Recent content by JonMyrlennBailey

The layout is supposed to be a fictitious modern railway in a fictitious location in North America. The steam-powered trains, several of them, are only excursion trains in modern times. I am a fan of both American diesel-electric locomotives and American steam locomotives. My favorite steam...

Built in 1905, the K1d 4-6-2 light pacific was the early 20th Century answer to Canada’s growing passenger service needs. They we’re built by the Locomotive and Machine Works of Montreal Limited, which was the Canadian branch of ALCO. They were originally built to pull very fast passenger trains...

My guess is that a 4.50' x 9.10' physical HO layout as shown in my Trainz Christmas train video could run up as high as $5K in total costs. This raw materials, finishesd products and any additional tools and hobby supplies that need to be bought. My locomotives would have special numbers and...

Part 5: Cute Little Pufferbelly Doubleheader Through the Big Woods

No, the Army helicopter, a Bell Huey, is imagined to be Reservists or National Guard on training maneuvers. They might be assisting the US Forest Service in fighting a wild fire or surveying for an Army Corps of Engineers project. That helipad is a forest ranger station with a lookout tower. The...

Part 4: Switching and (Mostly) Trucking Action

Part 3: Details, Attractions and Scenery Up Close, Freeroaming Camera over Layout

Part 2 of 5: Mainline Tour

Part 1 of 5: Helicopter Tour is now ready to watch!

Can you imagine an outdoor model railroad layout so big it would take up about 423 real-world acres of real estate? My imagination was bigger than Texas when I started cooking up this one in the summer of 2021. 1/10 scale based on a fictitious hemlock forest location in the North American...

If one has a DCC HO-scale loco for instance, what is the simplest way to set up an automatic horn-blowing as the train approaches and passes a RR crossing without actual computerization of the layout? Are there HO model crossings with working gates, red flashing lights and bell sound?

For a simple figure 8 HO layout, it just might not be economically feasible to have computerization just for a train running short laps on the main line to periodically trade places with one on the siding. That can easily be done with manual control and DCC. Train will run more or less constant...

It just seems much simpler to just have an automated Trainz layout instead of trying to do AI on a physical train.

Thanks, Mr. Whelan: DCC, digital command control, yes, I would want loco lights and passenger car interior lights to remain at constant brightness and two or more trains to be controlled independently on the same layout. Yes, I fancy only DCC locomotives. I want realistic sounds as bell...

This would be something like Trainz AI control but hopefully more realistic and much more reliable. I have a small HO scale layout in mind. What materials and products need to be bought and what skills need to be employed to make this happen? For instance, I want model trains to be made to run...