Bonsai: Techniques, Styles, Display Ideas

Cover of bonsai book by Peter Warren

While visiting a local nursery in February 2020, I bought a starter bonsai tree (Juniperus procumbens ‘Nana’). It was beautiful, but how do I care for it? My search for printed resources began. The book I found was so helpful that I wanted to share it with GR readers. The author trained with bonsai master […]

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Secrets of staging

View of Frankfort, Ind., yard on Tony Koester’s HO scale Nickel Plate Road layout.

Why do you stage a model train layout? Let’s be clear about the need for staging. Unless you’re modeling a very small railroad or perhaps a branch line, you’re faced with the need to simulate the connections that the part of the railroad you’ve opted to model makes with the rest of that same railroad […]

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Digest: Virginia Railway Express to resume full service on June 1

Virginia Railway Express logo

Virginia Railway Express to restore full schedule on June 1 Virginia Railway Express will restore service to pre-pandemic levels as of Tuesday, June 1, the commuter rail operator has announced. The agreement allowing VRE passengers to use some Amtrak trains remains suspended. Schedule information is available here.  VRE reduced service to its “S” schedule, with […]

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Digest: UP bridge in Oregon damaged by fire

Burning bridge

Union Pacific bridge sustains moderate damage, but remains in service after fire A Union Pacific Railroad bridge in Springfield, Ore., suffered moderate damage in a fire early Monday morning, although the railroad is able to continue operations over the bridge at reduced speed. The Eugene Register-Guard reports firefighters from the Eugene Springfield Fire Department responded […]

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Less Than Carload

Delivery truck backed up to side of rail motorcar

Less Than Carload Buffalo Creek & Gualey motor “B’s” awaits departure from Dundon, W.Va., for Widen, in 1948. A truck has arrived with LCL freight, including a new tire, which is being leaned against a rattan seat. After loading was complete, freight filled the front of the car back into the second row of seats. […]

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FRA unable to obtain all Gulf Coast capacity data

Two people looking at railroad track on bridge

WASHINGTON — The Federal Railroad Administration “has been unable to obtain access to all the data and analysis necessary” to properly review the issues involved in Amtrak’s effort to restart Gulf Coast passenger service, the agency said in a Monday filing to the Surface Transportation Board. A letter penned by FRA Acting General Counsel John […]

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Ask MR: How do I keep dust off my layout?

An HO scale train yard on a shelf is covered with a clear corrugated plastic dust cover

Q: I’m relatively new to the hobby and am seriously thinking about expanding my 4 x 8-foot HO scale layout to something larger. When I read about all the great layouts that appear in your magazine every month, I often wonder how you keep a large layout clean and free from dust. Right now I […]

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