'Twas the Night before Christmas, and all through the yard,
Not a whistle was blowing, not a steam plume stirred.
The engines, all silent, in slumber did sleep,
While visions of passengers danced in their dreams.

The rails, silver gleamed in the pale moon's light,
As signals stood frozen, no red to ignite.
No coal clattered down, no pistons did churn,
Only soft winter snowflakes softly did turn.

On the roundhouse roof, perched high with...

Here we are already at the end of November. Where has the year gone?...

While I try to do an article the last week of the month, that didn't happen for October.

That particular week, my wife and I were working on our property in Tennessee, and as can happen with any construction project, we ran a bit behind schedule. What should have been a three day project to build our first permanent structure (an oversized shed) turned into a week. While I thought I had all the supplies...

This month's SOTS comes to you from MP247 on the NS "Rathole", otherwise known as the Town Formerly Known as Nemo. While we've been coming down here for the last few months doing site prep, the last two weeks was particularly noteable, as we moved our RV onto the site, managed to get internet and water hookups, and almost daily deliveries from Amazon. The first week was all work -- burning brush, bringing down a few trees, burying a septic tank and clearing a path for the BobCat to make it t...

As Casey Kasem used to say.... the hits just keep on coming....

And if you're old enough to know who that is, you're going to love the two sets that TrainSimulations.net just released.

First up.... SD45's in Conrail heritage liveries, which our departed friend Dave Edwards would have loved.

This set includes as-delivered Erie-Lackawana and Penn Central units, plus Conrail. These were seen anywhere Conrail operated, and will be at home on just about any route...

I had to do a double-take when I looked at the date today... Yes, September is just around the corner. With that, my youngest started what's hopefully his last semester at the University of North Texas this week, and my granddaughter went back last week to start her last year in elementary school. Time flies way too fast in that regard. Heading back to school also means one of my favorite times of year -- NFL football is back. While the pre-season is not supposed to be an indicator of anythin...