Good morning and welcome to February. I thought I was off the hook for opening the diner this month but I see a line up of hungry model railroaders waiting for the door to open. Come on in and I’ll get the coffee going as fast as I can.
Railroad interchanges was mentioned as a topic, so let’s go with that this month.
Good morning from the wet side where it is 10c with heavy, heavy rain.
It is an inside day today, I have lot’s of small jobs to catch up on and we have several people coming by throughout the day for various reasons and those always turn into lot’s of coffee being poured.
February has always been my second least favourite month of the year as I can’t wait for March when the renewal begins with all the new growth. When I was single I would hop a flight to Hawaii in November and then again in February to help me get through those two least favourite months. I worked at the airport and would just go get on a plane at the end of the day if I needed a break. You can do that when you are single.
Best get goin.
All the best to all.
Good morning, diners. Figured since I was the one to initially suggest this month’s topic, I should be the one to start.
I think any sort of operation that bridges two or more rail companies together to help compete with another is very interesting, and the example that sticks out in my mind is the Rock Island and Southern Pacific’s closely knit relationship. They collaborated in both freight and express services to compete against Santa Fe. The main point of interchange was the RI-SP interchange in Tucumcari, NM. In addition to taking freight from the Midwest to the Pacific coast and vice versa, Tucumcari was where the Golden State swapped pulling power. This transcontinental route went from Chicago to Los Angeles and competed with Santa Fe’s Super Chief.
The interchange started in 1926 and the station that served both lines currently houses a railroad museum in Tucumcari:
Howdy diners! Happy February. Flo, a tin roof sundae please.
Went to visit my youngest at her university today. It was a really nice visit. Got to know a couple of her roommates a little better and they seem like great girls. Also looks like one of the major headaches that came up over the holidays has been resolved. Much earlier than I anticipated having any resolution on it. That will help this year go much better. I’ll keep the details to myself, but I’m sure everyone can relate in some fashion.
No train time this weekend for me, but those happen.
A sunny and cold morning here in NE Ohio!
Interchange:
Rolling up B Street by Mike Danneman, on Flickr
On a stormy March 18, 2006, Central California Traction No. 1790 brings a freight up B Street at the East Marsh Street intersection in Stockton, California, after interchanging cars at the BNSF yard. No. 1790 is a EMD GP18 built in February 1960 for the Rock Island.
Thanks for de-icing the front door of the February Diner, Brent! I used to eat at George’s Corner Lunch at E. 40th and Prospect here in Cleveland and on these cold winter days the front windows were thick with ice. But it sure was warm and welcoming inside!
Yeah, the waitresses name was Darla and she would have fit right in at Mel’s diner, too. I think Dee Ann is tired of me talking about those dishes I used to order at George’s. He was Greek and everything on the menu was delicious AND reasonable!
Cheers, Ed
Good morning from the balmy Great Plains. It’s above freezing! 
The Nebraska Central Railroad has interchanges with Union Pacific at Grand Island, Central City, and Columbus, Nebraska. They also have an interchange with BNSF at David City, Nebraska.
If I finish some other things today, I’ll have some time to work on the layout. I’m working on one more cardstock house. Then I’ll try to find some other things to do. I need a change of scenery
Have a great Monday.
It’s the first time in 10 days it’s been above freezing here in St. Louis @York1. Meanwhile I hear Florida has snow, and I saw a satellite photo of what basically looked like snow-capped Carolina’s.
(I hope this is ok, and am sorry for the diversion from the topic!)
Hey everyone. Hope everyone’s day is going well. Janie, a sweet iced tea please.
I finally heard back from BLI regarding the question with the Commodore Vanderbilt Hudson. The delay was associated with them lacking a test subject, but they worked to get ahold of one and get an answer. They confirmed the consumer added shroud pieces by the lead truck are intended for static display. An unofficial minimum radius with the shrouds installed of 36" was offered as a possibility as they were able to get it to negotiate a single bit of that radius without derailing, but noted that their test subject consistently derailed navigating turnouts with the shroud pieces installed. I couldn’t have asked for a better answer, honestly. Kudos to BLI for taking the time to try to find this answer out for a customer.
Much to do, so I better be going.
All the best to all.
Good morning, y’all! Cloudy and cold here in northern Kansas, but I share York’s sentiment with it being above freezing. I don’t have to lug around my heavy coat! It’s looking like it’ll be a fairly nice end of the week here. I’ll certainly be taking advantage of the nice weather while I can. No clue how long it’ll last.
I am in awe at the customer service of BLI! That’s exemplary! I take it you are going to modify the shrouds for running?
Well, I have research (professional and otherwise) to do. Best get moving. Have a great Tuesday, y’all! Take care :]
Hello diners. Happy Tuesday.
I’m fully convinced I’m going to get a good night’s sleep one of these nights. Hasn’t happened recently and that’s getting old!
I was shocked. I’ve only ever reached out to them one other time and the response was highly disappointing. I discovered a glitch in the Paragon 2 decoder and BLI was able to replicate the issue discovered and confirmed it was an error in their programming. Unfortunately it was preventing me from using the FOUR locomotives I had just purchased the way I wanted to (yes still useable, but again, not how I wanted to use them) and the total of their response was a half-hearted sorry and promise they would work to ensure the same issue would not be repeated in their next decoder. That’s it. No offer to send me their next decoder to replace their defective ones, no BLI credit to use in their refurb store, nothing. Because of this previous experience, I wasn’t expecting a response like I got. They redeemed themselves quite a bit.
Knowing what I now know, no. Ed’s modification gets close to the visible edge of the shroud and that was for clearing 30" radius. My current layout has one 24" and one 25" radius curves on the main that I cannot get out of. I am dreaming of new layout space and should be able to accommodate larger curves if I get it, but that is not certain. So, I’ll run it without them, at least for now.
Gotta run. All my best to all.
Hello from the middle of the continent. I just about wiped out this morning walking the dog. Our house faces north, which means the front porch never gets sun. Evidently there was some moisture this morning which froze on the steps. I didn’t fall down the steps, even though I tried my best. 
I got most of my W2 forms in mid-January, but got my last one yesterday. That means I can do my taxes today. When I am getting a refund, I send it as soon as possible. When I owe, I wait until April. I think I’m probably getting a small amount back that I loaned the U.S. government over the past year.
Each Monday night I watch the Maine Cabin Masters. If you haven’t seen it, it’s a group of young builders in Maine who fix up run down cabins. They are a funny, silly group who are fun to watch. Last night, they redid a cabin owned by the daughter of the former Model Railroader editor Jim Hediger. They put in a model railroad section in the kitchen of the cabin. It was pretty neat to watch.
Have a great day, everyone.
Something you don’t see everyday! UP and BNSF locomotives working together:
Murdoch17, welcome to the Diner. Some moderators may not remember the history, but Jeff Wimberly was a long time mmr, and the Diner was set up in his honor to be an off-topic venue for chat and news.(IIRC)
Enjoy!
Good day eh. It is high noon on the West Coast, it could hit 16c today with a HOC.
I did 7kms yesterday in the pouring rain and ran it again today on this bright day.
Stopped into a smallish shopping mall yesterday as the wife had to grab something at one of the stores. It is one of those malls full of old people just sitting around yacking and watching the world go by. There was a bunch of what looked like University kids there and had an area set up with signs that said “seniors, test your fitness”. Right up my alley I thought. I went over and asked if 69 was senior enough to be tested. They were not getting much business and were delighted when I walked over. They asked if I wanted to be tested and I said sure. They asked me to stand on one foot so I did. I just kept standing there on one foot and they finally asked, how long can you do that for? I asked how long did they want me to do it for. 
I said, “you have me until my wife finds me”. They said I could stop and then asked me to do squats, I did a lot of them. Asked about push-ups and sit-ups and in the end said I was going to skew their data.
The house is full of the wife’s friends so I will be in the train room today, works for me. The next nine weeks will be crazy around here. I am looking towards the Olympics. I love the winter Olympics, not so big on the summer ones.
I got a ScaleSync speed box for the layout for Christmas to help me speed match my loco’s. I still need to play around with it a bit to get it working properly. It doesn’t like black steam engines so that can be rectified by putting a light coloured car on either end of the loco. I got interrupted before I got that far.
The farmers are already out plowing and fertilizing, seems early but it is pretty warm out. Best get going.
All the best to all.
Gidday Chloe, now I know that because of the International Date Line, I’m ahead of you good ffolks, but it’s now the afternoon of the 4th of February, and that the January Diner is higher up the page, so to speak; well do I need to say more?!
Cheers, the Bear. 
Bear, that video is pretty amazing. I don’t think I’ve ever seen train tracks that close to the highway. Driving a car meeting a train along that route might be a little nerve-wracking until you get used to it. Thanks for posting it.
Thanks for posting this info does yours work after shaving of the inside edge of the shroud allowing the pilot to negotiate radius,thanks dan
Thanks for that, Bear.
It also makes a change seeing cars driving on the left hand side of the road, whilst following a Train.
Out of interest, what is the ratio of LH v RH Drive vehicles in New Zealand?
I tried checking this, but it appears that there are regulations controlling the import of RH vehicles.
Paul.
Good Morning Diners. Janie, coffee and an english muffin please.
John, looks like I’m going to have to wait on the Cabin Masters series. They are available on at least three of the streaming services we have, but none of them offer season 12 yet. Glad I don’t pay for most of them. Hmm, wonder if I can get it on demand through our cable provider? I’ll have to check.
Imagine that! 
I bet they didn’t know what to do.
We do too, although we’ll watch both summer and winter games pretty evenly.
Dan, I haven’t tried that yet, but another forum member (gmpullman) has and has gotten his to navigate 30" radius curves by doing so. See post #165 in the January 2026 Jeffrey’s Trackside Diner.
Brunhilda, I’ll have bacon, eggs, and coffee, please.
I’m making reservations today for a summer trip. While the main trip is being planned and reserved by my daughters’ families, we still need to take several days to drive there and then drive back afterward. The daughters will be flying to get to the start of the vacation, but they all live in cities with large airports. For my wife and I out here in flyover country, we have to travel quite a ways just to get to a small regional airport that will then fly to a connecting city, which will then get us to another connecting city, which … It’s easier for us to drive.
The agenda for today besides making hotel reservations is to continue taxes. It’s not complicated, but it takes time, and being OCD about it, I quadruple check everything.
The Nebraska, Kansas, & Colorado Railroad interchanges with BNSF several places, including this one in Holdrege, NE. While mainly hauling grain, they also do some chemical cars and other mainly farming related products. Notice the old roundhouse which now houses crop-dusting planes!
