The Dixie D Short Line "Lux Lucet In Tenebris Nihil Igitur Mors Est Ad Nos 2001"
Go to Homewood, South of town, over the mountain, past the big iron statue of Vulcan. Takes about 15 to 20 min. from downtown. Just past the Vulcan park entrance, about 6 blocks, on the right is Homewood Toy and Hobby.
Has some LGB and Bachmann trains plus other scales.
While you are in Birmingham, visit Sloss Furnaces. It is between downtown and the airport. Cool train stuff there.
You didn't say if you were a railfan or not. Sloss Furnaces, mentioned above, sits right by the Birmingham Railroad District. The CSX and NS main lines run right beside each other through here. There is a lot of freight action plus Amtrak's Southern Cresent comes through here too. Sloss is very near the "Puzzle Switch" mentioned in Kalmbach's book on Hot Spots. There are also several overpasses with enough room to park your car on the overpass and watch the action from above. This area is reasonably safe during daylight hours. I have railfanned the area several times and only been panhandled once. I would leave the area before night fall however.
George
Yes thanks for the info!
I perhaps forgot to mention, I work for Plasser as a service rep and I was riding on the 09-16 Dyna- CAT with the CSX tie gang (replacing ties and dressing up the #1 main line track through the puzzle switch and beyond) . Saw a lot of really cool stuff go through there, but forgot my camera.
Yeah, the Amtrak. What a pain when you have to clear the main so it can whiz by. This is one area that I have never seen on any model railroad- clearing the main for your MOW, then clearing off the MOW before they are done so a train can pass (even though the track was cleared by dispatch for a certain time), then stopping the MOW actions so the train (which shouldn't be there anyway) can pass, then starting up again. And the CSX trains coming into the yard around the 13th street underpass are fast and quiet, ask me how I know.
I would love to see this in an operation scheme for a model RR, have a derailment? Fine, then slow order the track, send in the repair crew, booger up your train operation schedule (can't run trains if the track needs repair) and operate your model train like a real railroad. For that matter, slow order a section of track, then schedule in your MOW, then increase the speed after they are done, but only if they have a dynamic tamper, otherwise slow order the track for 8-10 train passings then resume normal (or higher speeds).
I only had a chance to swing by the Hobby-Lobby, but I will be back in B'ham again (probably many times) and I will be sure to check out the store on the other side of town.
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