Houston Visit

It always seems that my work travel comes in two week waves.. None the less this past week I was in Houston, but between customers and conferences I found sometime to catch a local model train store. There is a ton of petrochemical industry and every type of Tankcar you can imagine is found in the greater Houston area.

UP train heading east through Manchester Jct. south of the ship channel. This train is heading towards the PTRA Manchester Yard and ship channel industries.

Back to the model train shop I had mentioned. 

Papa Bens Trains located west of downtown turned out to be a great store well stocked with helpful staff. The shop also hosts a large N scale layout that runs in another room and in the shop itself. If you are in the Houston make it a point to stop by.

     Layout display on the shop side.

  Rest of layout on other side of wall. It is awesome to see what Modellers do with N scale.

While perusing the shelves I came across a consignment area which turned up an older Walthers Trinity PD hopper. Not only was it assembled but the car had metal wheels, kadees, weathering, and FRA reflective striping.

         What a great find for $20.

     ADMX 51065 @ Bay City (Bay Yard)

Later this week in the Mid October post we will look back on this past weekends Texas Western Model Railroad Club Train Show. This is the second year for this show, and we found some great items for the layout which will be showcased.

GM

Friday Musings

While working on the layout this evening I found a great photo angle looking from east staging (inside helix) towards the station of Gerhard, Michigan.

This is east end mainline switch where the "GERH" DTC block ends and the "GRAY SDG" block begins on the diverging side of the turnout. The "GRAY" block begins just beyond the station on the straight portion of the switch. The track at left in the foreground is a upper level continuous run, but during an ops session it doubles as a long lead track for the local road switcher that works Gerhard / Grays Lake.

Closer view of main and siding at Gerhard. CN overhead train Z-BKPH-27 led by CN2224 holds the main, while M-BAPH-28 is parked on the siding. Both trains are holding for a maintenance window to wrap up near Kincaid (offline).

Closeup of these modern motors with downtown Gerhard in the background.