Tolga's Railroad Repository

It's not uncommon for a quality Trainz route to take years to produce. Without a doubt, my South Florida Mega Route falls under that category. I have actually had the route going for four years, but only got a few key locations on the Florida East Coast (FEC) mainline mapped thus far. With the time considered, it is convenient to follow the new Brightline/All Aboard Florida track charts... and that is what I've done. The documents are available for public viewing as part as the federally governed Environmental Impact Study that was done. While they may change as track construction progresses, they have been pretty accurate thus far. Note: signal will likely be redesigned soon. Also done is the scenery for NE 2nd Ave, which is at the point where the port lead branches off from the mainline. The line to the left goes off towards Jacksonville, and the line to the right wyes down to the Port Lead. The manifest yard job nicknamed  the "Downtown Job" als...

So, FEC offers an interesting curveball by way of their use of the Norfolk Southern Geometry Train consist. When they need that research done on their main lines, they usually borrow the stock research equipment that NS has to offer, plus usually one engine, which in the past has been a 4-axle NS motor, namely GP38-2 #5647 in most cases. Except, this time, which happened just this week, the NS power that came down to Miami was two 6-axle EMD motors, SD70M-2 #2663 and SD40-2 #3279. Whereas I normally skip the Geometry Train, this one was a must have.

Holy cow, has it really been a year and a half since I last touched this blog? Time flies! I am happy to announce my triumphant return to the blogosphere. I feel this that this has always been the perfect forum to communicate my thoughts and the state of the railfanning and model railroading hobby, as I see fit. And lots more is to come as I continue to rebuild my network here and on my YouTube channel. I have done a lot of experimenting on Blogger over the years - separate Trainz and Model Train blogs, LEGO blogs, etc... but it is only appropriate that I return with a keen focus on ONE blog, and rightfully, I will choose the blog that is URLed to my online screen name, brickbuilder711. Personally, I've experienced a few changes since my last blog entry here, December 2014: New camcorder, new railroading interests, and a return to HO scale model railroading. I am back on the Trainz Simulator grind producing a renewed South Florida route and will be sharing lots of progress ...

A last minute Christmas surprise, you could say. Since I abandoned any intent to build the FEC in LEGO bricks, that of which is coming back, and if anyone happens to remember, the two FEC SD70M-2s I considered active were stored, #100 and #106. #106 is already in shambles and not going to be rebuilt. #100 sat in a corner in my room by the computer. Well, #100 is rebuilt. It became a brief parts source and lost its trucks, radiator (somehow), and tail end. All were reinstalled and now the unit is back in running service on my annual Christmas layout. Image of the old #100: It got a new cab window design in late 2008 but now with it came a whole herd of dark blue that I scored within the past year, plus a newly assembled radiator.  Soon, the unit will get more adjustments. It will lose two plates vertically mainly off the yellow section to be more proportional. Even though the unit will leave the FEC in real life, I think this is a unit that deserves a permanent pla...

Eurobricks member Just2Good posted a slideshow of these sets and I thank him for taking the time to do so. I really like this line of sets. All repetitions aside, there are a select few that really stand out: 60076 Demolition Site - Don't think this is a first for City, but still a very creative and lucrative set. Really love the crane, uses classic arm parts previously seen in the 4565 Freight & Crane Railway, as well as the treads from Indiana Jones (Jungle Cutter) - which really eliminates juniorization from it. 60081 Tow Truck - While the tow truck is repetitive at best, and I already have two from 2013 and 2014 lines, at least this one uses a lot of SNOT technique and just looks very detailed. While still 6-12 material, I like ow the technique is continually used. It's very Road Rangers-esque. 60067 Helicopter Pursuit - I should call it Everglades pursuit ... feels very set in a South Florida environment LOL. While I don't particularly plan to invest in ...

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...

Not that it is going to last, but by utterly dumb luck I found a cleared lot on SW 2nd Street in the spur that CSX uses to deliver cars for Amerigas, that affords a decent vantage point of switching operations for the customer. This came up as I was chasing the shoving local, O717, which as some may know I have been trying and trying to model in HO Scale, when killing time waiting on a "coal train that never came". The very interesting thing is, this is a brand new spot, if you will. According to Google Earth, under seven months ago there were buildings there, but someone bought the land and razed the heck out of it. Here is a Street View image of the place circa 2011. What's also fascinating is a long ripped lead that involved delivering cars inside a warehouse. For industrial development and simply on the zoning of the property, this is prime real estate so let's hope some rail served business comes up. A multi spot boxcar warehouse could be a perfect ...