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Christmas is just around the corner so it’s time to make sure seasonal train displays are ready to deliver holiday fun – toy train style! Let’s start with locomotives and rolling stock. Inspection, oil, and grease Before trying to run anything, I recommend doing a preliminary inspection. Now is the time to replace broken […]
Recently, CTT received a box of rolling stock review samples from Ready Made Toys (RMT). Though, there was something about the ore car that caught my attention. The color of the simulated ore reminded me of the glow-in-the-dark acrylic paint you can purchase in craft stores. Wouldn’t it be neat to have a string of […]
This article will help you build a simple Arduino-based DCC system. Growing up in the 1980s I was living the dream. I had an HO layout on a 4 x 8 sheet of plywood in my parents’ basement in Reading, Pa., a soldering iron, a nearby RadioShack, and a subscription to Model Railroader. My favorite […]
Q: I’ve been trying to find the video Cody Grivno hosted a few years ago where he showed how to make a low-profile forest background using, I think, a furnace filter. I’m not talking about making furnace filter pine trees. This was more like cutting a continuous row of tree tops out of filter material […]
What toy train locomotive means the most to you? My favorite Gilbert American Flyer S gauge locomotive is the No. K325 Hudson steamer from 1952. It is a most impressive, accurate, and interesting model of the J class steam locomotives, commonly associated with the New York Central Railroad. The K325 is (along with the K335 […]
You never know where change will lead you. What started out as an attempt to fine-tune my existing HO scale layout ended with a new house and a 2,600 square-foot, four-deck model railroad – the Sunset Valley Oregon System (SVOS). I started my previous Sunset Valley (SV) layout in 1959 and worked on it for […]
The Burlington Northern RR began operations in March 1970, the product of a merger between the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy; Great Northern; Northern Pacific; and Spokane, Portland & Seattle. It was also the railroad I grew up with in Crookston, Minn., my hometown in northwest Minnesota. For many years, I’ve been researching the early years […]
When I first started work on my layout, I built wood and plastic structure kits. I quickly grew frustrated with these buildings as few of them represented those found in Appalachia and along the Chesapeake & Ohio. Considering the lack of accurate building available on the marktet, I began scratchbuilding my own structures from wood […]
Lionel’s No. 520 Lionel Lines Boxcab Electric stands out among other postwar O-27 locomotives because there is so much about it that’s different from what you find on other models from that celebrated era of production. The 520 is far from scarce and so is commonly overlooked by avid collectors and operators of postwar trains. […]
I enjoy animating scenes on my O gauge layout, and have come across a great way to get slower, more-precise realistic action: using servos. A servomotor, or servo, is a small, inexpensive device that provides control over the position, speed, and acceleration of a mechanical system. The device is readily available, easy to program, and […]
Facts and features Name: The CN Central RR Scale: HO (1:87.1) Size: 17′-6″ x 31′-4″ Prototype: Canadian National, CN Central Locale: Wisconsin and Canada Era: 2010 to the Present Style: island walkaround Mainline run: 125′-6″ Minimum radius: 24″ Minimum turnout: No. 6 Maximum grade: none Benchwork: Open grid box frame around door slabs, folding steel […]
Facts and features Name: Nickel Plate Road, St. Louis Division, Third Sub. Scale: HO (1:87) Size: 24′-6″ x 60′-6″ Prototype: Nickel Plate Road Locale: west-central Indiana, east-central Illinois Era: fall 1954 Style: multi-deck Mainline run: 500 feet Minimum radius: 42″ Minimum turnout: No. 6 (yard), No. 8 (main) Maximum grade: 1.5 percent Benchwork: open grid; […]
