Raw materials

A model railroad is never designed and built in a vacuum. As I've been slowly gnawing on this idea, I've been relying on a number of resources - websites, mostly - to take my ragged thoughts and ideas and shape them into something realistic and doable. So, without further ado, here are some of my sources of inspiration and guidance as I've started planning my Detroit Terminal Railroad.

• DTRR History and info
• RRHX.com - hosted by MichiganRailroads.com, this has been a source of great historical information, including a detailed map of the railroad, information about Davison Yard and photos of the Mound Road engine facilities. This site also has good information about the other railroads in Detroit, including the Grand Trunk Western and Michigan Central (New York Central/Penn Central/Conrail), which were the DTRR's original parent companies.
• The Grand Trunk Western Historical Society - I ordered a past issue of the GTWHS's newsletter, The Semaphore, that featured a lengthy article written by Byron C. Babbish, "Remembering the Detroit Terminal RR." It chronicles the last days of the DTRR, and details the round-the-clock operations of the railroad in its final days, in addition to some historical information.
• Eddie's Michigan Railroads - Some good photos of the DTRR's diesel switcher locomotives and a diesel roster.
• Fallen Flags - More photos of the DTRR's diesel switchers, plus some transfer cabooses.
• The Conrail Historical Society
• General Model Railroading info
• Voodoo and Palmettos - Lance Mindheim's excellent website chronicling his construction of two shelf switching layouts based on the Miami area. The site showcases Lance's highly detailed and realistic modeling, as well as information about operating his (and your) layout realistically.  Most of all, I appreciate Lance's philosophy of model railroad design: scaling back to focus on simple track plans that can be operated realistically and thoroughly detailed to create an all-encompassing theme or mood.
• Model Railroad Hobbyist - what's not to like about a free online magazine with excellent content and a thriving online community. No further explanation required - check it out!
• Layout Vision - Byron Henderson's website about designing model railroads for realistic operation.  Byron's Layout Design Bootcamp has shaped my planning of this - currently theoretical - model railroad.
• The Model Railroad Operations SIG - this website has many excellent articles and links about realistic operations.  One of my favorite links is Tales From The Krug, which details the daily operations of a Burlington Northern engineer - a good read even though it has practically nothing to do with the DTRR.
• Craig Bisgeier's 1892 Housatonic Railroad - The main draw here, for me, is Craig's 10 Commandments of Yard design. Come hell or high water, I will apply these rules as I design the DTRR.
• The Diesel Detailer - Ever since I started reading Railroad Model Craftsman and Model Railroader when I was in high school, I've always been fascinated by diesel superdetailing projects. While many of the more involved examples shown on this site probably wouldn't stand up to the kind of hands-on operating that I envision for the DTRR, those pictures are still mighty impressive.

That's probably enough for now, after all, I promised photos in my last post. I promise, those will be coming soon.