The Rip Track

Model railroaders are a weird bunch. We like to see cluttered structures and tons of stuff just lying around inside buildings, at least we do if the clutter and stuff is within a scale model structure. When you build a structure with open doors, you've got to add some kind of detail to the structure's interior. Think about your goals in modeling the structure and what would realistically be inside that structure. If you're modeling an empty building, there should be a "for sale/lease" sign or contractors' trucks and equipment outside to explain why the building is vacant. If the building is occupied, fill it with appropriate details, like in this scene of a small garage on a narrow gauge logging railroad.

As we come upon the annual winter solstice season celebrations, remember to get the kids around you involved in the hobby. Even if it's just setting up a circle of EZ Track and an inexpensive steam locomotive on a table once a year, let the kids play for a while. Sure, set some ground rules such as a maximum speed and specify exactly which rolling stock can be used, but let them play. This will not only help to strengthen your own relationships with them but they will remember the play time that they have and may turn into serious model railroaders when they grow older. More model railroaders means more demand for model railroad products which leads to a greater product selection for all of us. How many of us got our own starts in the hobby with Lionel or American Flyer sets around a Christmas tree when we were younger?

Although most students of railroad history might not think of Wisconsin's railroad industry as a significant contributor to rail transport, many events that occurred in Wisconsin have affected railroading on a worldwide scale. Here is a timeline of significant events that have occurred in Wisconsin related to rail transport. This page is not a final document and will be added to (and periodically reposted to the front page) as more information becomes available.

When it's time to assemble your model railroad's freight car fleet, keep in mind the prototype that you're trying to model. On many prototypes, there are signature pieces of rolling stock that absolutely have to be included for a model roster to be believable. If you're modeling UP or SP in the 1950s, you should include several Pacific Fruit Express refrigerator cars. If you're modeling the Milwaukee Road in the 1980s, like I am, you should include a few horizontally-ribbed boxcars and bay window cabooses. Or, if you're modeling the B&O in the 1940s and 50s, you should include a few wagontop box cars, like the one seen here modeled in N scale. Determine your railroad's signature equipment and model it.

It's a snow day here at RipTrack headquarters, so it's a perfect time to get a little further on posting locomotive data.

One of the manufacturers that we had a chance to talk to at the national NMRA convention this year was a small company called Wheels of Time. They were showing preproduction samples of 60-foot Harriman style baggage cars in N scale. As I've become more interested in modeling specific passenger trains recently, I was pleased to find someone taking N scale passenger train modeling seriously. I'm working on models of a few Milwaukee Road and Pennsylvania Railroad passenger trains while my wife is now putting together one of Southern Pacific's Daylight trains (well, the Kato GS-4 she bought last year has to pull something!). I was impressed with the preproductions enough that we each ordered a set when reservations opened in September. We saw the manufacturer again at Trainfest in November and we talked a little more about the cars and the company's upcoming city bus models. Our baggage car order arrived yesterday, so let's take a look at the final products...

You may have seen the announcements yesterday that Alexander Kummant submitted his resignation from the presidency of Amtrak. Amtrak's own press release about the resignation doesn't cite any specific reasons for the change, but there's a story on the Trains News Wire today that it is the result of a dispute between Kummant and Amtrak board chairwoman Donna McLean over debt restructuring. A few of the stories I've seen so far mention that our new Vice President Elect's son, Hunter Biden, currently sits on the Amtrak board, so there's speculation that Kummant's replacement will be someone who is expected to work more closely with the executive branch of government. What will this mean to all of us as railfans and loyal Amtrak passengers? We'll see...

Most model railroaders, especially those living near Lake Michigan, know that Trainfest was held over this past weekend. While I plan to post a story with notes from my discussions with the manufacturers and views of the layouts that were there, this post will take some time to show you an extra tour that a friend of mine was able to arrange for us. Friday night, after setup, several of us were invited on a private layout tour to see David Popp's beautiful N scale layout, the Naugatuck Valley Railroad. David is currently Managing Editor for Model Railroader magazine, and his layout has been featured a few times within its pages (I guess rank really does have it's privilege). Let's take a look at some of the photos from the tour...

After a whilrwind of editing, it's time to upload the next chapter in the named steam locomotives of North America roster. Here we go with locomotives whose names begin with H.