I made the mistake of adding a colorant, used by professionals who install walks and the like, to hydrocal - the hydrocal crumbled.  What worked was painting on the ground color after the hydrocal has set. I was surprised at how much of a color solution was needed. The hydrocal is like a sponge.

A buddy of mine who was into On3 said he was going to model the SPNG in the Owens valley - nothing but desert!

Scenery was never my strong suit - good luck to anybody out there playing with soupy plaster!

I'm sure the blame will be placed on the engineer - that is why I feel sorry for him.

As for WWII - my dad was a sailor on a troop transport - one trip they made to England had locomotives lashed to the deck - to be used on French railways after the invasion. Because of bomb damage some rail lines were realigned.  The Burt Lancaster movie - the Train, was filmed on an abandoned French line. If you have seen the picture you know there is a bombing scene. The movie makers were doing the SNCF a favor!

The late congress man from California, Tom Lentos, was a Hungarian teenager when the Germans pressed him into a work gang. All they did, everyday, was repair bomb damage to a railway line. He said that the people doing the repairs tried their best to delay and do poor work; risking retribution from the Nazis.

You still can't compare American railroads to those in Europe. European countries, and Japan as well, spend far more on infrastructure and rolling stock than the US. I think many members of congress would like to see Amtrack go away.

It is unfair to compare European trains, or Japanese, for that matter, to American railroads because the countries were destroyed. A lot of the rail systems have been rebuilt over and over while trains in the USA chug away on sections of track designed 100 years or more ago.

As for signal colors - the uncle of a friend of mine worked for the NYC. He couldn't be an engineer because he was color blind. That is why the Pennsy went to the position signals - many of which are still in use.

I feel bad for the engineer who caused that wreck. People should stop speculating until the investigation is done.

Jon - you do amazing work - I'm surprised to note that your new cars do not include at least one "beano" car.  Didn't the S&A get absorbed by the Southern?

The last Wabash mogul, # 573, I believe is in a museum and MR ran the plans in 1959 so they are available. 573 (and sister 576) ran long into the diesel era because there was a bridge (I believe in Keokuk, Iowa) that wouldn't support a diesel which was heavier.

There was one imported in brass ages ago and the long defunct Kemtron company made a kit. 

It would be a nice addition to anyone modeling a branch line. Keep in mind that a little engine like this is not going to haul a lot of cars.

A magazine article in the a Railroad magazine from 1944 featured the Pennsy during WW II. The author wrote that the troop trains often had more than one locomotive - sometimes a long train would have a K4 in front, one in the middle and one pushing. They communicated with whistles.

An interesting fact is that the Pennsy had a great on time record. If a train was fast the company orders were to slow down and arrive on time. Late trains were expected to make up time. They had a great on time record because they "annulled" or canceled trains that may have broken down, derailed or had no locomotive available  - these canceled trains weren't used in determining statistics.

Pennsy train crews were expected to show up for work wearing a suit and tie. They would change into bib front denims that were a very, very light grey - almost white. The crewmen carried an extra set of train clothes because the railroad frowned upon dirty looking crewmen. It wasn't called "the standard railway of the world" for nothing!

My godfather had a Lionel layout in the basement. He laid his own track with outside third rail and mixed equipment from Walthers and All Nation with his Lionel stuff.

I have a fond memory of one of his GG-1s pulling Madison passenger cars around the layout. Plus he had not one but two ZW transformers - very impressive to a ten year old kid! I had to have my own set. I eventually got a GG-1 of my own but never was able to build a big layout like my godfather had.

I went from there to Ho then On3. I have been collecting On30 equipment to build a little narrow gauge empire. Time and age work against me!

The Flying Scotsman is British prototype and it's a very old model. You need to find people who can help you with British models. The Flying Scot was popular when it was released - if I remember correctly it was released about the time that the real locomotive was touring North America.

I know little about Bachmann's British line but it is possible that the main and side rods from a newer model might fit.

I assume that Bachmann of England has a site similar to this. Good Luck with your quest.

Jon - as usual great stuff. I agree with woundedbear that you should stay away from photo enhancing. That term reminds me of how, in  1930s Russia, pictures of commissars or generals would simply disappear.

This whole strand makes me want to dig out my trusty Canon AE-1. I took lots of pictures with it but never achieved the results you have. There was a company that actually sold a pinhole attachment which, if I remember correctly, was something like f64. The shutter would have to be open for sometime. I was going to buy one but the company didn't last (how many pinhole devices could he have sold.)

Keep up the excellent work Jonathan and glad to see another road name (C & O)!

The NMRA convention in 1982 was held in Washington D.C. and featured a train ride behind the big Berk from Washington to Charlottesville. One highlight ws watching the engine go onto the turntable and get turned- quite a sight. I still have boxes of slides from the convention. Nobody gave a hoot whether the engine was originally  used on the Southern. It ran with an auxillary tender - which was originally behind an L&N "Emma"(2-8-4). As the song goes, "Those were the days my friend..."

A friend lived in Danbury and I used to visit by taking the New Haven (er, PC or Metro North or whatever) to Danbury. Service was via an RDC. THe RDC toodled along at sbout 25 mph. The windows were either dirty or fogged over. It belched smoke coming into the station - no worry about pollution back then. It was a ride I'll never forget - too bad the real RDC didn't have rubberband drive.

I recall a rubber band hustler that also was a speed demon - they put those into sets - I can't imagine one pulling three or four cars at jet arcraft spped!
I was told that the tank engine that Athearn released along with the hustler and RDC - an 0-4-2 - had rubberband drive. I have been into HO for a half century and have never seen one of those engines - is it possible that they released a rubberband drive steamer?

I  went to the Hoseeker website and looked up Athearn. They had a number of sets in the late fifties - the 1958 catalog shows a hustler set with three cars and a caboose. Including power pack and track the kit was $10.95!

I had a rubberband drive RDC many years ago and  it ran like blazes. It would go so fast that would fly over switches and derail. Fortunately, my railroad had no riders to sue me!.

It was possible to slow the RDC down a bit by putting tubing on the motor shafts. This gave a larger diameter and decreased the top speed a bit and was hard on rubber bands.

There is a belief out there that there are tons of train collectors who have more money than Scrooge McDuck. I watched one of those shows wherein people buy storage lockers. In one episode the buyers find a g gauge layout complete with plastic buildings. One guy says that the trains were vintage and collectors pay a lot of money for them. I'm not up on the g gauge market but I know the trains were Aristo and the buildings may have been Pola. In another episode a different guy finds a box filled with HO trains. He holds one up (looked like a Tyco boom caboose) reads "Virginia and Truckee" on the side of the car out loud and said that collectors pay big money for old trains. I wish him good luck.

I have looked at "Vintage" trains on Ebay a lot and some of the stuff is downright junk.  How many buyers can there be for Varney F-3s or Penn Lime/Bowser engine kits? A neighbor bought a relatively early Bachmann train set for his grandson at a local garage sale - he paid $5! The boy's dad has a nice layoput and he lets his son run the set to his heart's desire. I must say that, given the treatment the set train endures, those old Bachmanns really hold up well.

I also received the latest RMC and was glad to see that there were few changes - and those were minor like changing a font.. Having said that, I'm sure the new piublishers will make some changes.

Jonathan - I teach graduate school and my students get a master's degree. Every semester I do a poll as to from where they get there information. In one group[ of 27 I had three who read any newspaper and four who listened to either am/fm radio or satellite. One girl said she had satellite radio only because her husband liked the sports channels.  Several told me that they get their news and other information from Twitter!

MR has tons of video and yes, Youtube is great. However L like the idea of having something in front me while I read. Not only does a magazine inform but it also catches my cookie crumbs!