Musings on my Model Railroading Addiction

This Thursday, May 14, 2026 will mark 75 Years of Preserved Railways in the United Kingdom, marking the re-opening of the Talyllyn Railway in Wales by preservationists. I had the opportunity to visit in

Rail recovery at Copetown on the CN Dundas Subdivision. The old long welded rails are dumped on the edge of the line and cut into managable chunks for a rail recovery train to collect. In this case, GREX 6003, a self propelled work train with an excavator in a string of connected gondolas grabbing the scrap rail and collecting it.

Its 11:45, everyone’s gone home, the dishwasher is on, the kitchen and living room are mostly cleared out, and its quiet in the layout room/office/workshop as I finish the first pass of tidying up after today’s Ops Session. I had 9 people over, truth be told probably too many to seriously operate it, but it was an excuse to get friends from university, work and the hobby toge...

As this post goes live, I have a house full of friends starting to appear for an Operating Session and mini RPM (Railway Prototype Modellers) get together. We’ll be running trains, having some drinks, BBQ’ing and enjoying the social side of the hobby. In advance of this over the past couple of months, I’ve really been motivated to get the layout advanced and looking good. Par...

I’m having my first ops session of 2026 tomorrow (Saturday) and I’ve pivoted this week to cleaning the layout/workshop/office and trying to get ready for the layout to put it’s best foot forward as my operating crews will comprise repeat visitors, first time visitors, modellers and non-modellers. I’ve had this planned for months, largely as my wife is out of town at a retreat...