Tolga's Railroad Repository

  My buddy Anthony Reyes and I participated in a special "Pints y pinturas" session at Unbranded Brewing in Hialeah, FL. The prompt of this ticketed $30pp event in the middle of Miami Beer Week was to offer a nice, casual social painting experience while enjoying familiar Cuban bites (pastelitos, croquetas), cafecito, and a selection of Unbranded's core beer.  Attendees were prompted to paint a cafetera, though it was evidently very optional. Darn! Missed opportunity to paint a GEVO. Let alone, I could have painted a CSX yard job with the Antillean Marine containers in the background. But the original prompt was more than good enough for the newest display piece in my train room.  The vibe was intended to be nostalgic just like the YN2 color scheme thrown on the cafetera. It came through as such. Classic Latin music emanated over the taproom's audio system, some songs you can find on my Voodoo & Palmettos playlist , themed to the CSX Miami industrial vibe made fam...

June 25, 2009 (per Flickr) - likely running as Y322 in summer morning light the job crosses N River Drive heading railroad north. Tom K photo   Tom Klimoski, a famous model railroader in northeast Georgia and forever-member of ECHOES, was very kind to share pictures of the CSX Downtown Spur in its last heyday before the downturn following the 2008 economic recession took a toll on much of the line's business. He has allowed me permission to share them on this blog and by doing so there are plenty of takeaways from the camera roll. To add to the latest discussion of the Downtown Spur operations. I had the honor of being able to finally visit Lance Mindheim's layout after quite a few years; he's done so much to the Downtown Spur setup since the May 2019 visit. Probably one of the most comprehensive operation sessions was conducted impromptu as well, where a lot of the recent railfanning experiences were reenacted and a couple blasts from the past were sprinkled in. But as I ...

  My friend Anthony R., who some railfans may know on YouTube under the handle TrainHunters1 or TrainHuntersFans, affectionately likes to pinpoint "movie scenes" in events that take place in various hip and hot Miami venues. I have been fortunate to join him in some of these adventures as of late, and look forward to many more in 2023. They are as he describes, "movie scenes" -- settings one can only imagine seeing behind a screen of one's choice, perhaps too overwhelming to be even deemed a believable enough scene in person... but they are. Model railroaders take to capturing scenes alright -- some that can be reproduced today and some that are blasts from the pasts that can only be reimagined through film and other works. But Miami in all its glitz, glamour, and vice, possesses scenes that can only be associated with the Magic City. Regardless of the era, some beg to be modeled. Some make it to video games like Driver (1,3, etc.) and GTA. The James Bond movie ...

ECHOES member Tom Klimoski, who has been a major contributor to Lance Mindheim's R&D for the Downtown Spur layout built the Hawksridge Division proto-freelance layout back in 2000 . He had to discontinue and dismantle the layout in 2011 sadly when he moved out of South Florida, but do not despair; Tom's Georgia Northeastern layout is a masterpiece and truly masterclass material for industrial operations. I strongly recommend you check out his channel. On top of all this, three of the modules, which are designed to be compatible with ECHOES layouts, have been saved for use on club displays going forward. Up to five sections on the layout were removable by design as a condition of having the layout in a single car garage. If you look at the visuals on the link, and have seen the layout, you may recognize them off the bat. Two of the modules (Amtrak Station/KFC/Heritage Furniture) are in club standard 4'x2', and have been the thumbnails and backdrops for many shots I...

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...

  CSX Y22022 took an unusual tour down the CSX Downtown Spur, which is usually reserved for red eye yard jobs such as Y322 or Y350. Ever since I started aggressively chasing trains on the CSX Downtown Spur at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, it has been good not to see the line, a barometer for the for-better-or-for-worse evolution of the rail industry, to lose any business, much like its sister lead, CSX's East Rail.  Unfortunately Cliff Berry has been inactive at best, with three tankers on site collecting rust on the wheels and the usual litter on the lead growing to the point that heavy equipment may need to clear that if and when they get a switch. There are four very active customers still comfortably receiving freight cars, FP&T, Miami Iron and Metal, Family and Son, and Sun Gas. Two of those customers would be getting loads on the early evening of Sunday May 22, 2022.  My flight to Norfolk had been delayed nearly two hours, so I kept having an ear out for y...

Just like the old days, a heavy duty CSX rock train with big six axle power comes off the Homestead Sub, passing the Hialeah Market Tri-Rail Station. After documenting mostly YN3(b) power lately, it was nice to find a YN2-painted original CW44AC on the point. Take away the sliver of Metrorail extension, and the YN3s, and this would be little different than a vantage from the new millennium, the heart of the Anything and Everything era. This is the mainline portion of the inspiration for Lance Mindheim's layouts, and I can never get enough of documenting trains in the Hialeah area despite it being my backyard for all intents and purposes. I have a couple treats for the area coming soon so as 99 Jamz would say, "Keep it locked!" CSX O92109 w/ 19, 5305, 476 hustles by Tri-Rail's Hialeah Market station northward to Hialeah Yard.