My Articles

A lightning strike close to my house took out my DCC system: the purpose of this article is to share my experiences in troubleshooting and restoring my system to operation. View Article

Many model railroaders simulate depth in their model railroading scenes by using backdrops. if you are modeling a specific location or area, you might like to have a backdrop that depicts the specific location or area you are modeling. This article describes a solution to a unique challenge. My car float yard and the car floats are located in a corner. If a viewer was standing in the aisle and looking at the car floats, they would be looking north up the East River, and they would see the 59th St. Bridge in the distance. However, if they were looking at the car floats as if they were standing in the car float yard, they would be looking due west and would see the Manhattan skyline about 1/4 mile away. View Article

I spend hours “tuning up” the track and rolling stock before any invited guests come over to see my layout so there won’t be any embarrassing derailments. However, without fail, the minute the guests have arrived and I fire up the trains, a passenger or freight car will derail, usually in the hidden loop so that I need to crawl under the benchwork and fish it out. This article explains from an engineering perspective that the word “scale” in “scale model railroading” does not apply to all aspects of model railroading. View Article

With your cell phone on the end of an inexpensive Selfie Stick, you can take some great pictures of your model railroad from viewpoints that were previously inaccessible. View Article

This article describes how to install HO scale operating cross bucks manufactured by Berkshire Junction. A circuit board activates operating crossbucks at a roadway crossing. The circuit employs two sets of infrared emitters aimed across the tracks towards detectors on the other side. One emitter/detector set is upstream of the crossing, and the other set is downstream of the crossing. When a train approaches the crossing, the infrared beam of light is broken by the passing train and activates the crossbuck flashers. When the train passes beyond the second emitter/detector set, the crossbuck flashers turn off. View Article

Without an easy way to transport freight cars from the U.S. mainland to Long Island, the Long Island Rail Road (LIRR) used car float barges to transport freight cars across lower New York harbor to float bridges and associated gantry cranes in Brooklyn and Queens. This article discusses the car float barges, float bridges, and gantry cranes used in the transfer process, as well as the car removal and loading sequence needed so the barges would remain level. The article then describes how I modeled the LIRR car float bridges, gantry cranes, and yard in Long Island City in the Borough of Queens. View Article