South Texas Railroad Prototype Modelers

05/25/2026

The power on a transfer job sits on the yard lead while the conductor is lining switches for the reverse move into another yard track. It’s getting late in the afternoon and the chance of rain is increasing. They need to work with a sense of urgency if they want to avoid being caught in the yard when the rain starts.

A little later, a UP train lead by UP 2784 is operating over trackage rights, passes the Portland Yard office heading to the Port. This train will cross onto its own tracks in another mile or so down the line, before making the turn into the Port itself.

05/17/2026

Busy evening in Portland tonight. We have the leased out Metra equipment for the experimental commuter service in the Corpus Christi Bay Area, seen here heading cab car first toward downtown Corpus Christi.

The other side we have a UP transfer/local and a CPKC intermodal awaiting clearance to depart the departure tracks and head to its home tracks. Meanwhile the SP yard jobs are burning the rails up, kicking cars in the yard. With three more trains anticipated in the next hour that will be terminating here in Portland, they have got to get tracks cleared and the outbounds finished so the car department can get to work preforming the initial terminal air test. By this time, the crews have been called and the clerks have the ordered printed.

Portland Yard is the pride of the SP’s Gulf Coast operations!

05/17/2026

SP 6673 GP35R sitting on the lead in the expanded portion of the yard, awaiting the next switch list. The SP 6673 is one of GP35Rs the SP ran through and upgraded program, installing RCL equipment for dual service assignments. Presently the 6673 is awaiting new list from the yard office and will be back to switching soon.

If you’re in the area and would like to come check out the layout, please reach out! We’re usually at the layout, Saturdays and Sundays, every weekend.

05/03/2026

Quick little clip of Yoakum Bend yard job heading back to the hole to tie up for the evening. With only 30 minutes left to work before hogging out, the crew made short work of spotting the four car inbound at Pioneer Flour. Seen here running light, the old head crew closed out another successful day.

05/03/2026

Late afternoon switch for Pioneer Flour. The SP 2712, today’s power for the Yoakum Bend yard job, was shoving a cut of four cars into track two at the plant. At 1730, the crew only had 30 minutes left to work, so they made quick work of spotting the inbounds!

04/17/2026

SP 2712 is working the Pioneer Flour job this afternoon. With four inbound hoppers to be spotted, the crew is heading down with the inbounds in tow to pick up the outbounds. Just another hour left of work and the crew gets to tie up and call it a day.

This group of modules are owned by Mr. Carlton Brown, one of our members. The scenery is being done by Mr. Gary Rodriguez who does most of the scenery on the modules.
Loosely based off the Yoakum Bend Yard and industrial area in downtown San Antonio, Pioneer Flour and the nearby warehouses are one of the major switching areas on the STRPM modular layout! Mr. Brown is planning on having a custom model of the actual Pioneer Flour location painstakingly reproduce in HO scale which is guaranteed to be an iconic structure on the layout.

As more work is accomplished on the layout, we draw closer to beginning operations which is guaranteed to be hours of fun!

Stay tuned for more updates!!!

03/13/2026

03/13/2026

03/09/2026

Had a special visit to the modules today! SP 7399 SD44R and SP 7342 SD40R along with the SP 1 caboose! Definitely a sharp looking set up.

Models and photos by Steve Rude

03/07/2026

The yard expansion continues! Portland Yard is going to prove to be a lot of fun to operate in the future!

03/04/2026

Portland Yard is finally getting the planned expansion! Adding 12 more tracks making Portland a 22 track yard! Guaranteed to be the main hub yard of the modular group!it’s going to look incredible once completed and operating!