Old Posts

Monday, August 27, 2012

A new video to share...

This summer I went to Colorado and rode several of the local tourist railways.  Anyways, I am in the process of making a slideshow/ video presentation on You tube and I now have the first video done of none other than the Pike's Peak and Manitou Springs Cog Railroad.  The route is several miles long, starting at Manitou springs (west of Colorado Springs)  and climbs to the top of Pike's Peak, which is 14,110 feet high.

The terrain is rugged, mountainous, and steep.  The peak is completely bare of trees, and this year it's also bare of snow!  I hope it rains and snows this winter, I really do.  The shots were taken with a Canon Sx110 digital camera.  It's several years old now, but the shots are top notch considering it's an old little camera.  The only problem is that the video clips didn't turn out as great as expected, oh well I guess.  But anyways, enjoy the video below.  Next video is going to be about the Royal Gorge Route!


Tuesday, August 14, 2012

What a summer...


Well, I hope everyone has had a good summer.  For me, I only have a few more days before I'm back at school.  But when I'm at school, you know what that means don't you?  It means I'm blogging again!!!

I had a very busy summer, mostly work, but I have done quite a lot railroad related.  To start, I am completing my third Gn15 railroad this fall, and I'll have that posted eventually.  I also plan to use this in the micro layouts page on this blog.

Second, The garden railroad is now in operation in the yard.  This fall I will feature it on this blog, as well as my other blog, Smokey Timber Logging Company, or smokeytimberlogging.blogspot.com. I will be posting updates there on the progress.

Third, The layout at the museum is coming along very nicely.  If you recall from the page about the South Dakota State Railroad Museum, it is a museum that is in the process of growing into a large regional museum of South Dakota's railroad history.  This fall and winter should see a lot of progress on that railroad, and I'll keep everyone posted.

Fourth, I went on a very exciting trip to Colorado where I went on four different tourist railroads as well as visiting the Forney Museum of Transportation in Denver.  I won't give out the names of the railroads yet, but I will give you all some highlights of the trip:


  • Pictures of Swiss cog trains in Colorado
  • Pictures and video of a 3 truck Shay steam locomotive
  • Pictures of the "Big Boy's"  (2 of the 8 remaining)
  • 1950's passenger trains rolling along steep canyons
I will be posting these as well over a period of time.


So then, that brings me to my list of things to post, for everyone to read:


  1. Finish up the series of building a railroad.
  2. My summer; Part 1, personal accomplishments in railroading, Part 2, railroads seen, Part 3, center pieces of history.
  3. With this Blog getting so large, a bit of renovating might be needed to fit all of this information comfortably. 
  4. More videos, including all the major attractions I went to, as well as video's of my garden railroad, Gn15 railroad, and a new surprise model railroad.
As you can see, I have a lot to do.  Keep checking in, as I'll be adding new information over the next few weeks.

Until then, enjoy what little summer is left, it will fly by for most of us.