I am always impressed by the realistic operation of US model railroads, compared to what we do in the UK (see my recent post on ‘Time’).  I even recently read a Model Railroad Hobbyist article where the layout had padlocks on the point controls, so they had to be unlocked before operation, just like the real thing.

However, this idea culled from the 2mm Association Yahoo group is just light years ahead of anything that realistic….

There is always shunting scrabble (usually played at shows to avoid boredom)

Wagons have a letter tacked on the non public visible side.  Trains of wagons arrive and the goal is to send back completed words with the highest score. Wagons are also arranged so that common wagons have common letters while Z, Q etc are unusual one offs.

With thanks to Alan Cox.

This was also reposted on the esoteric site, ‘Motorised Dandruff’, and it attracted this inciteful comment….

How do you score a triple?  Have two trains collide at a crossing?