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This guy is very very lucky you ask me.

A long time ago, (2004 I think) I was surfing around the net and came across a really cool thread on one of the older versions of The Gauge... bridges and lots of 'em! It was because of that thread that I joined and figured out how to start sharing pictures of my own!
Let's start one of those here!

Bridges, bridges, everywhere,
Big or small, I don't care.
Short or long, old or new,
Just one picture, or quite a few.
Post your pics for all to see,
I'll start this show with a selection of three!

I've read another topic about the use of cabooses. However, I don't live in the US so I don't often see a 'real' US train passing me , nor have I had that pleasure when I was younger. :-)
Are cabooses still used today, or only sporadically, or are these now all phased out?
If so, when did this happen, and until what year (when modeling a certain era) could you still get away with putting them on a train?
When did steel cabooses first get introduced?

Thanks, Koos

Today and everyday,let us remember all our past and present brave members of the Armed Forces who have sacrificed so much to give us the freedom we enjoy

Just spotted an interesting item from Friday November 6th in the Norwegian newspaper Aftenposten:

In celebration of the 100th anniversary of the Oslo-Bergen railroad line (which crosses the mountainous central spine of Norway to get from Oslo in the lowlands in SE Norway to Bergen on the Atlantic ocean on the west coast of Norway, Norwegian TV channel NRK 2 has recorded a full trip from Oslo to Bergen across the mountains.

It was a major project for a young nation - Norway only regained it's full independence in 1905, after being par of Denmark for about 400 years from the late 1300s until 1814, and being forced into a union with Sweden for 93 years, from 1814 until 1905.

The trip, which is about 500 kilometers long, and will pass through a total of 182 tunnels in 7hrs and 16 minutes, was recorded in October 2009, using 4 cameras - one showing the engineer's view, two showing the view out windows on either side of the train, and one used to record footage among the passengers.

They plan to actually broadcast the entire trip, ie starting their broadcast at 7:55 pm CET on Friday November 27th, and continuing until a little past 3 am local time, alternating between showing footage shot from the four cameras on the train, and (when the train is in tunnels) showing historic footage from the construction of the railroad line (ie from 1909).

Sounds like a dream situation for a hardcore railfan. I am actually impressed that management at NRK TV went for it. Of course, they do have three TV channels (of which NRK2 is the channel for documentary shows and suchlike), and they are funded by the tax payers, so they don't have to please people selling soap or cereal, but still.

I might need to get a recorder with a hard disk that can record a 7 hour show, just for the heck of it :-)

More history (in English) here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bergen_Line

Grin,
Stein

Malcolm Savage offers a line of Scale55 figures and 55n2 items at:

http://www.blackhamtransfers.com/55/MalS...ue%205.pdf



Harold

What is Scale55 visit:

http://www.55n3.org/

Announcing the Big Blue 1st Birthday Bash

Yep, Big Blue will be one year old this December 17th. We want to celebrate and you’re all invited. One little twist though, like at all birthday parties, we’d like you to bring something along. Here’s what we have in mind.

We are opening a “party” thread and would like you to post pictures or attachments of something related to the Big Blue forums or the Big Blue Railroad. Here are some examples of what you can do:

• Build a “Big blue” structure for your layout
  
• Add something to your layout like maybe a “Big Blue” billboard, bridge or even just a sign.
  
• Decorate a loco or a car for the Big Blue Railroad.
  
• Be poetic, write a poem about Big Blue
  
• Get literary, compose a short story related to Big Blue, real or fiction
  
• Tell us in your own words what Big Blue means to you
  
• Decorate an item like a T-shirt or coffee cup with a Big Blue logo
  
• Bake a Big Blue cake or some Big Blue cookies.
  
• Stick Big Blue logos all over your car
  
• Smurf it up, paint yourself all blue and paste Big Blue logos all over (not recommended)

I searched here for advice, and I've looked all over the web for some good images, but can't find any with high resolutions. I am looking for a high resolution panoramic image(s) of eastern hills in the spring or summertime for my backdrop.

I've plotted a couple out on our kick butt plotter at work, but even the decent ones are taken from the right perspective.

Anyone help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Craig

Hello all!

I don't usually frequent this forum, being an HO modeler (primarily) but I have some questions that I'm hoping you can answer for me.

I'm building (well, Santa is, actually) an N scale layout for my son for Xmas. He is 5 and SO ready for model trains. He will be inheriting Dad's N scale from 25 years ago (yikes! ). I have loads of Atlas track and have already come up with a suitable plan for loop running and plenty of switching. The kid loves switching.

The locomotive is a GE U-boat in Chessie colors by Bachmann. Before anyone cautions me about Bachmann, don't worry, this one has always been and continues to be after all these years, a great running engine. In fact, now that I know more about keeping wheels clean, lubing gears, etc. it's running even better than before. There's a matching caboose as well as 8 or 9 assorted pieces of rolling stock, most with metal wheels.

My questions: Since this is his first layout, is it worth the time & money to replace the old square couplers with knuckle couplers?

I'm not sure yet how I'll be building the benchwork, but I want it to be sturdy enough for a 5-year old to lean on (climb over) if necessary. Any suggestions? I've built various types of HO benchwork from open grid to table top & foam construction.

Right now I use DCC for my HO stuff. For now this layout will be one block, DC control.


Any other thoughts, questions, suggestions, etc?


Galen

Couldn't get the camera to focus because of the flash distance
But her's an O Doodlebug at a station on a layout from the Open House tours we've been going to.

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