Tolga's Railroad Repository

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...

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 ...

Folks, with the new year setting in, I feel that it is time to bring forth new ideas and promote changes. I have been adamant over the past couple of months to push for a service expansion of Tri-Rail west to the Malls . Wait... that remark sounded a bit nerdy, right? In other words, I feel that the 25-year old commuter line needs to grow, and most importantly, incorporate parts of the city that promote nothing short of economic benefit to the service. It sounds all too easy to speak, but this push will strongly encourage the use of infrastructure that is quite similar to what exists for Tri-Rail (SFRTA) as it is to create a strong economic engine that will benefit South Florida travel for years to come. The first phase of my proposal, and the key focus of my video that will be put up really soon, is a three-station west expansion to greater Sweetwater. It seeks to use four miles of the CSX Homestead Subdivision and five of the seven miles of the Lehigh Spur, which is the stretch ...

Set #10241 , the Maersk Triple E, is officially released as of January 1, 2014 and, as part of the online listing, its parts list is officially out. Needless to say, this set is known to boast a number of Md Azure and Dark Red elements, the most remarkable being MdAzure. While it is sad that it's phasing Pastel Blue out, I prefer to have MdAzure on hand as it's a stronger color. Plus, it is the color of choice for my coming Tri-Rail series. With all of that said, several of the pieces in MdAzure are making their deep-sea debut. Included are: Part #3004 / 6004945 - Brick 1x2  This piece is great as it complements the existing 1x1, 1x4, and 1x6 molds. It should also benefit my Tri-Rail sets. Part # 2357 / 6052877 - Corner Brick 2x2 Similar to the old Maersk Sealand ships, this part is making a reappearance, probably best suited for the bow of the ship. It's nice to have more variety with the brick and this part is best suited for buildings.  Part # 47404 / ...

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...