Thanks, Cam, much appreciated. Keep up the great effort on your layout; I see you're adding fascia and making good progress during your break from school.
Another great video. I bet the "Rock" would of loved to have the roadbed that you have. The "Rock" in its hayday. Got to love it......Oh wait I DO!!!!!!!
Thanks, Todd. One of the details I plan on adding is some "pumping mud" at a few locations to make the railroad look more like the real Rock Island. Mike
Thank you very much for your comment. The layout is fun to operate and I'll be hosting an operating session in a couple of weeks. Thanks for watching. Mike
I like how you have everything all marked out. I am impressed. It goes to show that you put a lot of thought into how you wanted to make the layout as realistic as possible.
Another good video. I always enjoy appearances by the Plainsman. When did the Rock introduce the blue paint scheme for its diesels? Was that outside the time frame you model?
The blue paint scheme was introduced in 1974. I essentially model the 1960 thru 1970 time period. I'm not a big fan of the blue scheme which was dubbed "bankruptcy blue". Unfortunately, the period of the blue scheme was a dark time in the Rocks history. Mike
Mike, It is always a treat to see your layout in operation. The Piggy Back train is very impressive, 5 head end units and over 20 cars make it a real show stopper. During an ops session it must be hard to concentrate on your local switching duties when that train rolls by. The Plainsman trains consist looks interesting with several freight cars ahead of the passenger cars (I am sure there is a prototype reason for it being that way). Again, very nice job on your layout.-Tom
Tom - Your comments are very much appreciated. The head-end cars on the Plainsman are express cars with mail and merchandise. This was common up through the late 1960's. The railroads lost the government mail contracts in 1967 which resulted in RPO cars being dropped from trains and many of the express cars as well. Thanks, again, for watching and for your comments. Mike
Hi John - I haven't personally experimented with how many cars one HO locomotive can pull. There are modelers who review locomotives and some will test the pulling power of the locomotive as part of their review. The number of cars that can be pulled depends on the weight of each car and the locomotives power capability. My general rule of thumb (nothing scientific) is one locomotive per about 15 cars. This works reasonably well for traversing my layout including the 2% climb through the helix. Thanks for watching. Mike
Great scenery, and an awesome Rock Island passenger train. Love those Es.
Thanks for watching, Tommy ......... I also appreciate your comments. Mike
This is awesome! I love the perspective. I know I've said this before, but you really have a world-class layout.
-Cam
Thanks, Cam, much appreciated. Keep up the great effort on your layout; I see you're adding fascia and making good progress during your break from school.
Another great video. I bet the "Rock" would of loved to have the roadbed that you have. The "Rock" in its hayday. Got to love it......Oh wait I DO!!!!!!!
Thanks, Todd. One of the details I plan on adding is some "pumping mud" at a few locations to make the railroad look more like the real Rock Island. Mike
Superb layout! Rolling stock and scenery are all first rate. Looks like it operates very well also.
Thanks much for your kind comments ........ I appreciate them!! Mike
Beautiful railroad. Looks like it is fun to operate.
Thank you very much for your comment. The layout is fun to operate and I'll be hosting an operating session in a couple of weeks. Thanks for watching. Mike
I like how you have everything all marked out. I am impressed. It goes to show that you put a lot of thought into how you wanted to make the layout as realistic as possible.
Thank you, Todd, for recognizing some of the details and for your comments .............. I appreciate it! Mike
Another good video. I always enjoy appearances by the Plainsman. When did the Rock introduce the blue paint scheme for its diesels? Was that outside the time frame you model?
The blue paint scheme was introduced in 1974. I essentially model the 1960 thru 1970 time period. I'm not a big fan of the blue scheme which was dubbed "bankruptcy blue". Unfortunately, the period of the blue scheme was a dark time in the Rocks history. Mike
Mike, It is always a treat to see your layout in operation. The Piggy Back train is very impressive, 5 head end units and over 20 cars make it a real show stopper. During an ops session it must be hard to concentrate on your local switching duties when that train rolls by. The Plainsman trains consist looks interesting with several freight cars ahead of the passenger cars (I am sure there is a prototype reason for it being that way). Again, very nice job on your layout.-Tom
Tom - Your comments are very much appreciated. The head-end cars on the Plainsman are express cars with mail and merchandise. This was common up through the late 1960's. The railroads lost the government mail contracts in 1967 which resulted in RPO cars being dropped from trains and many of the express cars as well. Thanks, again, for watching and for your comments. Mike
THANK YOU...for sharing.
Beautiful
Thank you very much for the nice comment. Mike
To be able to get your trains up to prototypical track speed... And the journey isn't over in 2 minutes... Love it!!
Thank you very much for watching the video and for your comment ..... much appreciated! Mike
Nice job recreating the Iowa Falls depot, it looked "real". Great RI videos!
Hi Don - I appreciate your kind comment. Thank you for watching! Mike
I've always wondered how many cars one HO locomotive could pull. Have you ever experimented with that?
Hi John - I haven't personally experimented with how many cars one HO locomotive can pull. There are modelers who review locomotives and some will test the pulling power of the locomotive as part of their review. The number of cars that can be pulled depends on the weight of each car and the locomotives power capability. My general rule of thumb (nothing scientific) is one locomotive per about 15 cars. This works reasonably well for traversing my layout including the 2% climb through the helix. Thanks for watching. Mike
I am curious to know....are all the locomotives at the beginning of the train operating, or just a few?
Hi John - All of the locomotives are operating. On my layout, every locomotive is powered and all have sound. Thanks for watching. Mike