Scenes from Dr. Andrew W. Panko

These two photos were provided by Dr. Andrew W. Panko of Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario. The scenes are roughly based on the Canada Southern (CASO) crossing of the Toronto, Hamilton & Buffalo (TH&B) in Southern Ontario.

Falls Road freight house at Medina, NY struck by lightning

Medina Railroad Museum struck by lightning

By Nicole Coleman The Journal-Register
Published: August 10, 2008 09:49 pm

The Medina Railroad Museum suffered extensive damage Thursday evening when lightening struck its historic brick chimney. Caretaker Roland Holler was standing in the front depot entrance near the ticket booth when he heard a loud explosion, reports museum volunteer and technician Dave Moore. The chimney, located on the section of roof above Holler’s head, was instantly blown to pieces causing a blow out of the alarm system and surveillance cameras. No one was injured in the incident, although the building’s live-in cat, visibly shaken, scampered to find a safe hiding place and didn’t emerge for six hours, Moore said. “The strike was so powerful ... (that) it actually shook the building,” said Marty Phelps, the museum’s owner and director.

Read the rest of the story here.

FM Coal Tower on Tom Stage's NYC Model Railroad

From Tom Stage: "I'm not sure if the NYC ever used any of these particular coaling stations on their system. However, I would be very delighted to find out if they did, and where they were located. At 4 inches tall, the Suncoast Models Coaling station does make for a nice-sized coaling station for a small-sized fueling facility. Most of the other commercially available coaling towers are at least 11 inches tall and compete too much with the overall "skyline" of a small layout like mine."

The prototype FM coaling tower, in use on the Missouri Pacific:

Suncoast Models FM Coaling station on Tom Stage's HO model railroad:

Suncoast Models FM Coaling station at "night" on Tom's HO model railroad, lit up:

Buffalo Yards, circa 1913

This colored, full-bleed postcard is from the collection of Bill Strassner. How many details can you spot?