BryanC's blog

This is a description of Blair Line’s Laser Cut Kit of a Wood Loading Ramp. This kit is about as simple and straight forward as you can get!

In the blog entry linked to here I requested suggestions of how I might handle the latest area of Alligator Lines undergoing scenicking! Alligator Lines Scenery Project 10: Suggestions Wanted! As a result I decided to include a hobo camping area along with a couple of tents and an outhouse!

This is a description of the Bar Mills (Scale Model Works) Laser Cut Kit of Earl’s Oil Company. There are actually several items making up this kit: the main building, three oil tanks, a fence, billboard, some white metal castings and a booklet of instructions. No footprint is provided but with the items available you can arrange them pretty much how you wish and to suit a variety of spaces!

As a result of some suggestions made here I am including a hobo "camp" area in the current area being scenicked. (Alligator Lines Scenery Project 10: Suggestions Wanted!) In addition to the hobos, a couple of tents and a camp fire I thought an out house in the background might work well!

This is a basic description of some of the Railway Express Miniatures MOW cast metal kits. I decided to use some MOW equipment to enhance the short spur which is a part of Scenery Project 10 and which was decided upon with the help of the discussion which may be seen here: Alligator Lines Scenery Project 10: Suggestions Wanted!

Scenery project 10 occupies one corner of the layout and includes two curved mainline tracks at slightly different levels and one short spur down the edge to the corner itself. The pictures here (click to view at full size) show the area as it was originally and as it appears now, after it has been prepared for the actual scenic content. Trouble is, I'm just not sure what to do with this area!

Well, I have been known to create a few "off topic" posts in the past, but this one is really off topic (which is why it's a blog entry)!

None the less I believe that most, if not all, of you will enjoy it so please sit back, relax and get your mind going in a different direction for three or so minutes! This is a YouTube video and if you can, I suggest viewing it at full screen!

I hope you enjoy it!

Well, FWIW, my wife and I have already changed our thinking for the next trip (from that mentioned in the Ft. Lauderdale to Chicago blog entries)!

Our present thinking has the following up for consideration:

Using North American Rail Passes, we will fly to Toronto and visit with some relatives then take VIA's The Canadian to Vancouver (thee nights on the train).

• A wonderful trip and I am really very glad we did it. I would recommend travel by train to anyone (maybe with a few caveats)!
• All Amtrak personal encountered were polite, pleasant and helpful. Some more than others but none were "bad". To single three out who were particularly helpful: Faith, the ticket agent in D.C. who handled our upgrade; Paula, the car attendant from D.C. to Chicago and Leo the car attendant from D.C. to Ft. Lauderdale.
• Overall, the food was really quite good on board!
  

These three days made up the entire trip back home to Ft. Lauderdale.

Checkout time from the hotel on Wednesday (day 7) was at noon and we waited until the last minute! A cab ride to Union Station followed where we found the Metropolitan Lounge, checked in and stored our baggage.

These three days were spent playing tourist with no activities even remotely related to trains! The weather was really quite good. A little rain on Monday but nothing to really cause any serious problems.

With this in mind this is not going to be a lengthy entry.

Note: This entry is being submitted from the Metropolitan Lounge in Chicago's Union Station, on our return trip! (First free WiFi connection since Washington on the outbound trip).

Note: The first picture (train arriving in Ft. Lauderdale station) was not taken on this trip. Rather it was taken a little earlier when I went to the station to pick up the tickets. It was, however, made up identically.

This first entry is being started somewhere between Orlando and Jacksonville and we are currently in a holding pattern and something over 30 minutes behind schedule.

Back in February I made a blog entry entitled Rail Trip Vacations. Any Recommendations? The general consensus was that the western half of the U.S. provided the best scenery. Nothing too surprising there!

Not that long ago, in fact it was June 13th, I provided  Update Number 3 on this scenery project for Alligator Lines. Well, it is now finished!

Well, Scenery Project 09 for Alligator Lines is getting close to being done now!

Some time during this weekend (May 18/19), the Alligator Lines web site reached, what is for me, a significant mile stone. It had its 10.000th visitor!

When the site was first started, back in October 2005, it was a fun project, mostly for me to enjoy doing but with the hope that a few others might find it of interest.

Today it has many readers and has become my way of sharing my passion for model railroading with anyone else who is at all interested (as someone said, not only do you need a passion but you also need to share it with others) and there are reciprocal links with seven other sights! The links are on the Alligator Lines Links page reciprocating with:

• Fifer Hobby Supply: Links Page and on every How To (example) page that originated from Alligator Lines.
• Scale Rails Online: Resources/Links  page.
• Michael Denny's Model Railroader: Links page (where is Michael, we haven't heard from him for awhile?)
• Rails USA: N Scale Layouts
• Rail Serve: Model Railroad Layouts
• ModelRailroads.net: N Scale Layouts
• Last, but definitely not least, our very own nScale.net under Links->Layouts.
  

This is a description of the Bar Mills (Scale Model Works) Laser Cut Kit of The Shack Pack. There are actually four items making up this kit: three shacks (of various sizes and styles) and a billboard. No foot print is provided for any of the items but they are quite small and would fit in a variety of spaces.

Scenery Project 09 for Alligator Lines is now well underway!

To be honest, I was somewhat hesitant about this entry! But, as has been said, nothing is inappropriate for your own personal blog (provided you follow the basic rules that apply across the site, of course).