, but stumbled upon this rather offensive and new  rule: "All creations must be glued together and completely secured with no loose parts. Each entry must be submitted on a clean and stable base of plywood, metal, etc. The Center will not be responsible for pieces which become disassembled in any way. No exceptions to these conditions will be accepted." Suffice to say, they lost me as an entrant. While there is some understanding that kids will have some temptation to destroy MOCs, as they sideswiped my 18 wheeler big rig (which is one of the few models from that entry which are still in one piece), the fundamental rule of LEGO is... YOU NEVER GLUE LEGO. That is, unless, you are building for say, the Downto...

The Flame Yellowish Orange conversion project I considered back in 2013 is in full swing with two CSX General Electric MOC locomotives converted and scaled down. Scaled down as in, they were too big to scale and built very juvenile-ish-y-however you put it... The GEVO is PF-ready, the C40-8 not quite so as something else will need to take in the IR Receiver for it. The latest plan is to make my widecab SD70MAC a dummy unit and either lash the two up elephant style, or make them both trailing units; so that the IR Receiver can fit in. Note that a Battery Box can't fit in an EMD engine under normal circumstances. Two non-train-nor-quite-town LEGO videos are in the works, one which will be posted immediately.One of them is a special pre-Valentines video and the other is a special ceramic model which symbolized my mom's earlier return from Turkey for serious family business... which went smoothly and everything is swell now. You can see both MOCs at the same time once I g...

Christmas is over, so it's time to watch stores for After-Christmas clearances. Historically, I scored the Sphinx set, which is a great parts pack, for half off at Walmart. This year, I hope to miraculously score Laval's Royal Fighter from Chima. Wait, why am I mentioning clearances? Because of what they can do to what I am really going to talk about... my 2014 LEGO plans. 2012 and 2013 have been marked by a boom in LEGO's color palette... not so much for earth tones, even though, yes, Olive Green sprouted and more Dark Tan than ever was being put out in sets. Dark orange made a 8 year comeback as well. But case in point, the big growth has been within the Friends and Chima lines. And it only took me until this summer to capitalize on it. Laval's Royal Fighter has a healthy chunk of Flame Yellowish parts that will help greatly when building FEC or CSX locomotives. This tone of yellow will look better than standard Bright Yellow on locomotives and even TTX boxcars....

If there's one tree NOT to put your gifts and stocking stuffers beneath, it's MY tree. History Since 2001, and with minimal fail (2003, 2008), I have managed to get some Laygoe trains running around the tree. The 2001 effort started with a botched copy of 4561, botched I say since we bought some half-assed version from Toys R Us with loads of missing pieces and got filled and reimbursed by the company. It was complemented with the 4553 Train Wash. 2002 had what I remember to be fragments of the 4565 Freight and Crane Railway as I managed to get it (and gazillions of other classic system and train sets) from St. Vincent de Paul (became Hearts United of Florida and now Maxyne's Thrift Shop). For 2003, I went back to HO Scale but it only lasted one year as the Life Like HO tracks were producing sparks, and not to mention I had no knowledge of what a 22" radius meant (my Opera centerbeam didn't like the layout) much less was able to differentiate the Wal...

Better Late Than Never I am pleased to announce, with only one week before Christmas, the 2013 holiday layout. This layout will be installed beneath my Christmas tree for about one month and will be removed Martin Luther King weekend. The reason I was late to do this was because of academia and finals. Also, the way the house was being cleaned up prevented earlier setup. Features include the Footbridge from 2012, McDonalds, Starbucks as seen before, and new models including the Modular Building that was finished a couple of weeks ago. The Gas Station is tentatively going to appear for the last time before a heavily needed rebuild is performed on it... it's the oldest existing building on the layout at 5 and half years of age. There should be an industrial section with appropriate models and buildings. I am not sure if I will be doing any sort of yards or team tracks. Just like the 2012, there will be one elongated pigtail loop, a trick that I kind of learned from the ol...

Sifting through some inventories on Bricklink, I found the parts list for the less than desirable Sunshine Ranch Friends Set and found two oddballs: 14719 Tile 2x2 Corner - A fairly essential piece, it resolves the need for improvising this configuration with a 1x2 and 1x1. Personally, I find this as juniorization for this configuration but it can certainly come in handy. This set has four in white. 15397 Plate 3x3 Cross - AKA "Railroad Crossing" piece, this part is the combination of a 1x3 with 1x1s off the center, making a perfect X. Robin and I used a similar but thicker configuration to rig crossbucks as I remember it, but this piece will, when released in white, eliminate the need for it. 1 of this is in Dark Orange in the ranch, presumably for the tree. Trees and certain connections will render this part quite useful.

The Holiday Season is fast approaching, and since I am writing with relation to my YouTube channel, I'm thinking it would help to highlight some key activities and events happening around that I may participate in. This is my first year in the University so there are finals in the way; a huge inconvenience and something to accustom to, but something I can work with. It will be interesting to have that extra week off though after finals. Aviation Planespotting at Miami International Airport, Wed. Nov. 27, 2013 - after the two classes that would matter for the day, I'll be watching MIA ops up until Sundown A Day of Railfanning Toys for Tots Train Chase - Tentative - Sat., Dec. 14, 2013. This item will be discussed most likely at a little meeting/getty with the other railfans, it has happened in the past, so that's why I put it in the calendar. If I can't chase it with them for whatever reason, I'll probably catch it locally like done in 2011 (a GRAND way to en...

It felt like yesterday when almost exactly three years ago, the fictious restaurant with promising and riveting detail, to the caliber the Miniatur Wunderland guys pulled off, was completed. The video was posted here to thousands of viewers: The model was pretty much a direct and expanded result of the Burrow set, 4840. It was laden with a limited parts palette and in some respects didn't look right (especially the black back wall for the "Second Floor".) It only served in mini-layouts like the one videotaped, and was downstairs for the Christmas layout in 2010 and 2011. Its spot was lost to McDonald's in 2012, (wow, what a big loss!), but at the same time, the model just began to get dusty and disintegrate. I already lost a huge chunk of sidewalk somewhere in the process. As some may have noticed it never made it to Plant City, and already then it was unofficially slated for retirement. What I really liked about the job I did on it was the fully furnished int...

Just the fact that I live in Miami makes me look pretty meticulously at the Friends line. Even though I still stand without a single Friends set, I have already gotten a hold of pieces in Bright and dark Pink, Magenta, Medium Azure, and Medium Lavender. Just revealed and listed on Walmart's site is the 41035 Juice Bar . Just like the Heartlake City High, and I believe one or two other buildings, it is a set that I am looking at purchasing because it has just enough good pieces to offset the surplus of others. Features that add punch to this set (no pun intended) include: Flame Yellowish Orange basic brick; these parts are on my considerations list for future bulk, and as such since there isn't so many on this set or any set for that matter, I'll still do it but it's still at a noteworthy quantity in this set. The hue below it is classic orange which is welcome as well. Light (Cool) Yellow Baseplates - Two "Art Deco Curve Plates" and what look like a...

Update on the Element Skyscraper Element has been a construction project for almost as long as the real thing, in Tampa, FL. It's my modern, SoBe-ish entry into the GFLUG Downtown Display. Only problem is, this Summer I ran into a shortage of white parts for the tower and couldn't find a way. Now, I have an out with a surplus of bley plate. The building has been on an unfortunate hiatus since and collected dust as well as stored PAB cups of LUGBULK on the pool deck... A solution that would speed construction was reached. Every time I'd pass it in Tampa, the white would not stand out strongly. So I figured, the ample load of Medium Stone Grey plates that I do have now could be used to frame the windows for a chunk of the mid-section to simulate the effect of cloud cover. Since high noon has the sun tracking from the south, the north side will be 100 % grey window frame. In order to compensate the color difference, the corresponding part of the concrete wall may be d...