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Better pick up your Trackside Guide real quick as they sell out real fast. The Guide can be ordered from your local hobby shop or direct from Bytown Railway Society at BRS Sales Desk

Take two trips in Northern Ontario. Take the VIA train from Sudbury to White River - a 3-day trip in two Budd cars. Cost is about $100 return plus hotels plus meals. You can move up into the cab of the Budd car and get a bird's eye view of the track, the scenery, the meets. A railfan's dream...

It may have been the case that 4 - 5 of those engines were dead-heading back west (or east) as motive power usually pools at one end of the yard where its not needed. Surplus power is sent back to where its needed at the head-end of freights. You can tell which ones are hauling by the exhaust...

Targets for switches in the yard were a steel plate painted green, yellow, or red. The steel plates were later replaced by retro-reflective materials that you see today in the yards. My guess would be to take a look at what is in the yard today and go with the same colours. Bob M.

Extruded polystyrene foam board, commonly known by its trademarked name, "Styrofoam" comes in 3 colours depending on the manufacturer - blue, pink, green. There may be other colours but I haven't heard of them. If you live in a climate that doesn't need insulation, then your local building...

From The Toronto Star TheStar.com | GTA | 19 train cars derailed in Burlington Feb 18, 2008 11:28 AM Jeffrey Todd Staff Reporter CN workers are scrambling to clean up after a freight train derailed in Burlington near the Aldershot GO station, forcing 19 cars and tankers off the tracks...

19 Freight Cars Derailed Near Aldershot GO Station

I've been looking at the videos I shot on the Kicking Horse Pass from February 2006 and November 2007. Those grain, sulphur, and potash trains keep getting longer, and longer, and longer. On Saturday, November 16, I chased a potash train with two AC4400s/ES44Acs on the front and two more in...

Wayne, that scenery looks beautiful!! Bob M.

A heavy solution of white glue or matte medium, whether applied in one application, or several applications as you layer on subsequent ground foam, has a tendency to give the scenery a "glued-on" look. I've diluted my matte medium to as low as a 10% solution which makes it easy to mist on...

When applying ballast but before you've applied the glue, it's better to apply too little than too much. If you're too short of ballast, it's easier to add ballast than to try and scoop it up. I apply my ballast down the centre line of the track. I fill a cardboard coffee cup with the...

It's normal for white glue, matte medium to "wick" underneath the points, regardless of how well you try to keep the ballast and glue out. To unstick the points, spray on some methyl hydrate (rubbing alcohol), let it stand for 5- 10 minutes, and then gently move the points (the operative...

Try using "No-More Nails" or an equivalent glue. Buy the tube that fits into a caulking gun as it is easier to control the flow from the tube simply by squeezing the trigger of the caulking gun. For cork roadbed, squeeze a bead onto one half of the cork roadbed. Spread the glue out with a...

Looks good! That looks like plaster-impregnated tape you're using on those hills. That's okay if you aren't planning to move your modules around town a lot. Plaster carries a lot of weight. Another alternative is to use Spackling compound available pre-mixed at your local building supply...

Hello Josh M. That should be ¾" flat-head screws rather than ½" flathead screws. If you get square-head #8 Robertson screws (a good Canuck invention!), you can quickly remove the screws with a screwdriver bit and your cordless drill. However, when installing the screws, you have to be a...

At Ottawa Valley HOTRAK http://www.hotrak.ca we use styrofoam as the decking for our modules. You can see some of our construction techniques on my website. Module Construction Depending on what you are cutting, a sheet of styrofoam can be cut to size using a saw - a hacksaw blade, a...

Hello Josh M. You might have a bit of a problem gluing velcro to the Plexiglas. And, if you do succeed, Plexiglas has a bit of weight to it and will not be vertically stable against the side of the module. You can get away with a 3" or 4" strip of 3/16" thick Plexiglas with 2" below the...

As a member of Ottawa Valley HOTRAK, the standards require the sides of the module to be painted a flat black. I use a flat Tremclad black before I install the styrofoam because it's easier to paint. Painting all exposed surfaces of the module frame also prevents the wooden frame from warping...

The DB150 works very well with sound. There's only one difference between the DB150 command station/booster that came with your Empire Builder set and the DCS 150 command station/booster that comes with the Super Chief set. The DCS100 (along with the Zephyr) can read back the CVs when you...

In addition to the consideration of the number of locomotives you will have on the track, as gcodori has pointed out, another consideration is the wiring system you use to connect the track to the command station/ booster. Typically, you will run a 2-wire track power buss of a minimum...