South Texas Railroad Prototype Modelers

08/03/2026

07/27/2026

Started populating the modules today with railfans by the tower and some ladies waiting for the bus at the customized built bus stop by the shopping center.

It’s all about the details!

07/27/2026

Customizing some NJ International crossing signals to look more realistic. Increasing the gate length from 16ft to 24ft. One crossing had the original “A” arm and the other had been modernized with the signal arm. An additional effort to increase the realism, red nano LEDs will be added to the gates that will activate with the crossing lights. Something you won’t find with the “stock” signals.

07/26/2026

Grilled Hamburgers, chips and sodas are always welcome while working and running trains on the layout.

07/19/2026

Back on Gulf Shore terminal area!

The new yard office for Sunrise Yard is almost done! Seen below with the 0630 yard job with MP 2138 building the train for the outbound MGSSA train. The second and third photos show the built and tested MGSSA train powered by a quartet of MP SD40s. MP 6007 leads the MP 3125, MP 3124, and MP 3107 on a 25 car train heading to San Antonio.

This yard will be the next major work zone on the modules as work on the scenery for the north end of Portland yard gets closer to being finished. The biggest projects for this area are the refinery and the plastic pellet manufacturing plant. Both are interconnected as part of the oil industry, but different end products. This are is guaranteed to be an eye catcher!

07/11/2026

Scenery going down around the tower!

07/06/2026

Working on scenery this evening. On one end of the road, there’s a DQ and a Jiffy L**e. One the other end is the old tower and MOW lot. The addition of the power line poles really changes up the look from a flat table to something that looks more like a realistic place. When the track signals go in, the street lights go up and the shopping center is fully fleshed out, this is going to be an epic location!

06/27/2026

New old tower on a seldom used crossing…

06/27/2026

The two extension tables are in place, adding an additional 8ft of trackage to the already lengthy trackage.