DelawareAndHudson

Probably offend someone here, BUT..... the UK is about 2.5% of the size of the United States. Your railroads were nationalized for a long time. I assume that means tax dollars were more accessible for projects like eliminating or rebuilding grade crossings. The latest numbers I can find online (2020) state that there are over 130,000 PUBLIC grade crossings in the United States. Who knows how many private ones there are. Everything is simply 'different' here than in the UK. 99% of the railroad's and their tracks/property are privately owned. Unless a local/state/federal government steps up with tax dollars, a railroad isn't going to rebuild a grade crossing. For one thing, there is usually an ownership issue. When railroads 'rebuild' a grade crossing, they typically only replace the asphalt within a couple of feet of the outside of the rails. And when a public road is resurfaced, they typically pave up to the line where the railroad did. The railroads aren't likely to fund the lowering of their track or the raising of the public road approaches. There's another issue. Not sure haw many of you have driven in the US, but millions of drivers here absolutely suck at driving. They're utterly oblivious of their surroundings. They ignore road signs, traffic signals, even crossing gates. Maybe I've become jaded to things but I've long ago reached the point that when I hear or read about yet another grade crossing 'accident', I think "that Darwin guy was on to something". According to the Department of Transportation, there are about 5,800 train-vehicle crashes per year with 600 deaths and 2,300 injuries. The US had nearly 37,000 hiway fatalities in 2020. No matter what people SAY, I don't think American's REALLY value life all that much. Almost 20,000 gun deaths. 37,000 hiway fatalities. In light of all that and the fact that year over year, little or nothing is actually done to mitigate these numbers (not just numbers, it's actually dead Americans), there is going to be very little positive movement on those 5,800 train-vehicle crashes and the 600 deaths. We average nearly 16 grade crossing collisions EVERY DAY. Just accept it. Apparently we have. Jason Cook Indiana (#5 in railroad grade crossing collisions in 2020!)

A quick googley search on "BNSF locomotive + Ayer Massachusetts" turned up this: BNSF SD70MAC leading an westbound empty oil/ethanol train https://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.php?id=438550&nseq=153 Here's a shot of a pair of BNSF locomotives passing an MBTA train at Ayer. https://www.flickr.com/photos/52139136@N04/7000961549/ Here's some video of BNSF power working the wye at Ayer https://youtu.be/lX5LQjfHVFE BNSF power on a unit grain train at Ayer. https://flic.kr/p/owCSHF Now why did I choose Ayer, Massachusetts? Well, I know that there is a large flour mill located at Ayer that receives unit grain trains of wheat that originate on the BNSF system and come east from Chicago to Rotterdam Junction on CSX before being handed off to Pan Am Southern. Additionally, Norfolk Southern runs daily trains to/from the intermodal and auto yard at Ayer. From time to time, foreign power from BNSF, CN, UP, or KCS winds up in Ayer on these NS trains. BNSF power in Vermont? Less likely. BNSF power in New Hampshire or Maine? Mmmmmmm.....might be possible but not highly likely. Ayer Mass on Pan Am or Worcester Mass on CSX would typically be the furthest east you'd catch BNSF power. Not saying it's impossible that it would go further east, just not as likely. Jason C Indiana

The new backscenes look really good! Jason C Indiana

Not sure if this video has been mentioned yet in the thread. It's on sale right now. https://railfandepot.com/product/street-running/?fbclid=IwAR1eqqoKG4o_LfdeshY0TCCt4TpojkdQwISS2xFxL2DI6k8jt-_aCehe1Qs Jason C Indiana

Managed to catch an ethanol train running through Warsaw Indiana on the South Hickory Street trackage this past Saturday (May 4). Norfolk Southern - Warsaw Indiana Jason Cook

A brand new roudabout with a mainline through the middle just opened on March 1st in Fort Wayne, Indiana. This line is the former Pennsylvania Railroad (later PC, CR) mainline to Chicago and was double track into the 1980's. CR rerouted most traffic off the line, single tracked it and turned off the signals. Later, NS operated it west of Fort Wayne. During the split of Conrail between NS and CSX in 1999, the STB gave this line to CSX. CSX showed no interest in the line outside of a large grain elevator halfway across the state in Hamlet and leased the line from Crestline, Ohio to Chicago to a new RailAmerica subisidary, the Chicago, Fort Wayne & Eastern. So......the property is owned by CSX, leased to the CF&E and dispatched by NS which runs a number of trains over the line. CSX retained that previously mentioned grain elevator as a customer so on occasion, you can also catch CSX grain trains in addition to the daily CF&E and NS traffic. New roundabout opened - WFFT news Aerial view of the roundabout under construction: Another news video: WANE 15 News Jason C Indiana

Beautiful.

WOW........some seriously inspirational video. Jason C Indiana

Glad I could assist. Jason

Yep, that's an SD40. Share some pics when you finish your model. Jason

It would help if you could post a picture of what you have so we have a little more to go on. If what you have is indeed an SD40 and not an SD40-2, here are some post-2000 ideas. FURX 3000-series https://www.flickr.com/photos/hunter1828/15969197265 Electro-Motive https://www.flickr.com/photos/hunter1828/4609023085/in/album-72157602127646787/ National Railway Equipment - NREX http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=214391 HELM http://www.trainweb.org/screamingeagle/gallery/leased/j_glenewinkel/HLCX6092.jpg Jason C Indiana

Southern and N&W continued to order their locomotives with high short hoods long after everyone else. I believe the final HSH locomotives ordered were the Southern 7000 series GP50's. I still encounter HSH GP38-2s on a regular basis here in New Haven, Indiana at the NS East Wayne Yard. Jason C Indiana

Once upon a time, I used to heavily collect toy tractors. Most months, I'd attend at least a couple of toy tractor shows around Indiana, Ohio, and Michigan. I had gotten to know a number of dealers that set up at these shows. I also had a job that involved extensive travel, nearly all of it driving, and basically a complete and utter lack of supervision. I'd pick the routes that interested me instead of always running the limited access interstates. This allowed me to make many stops at farm equipment dealers, most of which in addition to selling full size tractors, carried toy tractors. I came across a John Deere construction equipment dealer in southern Ohio one day that was overstocked on a certain limited edition model of a 1950's era John Deere crawler in 1:16 scale. I immediately thought about a dealer I knew and called him, told him what I found, and to he told me to negotiate a price with the dealer for two full cases, 12 units. Made the deal with the John Deere dealer and the following weekend, I met up with Phil at a gas station in the middle of nowhere Indiana along US 30. We pulled in within minutes of each other, parked off to the side, I transferred two large heavy boxes from my SUV to his, and he handed me a wad of cash. Shook hands, and went our separate ways. Afterwards, I thought to myself if anyone was watching, that looked awful suspicious. Jason C Toy tractor trafficker

Thanks for the replies. I think I'm going to take a look at the Bitter Creek throws and also experiment with putting the Caboose throws on the front edge of the layout. I like the functionality of the Caboose throws, I just don't care for how they look on the layout. Putting them on the front edge out of the scene may work. Thanks, Jason

Looking for some suggestions on alternatives to Caboose Industries ground throws. I'm gathering up materials for a small switching layout and was wondering what any of you are using for manually operated switches other than the Caboose Industries ground throw. I know they work well, I just think they're kind of ugly. Is there another manually operated throw that you use that looks more realistic while still being as reliable as a Caboose ground throw? I'm not interested in any powered machines like a Tortoise for this project. Thanks, Jason C Indiana