NMRA/NER Open House Layout Tour - It's A Wrap!

Greetings followers of the Atlantic Pacific Railroad.

The big day has come and gone and we had a great turnout. 18 members from the NMRA/NER 2018 Convention made their way to the APRR. it was a good turnout, especially since it was my first open house, and there was another open house 4 blocks away! 

We were open from 1-4PM, and I was assisted by my friends John, Norman and Sami from East Coast Circuits. Sami came down to add more animation to the railroad, which came out great! 

We added some crossing signals with gates. While the gates were not working, they will by next January. They cover two tracks and (actually 3, but on is the Rock Ridge Yard lead), and work bi-directional.

Next addition were a pair of PRR signals that will work automatically with sensors and circuits. Right now they are hooked up to work single track, and eventually will have a set of opposite signals on each track. 

Below is a video of the crossing signal as well as the Pennsy Signal. We're still working on tweaking the PRR signal, and should be ready to go within 60 days. 

But wait! The layout got invaded by the Black Horse a.k.a. Norfolk Southern! Sami, who is the creative genius for the lighted vehicles and circuits from East Coast Circuits, brought them down to run on my railroad. Since he doesn't have a layout at present, and was installing all of the lighted effects and more, how could I say no to him! Seriously, these engines are beautiful, and sound great! 

The last item Sami installed was a pair of Walthers Mi-Jack Cranes fully lighted with strobes and spot lights!

While I normally don't run Norfolk Southern I felt it was necessary to give them some space on the blog....

Norfolk Southern SD60E  locomotives in consist..

Scaletrains.com SD40-2 engines 

He brought one more engine, the UP 1943 SD70ACe. Very nice!

Everyone who came enjoyed my layout tour, seeing the trains run, and impressed how flawlessly the railroad ran. The guys ran the trains, I gave the tour about the railroad, and received kudos from everyone who visited. Most people were modelers of steam or transition, some modern modelers, but most important, all of them loved what they saw. One of the guys was an NMRA Master Model Railroader, and he was very impressed. That to me, was high praise!

The last visitor was one of the committee members from the region, and has asked me if I would open the next time they were having a meeting or convention, as even he, thought the railroad was fun to operate! 

Special thanks goes out to my friends John, Norman and Sami for helping me make this layout tour a success!