I never thought I'd have as large a collection as I have. Layouts in N and HO. Over 500 engines and 3000 pieces of rolling stock. In Standard Guage, G, O, S, OO, HO, and N. It's gone from hobby to obsession to disease. I haven't slowed down and have never gotten tired of this great hobby in the 53 years I've been it. I enjoy your videos, keep them rolling.

Roy, as I’m modeling yet another N scale (the first was about 15 years again) this one will be a little small due to lack of room. I had envisioned a totally different layout that I’m doing now, steam was not going to be part of it but I gave in because as growing up in Glen Ellyn, IL I can clearly remember those huge steam locos heading eastbound on the North Western railroad heading into Chicago, what a sight to see. If I could find a model of the old Chicago, Aurora & Elgin electric I’d loved to use that somewhere (don’t tell my wife but I’ve left 2 spur tacks that I can expand on very easily LOL). It’s been years since I’ve gone to the CA&E museum in Elgin, IL and road those noisy electric trains but how cool to have one (or) two running through a small town. Thanks for sharing and doing what you do Roy, I truly appreciate it all.

Love the turbine locomotive!

Nice subject about model railroading. Mine would be the UAC turbo train.It is such a fun train set to run. It is your railroad. The truth is never say never

Great video Roy. Awesome railfanning action on the Evanston subdivision.I really enjoyed this video. Cheers Brad

great video Roy...i remember you getting all those unexpected things...thx 4 sharing... vinny

Great video Roy, I had to switch to closed caption because my iPad has no sound for you tube model railroad & railroad videos and for songs that I like to listen to on You tube. The 5ings I did not expect to have on my model railroad is 1. A Mattel Hot Wheels Thomas the tank engine in my static display 2. A squeeze American bulldog as a Pacific West Coast model railroad search & rescue dog. 3 Very rare N scale Santa Fe flat car. 4. 2 Penn Central box cars, a Reading box car & 2 Erie Lackawanna cars-a box car & automobile box car & a Norfolk & Western automobile box cars.

I'm not a prototyper modeler, so I like creating scenes from different eras from northeast PA. The unexpected or things that we thing we would run are the most fun! That gtel is beautiful 😍! My least expected is a lackawanna semi streamlined pacific steam engine. But it needs some work to be operable. It was a steal of a price. Take care roy really enjoyed the trains!

Love that GTEL

Those are some very cool items Roy! I am glad I could help you with that caboose. I will keep an eye out for other items. 😉 - Jason

Oh no Roy, better put your glasses back on, there is no "C" in Amtrak (see timestamp 1:12) (ha ha ha) Another great episode of Dispatch Roy, plus those are some great looking locomotives and trains, thanks for sharing the video. You could always leave the caboose unweathered or very lightly weathered as if the City has already restored the caboose. Maybe even construct some ramps that lead up to the cabooses platforms so your N scale residents can have a look inside the restored caboose. As far as what has showed up unexpectedly on my layout? I guess I could say just about everything. My layout started off as a fictitious P&WV branch line, that has evolved into a branch line that is operated by various railroads. I now own enough motive power, rolling stock and cabooses to support lone wolf ops sessions featuring the following railroads: Ann Arbor, Conrail, Lehigh & Hudson River, Norfolk & Western, Pennsylvania, Penn Central, Pittsburgh & Lake Erie, Pittsburgh & West Virginia, Southern Railway, Union Railroad and the Western Maryland Railway. I also have enough automobiles and trucks to represent various time periods from the mid 1950's to the early 1980's. I just can't seem to settle on one prototype or era, but what the heck you know the old saying, variety is the spice of life. Cheers, Rich S.

Great vision they better and better each week love em roy

Love that turbine! Great video 👍

Some awesome Locomotive engines Love it Roy great show😁👍👍👍👍

6 things that does work on your layout outstanding work on the layout thank you

That was wonderful to see all the variety of operating equipment! Thanks for sharing. Never saw the big blow before. Very interesting.

Roy, I think this is one of your best videos. By modeling a union station, it gives me the chance to run several of my favorite prototype railroads. What unexpected things wound up on my railroad ? How about two Santa Fe streamliners that did not regularly call at Denver? The Super Chief, with a full set of Pullman Standard streamlined cars and ABBA F7's; and the El Capitian, with a full set of Budd High Level cars and ABBA PA's. I especially liked your turbine. I have two on my railroad, both Veranda model "Little Big Blows" in my UP freight power pool.

Yup, I finally got my Amtrak going on the Layout. Always wanted one. Bob

Roy, Thanks for That! Great to see some of your lovely rolling stock rolling down the railroad. The place I'm modelling is/ was so busy between London & Manchester United Kingdom that I can justify just about anything passing through!That and as Steve Brown says "It's my railroad!" so I do as I please😀. Regards Stephen.

Hi ya Roy. Great show. It’s always enjoyable watching trains run on your layout. See ya next time.

Great video Roy. Cheers, Bob

Another Great Video! I think the excuse; 'I didn't know that it was prototypical for my era, so I ended up buying it!', works for everything, not even your wife can argue with it! 😉👍

Very fun video! I suspect nearly all of us have one or two non-prototypical things on our layout. Most of them without nearly as appropriate justifications as yours (mostly) have!

Great video with loads of detail .Hope there more to come.

Thanks Roy sweet dude.

I wouldn't say this is unexpected as much as it wouldn't exist on the prototype. My layout is Reading Railroad circa 1974ish. I have an FM Trainmaster in Green and Gold #265. The problem with this is that the last Trainmaster left the Reading's roster in 1969. I don't really care through, FMs are cool and everything looks good in that paint scheme!

I started collecting N Scale Japanese trains when my layout was up and operational. My very first electric loco and very first foreign piece of equipment was an JNR EF66, because I watched a documentary on Japan's Blue Trains, which were sleeper trains that ran all over Japan. My version is the "Asakaze" or Morning Breeze in English. It's been all downhill from there.

All good things to have on the layout. Calls random power on your layout foreign power is a good idea. That's how I decided on the name of my layout. No particular road name or era, just whatever catches my eye. Hence the island of misfits

Roy, You can run a Gas Turbine on your Kay out if you want. It is after all YOUR layout! Life is to short. Rail on!

Congrats on the 300 milestone

I gotta say, I've always loved the carriages on those Amtrak trains. Just always thought they looked great since I was little.

Roy I am glad you added all these items to your layout. Love watching trains running on your layout. Thanks for sharing. Dave

I wish as many others do that the Challenger was still part of the roster but it was announced as "retired" last year shortly after the Big Boy excursion trips. I am going to model my N Scale layout around the Maffet Tunnel pass which is the route you showed from Ogden to Denver. I also want to model the Royal Gorge / Tennessee Pass route so while they may not be prototypically connected, I am leaning towards modeling both areas since the scenery is similar. I am interested in multiple era's so I am not too concerned about keeping things modern as that is like chasing a dogs tale as the manufacturers are always behind the railroads. I see no reason a layout cannot be made to be a "Multiple era" layout since many things remain the same over the decades.

Roy, This was super cool to see all these " Items" running on the subdivision. Just happy to be along for the ride. Cheers Chris Perry.

Roy, I have taken a totally different approach to the perfect model railroad lifestyle. I've acquired items just "because", a BN extended-vision caboose because I sat in one during a BN open house one year,. Got my version of Amtrak's Californa Zephyr with matching car numbers for the trip I took in 2006. I live in Wisconsin and the subdivision I'm modeling is the old Milwaukee Road Valley Sub in Central Wisconsin, single track and run down a bit. So big UP power is absolutely out of place, but, childhood dreams and ScaleTrains have joined forces, and so custom units 59 & 60 {standard turbines) will soon be screaming... As I've stated before... If at the end of the day you are not grinning ear-to-ear, you're doing "it" wrong... Hey gang, I need some help with my bucket list. Looking for a UP 4-12-2, in N. Thanks.

The Big Blow looked like the front truck was off the track as it went down Echo Canyon

YES ROY, I TOO DIDN'T THINK I WOULD EVER OWN AN AMTRAK BUT NOW HVE THREE P42 AND TWO TRAINS TOO. Just a note the caboose are back on small railroads these days (or is that cabeese's?) 👍👍👍😜

Great video Roy and great to see you find an excuse, oops, a historical reference, to run the things that give you joy and that you want to run.

Very cool Roy! It's a good thing that our layouts change as does our opinions of them. So far, I don't have anything that I didn't expect to see, but I do have a loco which doesn't belong there, prototypically. I have several GG-1s - probably my favorite locos. The PRR line which runs through my layout did see GG-1s, but the line was de-electrified many years before the era I'm modeling. So be it, the GG-1 lives on in my world!

I gotta say. The Amtrak train is authentic. The coaches match the train from my first time on Amtrak, as a child, before today's paint scheme on the engines. Also, the most unexpected to appear on my model railroad has been a Crayola crayon train that was made in 1994. Following this set, a GM50 GP7 Chessie System diesel with my large collection of O Gauge trains

Interesting, informative and entertaining video. Thanks so much for taking the time to inspire all scale model railroaders. Rich

Your unexpected 6 are great additions to your layout, and as always your layout looks fantastic.

wow your knowledge is incredible. well done. Im really having a great time following your series

I am modeling the Northern AZ BNSF Transcon...but I have one single UP diesel I run on my modern era layout...lol

Multi generational Amtrak and the California Zephyr have been known to make appearances on my layout now and again Roy. No way to justify it, not even the right country, other than the cool factor! Cheers! -grant

Congrats on 300 Roy!

It's fascinating to see how many unexpected surprises have arrived on your railroad, Roy. Definitely surprised to see the Big Blow Turbine end up in your collection, but can't help and admit how great it looks while it's running. I have to admit I don't have a "small" number of surprises that have ended up in my collection; moreover, it's almost a takeover of foreign equipment! I have numerous KATO Japan bookcase sets of two full Shinkansens (bullet trains), a few preserved and operating steam engines, their accompanying coaches, a pair of cruise train book sets, and several bookcase sets of commuter equipment! I think putting together the KATO City of Los Angeles and U.P. Excursion train sets is the only way to show a longer train in comparison to all the Japanese equipment in my collection, but, it's still heaps of fun seeing both the USA and Japan run alongside each other!

I haven’t pulled the trigger yet, but I’m thinking of getting an EMD switching locomotive. I’m retired from GE Transportation and originally planned on only having GE power. I’d really like to have a 45 ton center cab but they seem to be hard to find. But I’ll keep looking.

Love your videos Roy especially this one today my only question I have because I been thinking about for very long time do you have friends or anyone to come over and help you run your trains or do you always run your trains yourself 😁

I love watching trains run on your layout, Roy! Nicely done and keep up the great work on your videos and model railroading. Know you can...John

I finally found some PECO code 55 #6 turnouts, which seemed to be out of stock everywhere ;-)

Great video, Roy, and it's amazing how many things you find out about later, isn't it? Great info you passed along also, thanks for sharing!

Something strange that showed up on my layout was a New York Central locomotive. I don’t know the kind of locomotive it is as it was my grandpas in the 80s

A Penn Central Bachmann Metroliner set, Atlas PRR AA Fairbanks-Morse C liners and 2 Kato SDP40F Amtrak diesels. All in N scale.

yeah a lot of trains i never had the idea to see on my layout are dutch and japanse trains also german. loved the video

While Big Boy 4014 is running again, Challenger 3985 will most likely never run again, because it was run too far into the ground during its excursion era and not properly maintained. That is one of the reasons 4014 was restored, because it was cheaper to restore the Big Boy than it would have been to restore 3985.

Hey Roy I haven't added anything much as of yet but I probably will. As for a Caboose on modern railroad, I captured one last Thursday night outside of Amarillo Tx. Not the best video but I did post it on Utube. Later on, Chris

2 for one with the steam. Another passenger train.

You are saying kato is gonna come out with A4014 Steam, Steam ,,,That would be so awesome

4:11 I thought that was real footage for a good 20 seconds

As Justin Wilson used to say: I gair-on-tee!

I have a big boy 4014 steam locomotive and norflork and western 611 class I steam locomotive

Kato unitrack

GTEL is too much pleasure for my fragile constitution. Must lie down (again) breathe, breathe, breathe - someone get me a paper bag to breathe into...

Like we need justify buying more trains. (Except from the wife. )