Ask Trains.com September 2023 compilation: Cody Grivno answers viewer questions regarding what railfans mean by the term “tri-clops,” industries that receive coal, modeling at-grade crossings between two railroads, why the HO scale Soo Line Red Wing Division is his favorite Model Railroader project railroad, and more!
Are you looking to learn more about your model railroad, or do you have questions about full-size trains? We’d love to hear from you! Send us an email at: AskTrains@trains.com, or leave a question in the comment section below. We’d love to hear from you!
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Ask Trains.com is a regular video feature of Trains.com for magazine subscribers and Trains.com members, where editors answer the questions readers and viewers are asking.
Special guests can include editors and contributors from Model Railroader, Trains, Classic Toy Trains, Garden Railways and Trains.com.
Questions can be about any railroad or model railroading topic, including on the fan configuration on an SD45. These can include questions about railroad operating practices, railroad lantern manufacturer details, model locomotive details, and toy train transformers, among others.
Trains.com and Model Railroader Senior Editor Cody Grivno works through many of these questions, which are posted twice a week, each week, all year! See all our answers to questions online!
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JDH’s Ohio Southern was my favorite freelance RR. I wore out 3 copies of that MR Issue carrying it around reading it over and over.
Great discussion on coal destinations. Would like to add just a couple of thoughts. Up through about the 50s/60s many industries also received coal to power that industry. I grew up in a small cotton mill town at the tail end of that time. The cotton mill had a track that would take one or two hoppers. Also, the town had a very small power plant that would also take just one or two hoppers. I’m including these operations on my layout. Going back just a little further, there were a lot more small businesses such as the cotton gin, that would receive an occasional hopper of coal to run the steam powered belts before rural electrification came along.