Last night I watched "The Iron Horse". It is a silent film from 1924 about the Transcontinental Railroad. The loco they used for the Golden Spike ceremony was UP #116. In the words on screen, it said the real Jupiter and 116 were used for the on-screen reenactment.
I wondered about that since I knew it was 119 at the ceremony. I did a search for 116 and found that it was originally slated to be at the ceremony. It seems like I had heard that before quite some time ago.
I just found that 119 was scrapped in 1903. That expalins why the 1924 movie had to  use 116.
It was Bachmann's Jupiter and 119 that got me into HO model railroading in the late 80's. My Dad had an O27 layout in the 50's when I was a wee lad so liking trains came naturally.
https://collections.boxeldermuseum.org/index.php/Detail/objects/1435

Last week, I spent many hours watching them replace a double diamond in Houston. This video is a fast forward version. I was amazed at how they got the exact placement of the new diamond correct when they set it down.

I guess some of you might be familiar with Al Judy who runs a Facebook On30 page. He recently passed away. He was one of the premier On30 modelers and scratch builders.

This is a neat place. Lots of old cars and some old steamers.

The same principle applies to model railroading.

If you want to watch live trains all day, this is a busy spot. This is a live feed from Tower 26 in Houston, Texas. I've been watching it for a couple of days.
It seems like at least a couple of trains an hour pass through.
Sometimes there is an operator in the tower who pans and zoom the camera. I saw him do that earlier when there was a train going through the "S' that is out of view camera now. Maybe it is done remotely. I don't know.
The view is looking West and slightly North.

Someone mentioned getting tracks parallel with turnouts.
I just did this one with Anyrail

I joined this Facebook group a while back. I figured some on here might be interested. It's real railroaders but rail fans are welcome.
"IF YOU WORK(ED) ON THE RAILROAD (railfans welcome)"
https://www.facebook.com/groups/658047340912711/?hoisted_section_header_type=recently_seen&multi_permalinks=7691410300909678

I had never seen video of John Allen's Gorre & Daphetid layout before.

If I want to use track power for lights on some cars what size resistor do I need?
I have some 3 volt Christmas lights that I'm using on flat cars and gondolas. Right now I'm using batteries. I'm using the cars with my DCC Mogul.
Someone also suggested a zener diode. Do those come in different sizes? I know nothing about them.

I added Christmas lights to my On30 flat car. I used brass nails for stanchions. I still have another flat and a gondola to do. I'll fill this one with small Christmas presents. I was able fit the battery box between the frame and the truss rods.

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Are the rails in the "diamond" in Bachmann crossings connected to the outer tracks? I'm trying to figure out how to keep my trolleys from stalling at the crossings.

I finally got my Bachmann Brill Trolley set-up running. It goes kind of fast but it was hard to program this thing and I'm not going to mess with it. You might want to turn the sound down. It's noisy with my oxygen concentrator running in the  background.
https://youtu.be/sfGe99m50WI

This will work for E-Z Track, too. You can read the comments for each pic. I don't know what method others use to paint track. This is what I came up with.
I go over the rails with Bachmann's conductive lube before I paint it. After painted, the paint comes right of the rails. I'll use 1/8" pin stripe tape to cover the ends of the ties. I cut card stock pieces to fit in the center.
I'm doing the track so it looks like trolley track laid in the street. I can run my Bachmann Brill trolley back and forth.
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?vanity=terry.toenges&set=a.10161409953690522

Boy! I sure wish I was younger. The media coordinator job would be right up my alley. Maybe I should say right up my spur A media person for a model train company. Wow!
I have BA in media communications with emphasis in public communications. Too bad this wasn't around in 1990 when I graduated.
Now, I'm too old and too infirm to even think about it.

Are any of the On30 tenders the same body as the On30 Mogul tender? I need a Mogul tender body for a kit bash. I don't need a whole tender just the body. If not, I guess I'll have to buy a whole tender.

Back in '97, we took a trip out West. One of the places we visited was the Transcontinental Railroad "Golden Spike" site in Utah.
After the ceremony was over, I decided to head West and travel over the old Central Pacific roadbed once we left the National Park site. It was neat to me knowing that over 100 years ago, the old steam locos were traversing the same route I was on.
I had an all-wheel drive van so I often got off the beaten path when we went places.
I found some old spikes and tie plate bolts along the way. I wondered how old they were and if any were originals. During WWII, they  pulled up all the track to use the metal for the war.
I also have a video on Youtube from the ride on the old C. P. route.
That's the Great Salt Lake on the left.
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The video. Just imagine you are riding in the cab of a noisy, hissing, steaming, smoke belching 4-4-0 headed back to California. The very last part of the video, I took a detour up a hill to see what was on the other side.

I made this for someone on Facebook but it might be of interest to someone on here. With Bachmann's connector wires, I take a black magic marker and run a line on one of the two wires so I can keep them oriented to pos and neg.

I have two Bachmann DC controllers. Neither one will operate a loco in reverse. I have swapped them out and tried different DC locos.
They work fine for running the locos forward, but when I hit the switch to run backwards, nothing happens.
When I use the DC controller, I unplug the DCC controller and plug the DC one in. The controller is run through the Bachmann booster to the track.
Any ideas? Could both of the DC controllers be bad?

Will this trolley (Spectrum #80203 Single Truck Birney Street Car DCC) work with  Bachmann's autoreversing system?
Is the trolley dual mode?
*****  I found my answer - it is dual mode *****
I'm going to put a trolley on my Christmas layout where I have my "Main Street". I'll use some flex track to bend it around the corners then lay something on it to cover the ties.  I need a 4 wheeler because I'm going to about a 7" radius at the end corner.
I have a Tyco/Mantua trolley but it isn't lighted.  I tried it and it seems to do the 7" ok.
I don't know if I want to spend all that money for a new Bachmann one just to get the lights. I might try to light the one I have.
I'll take the auto reverse system stuff off of the E-Z track and solder it to the flex track.