Innkeeper Note:  Here’s one for the FREIGHT CAR FANS!  Your Innkeeper spotted this CLASSIC 100-ton covered hopper representing a bygone era but with its ownership moved right up to contemporary status.  Originally a ‘Route Rock’ Rock Island car with its monster graphic, MWCX 462620 now belongs to leaser Midwest Railcar Corporation.  How’s this for a [...]

Innkeeper Note:  Our weather was of prime concern during the morning hours on Wednesday.  Nearly torrential rain pounded much of the area including CONWAY YARD and as far west as TOLEDO, OH.  Yet by mid-afternoon, the sun was shining brightly and the thermometer was producing readings into the 60′s.  Witness this view of the CAB [...]

Innkeeper Note:  Lease units remain fairly common on the Norfolk Southern, and these ex-SOO LINE SD60′s are still eye-catchers in spite of the road grime and ‘weathering’ that has befallen them after years of service.  Besides, who would ever paint a diesel locomotive WHITE?  Why…  a couple of roads, including the SOO LINE.  Today the [...]

Innkeeper Note:  Continuing with coverage of our visit to the Western Pennsylvania Model Railroad Museum [begun Sunday, 2/19], here’s the next ‘stop’ on our rail journey eastward from PITTSBURGH to CUMBERLAND, MD. As in our previous posts, note how the depth of the layout allows the image to completely fill the frame.  One ‘loses perspective’ when [...]