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Facts & features Name: Tygart Valley Division Scale: HO (1:87.1) Size: Two rooms, 15′ x 18′ and 12′ x 20′ Prototypes: Proto-freelanced, Western Maryland Ry. Locale: West Virginia Era: Mid-1950s Style: Walkaround Mainline run: 160 feet Minimum radius: 30″ Minimum turnout: No. 6 Maximum grade: 2.75% Benchwork: Open grid Height: 45″ to 63″ Roadbed: Cork […]
Sidewinders, squeezers, and crushers: In Milwaukee, our winter days can be very cold and dry, our summer days hot and humid. We can control the climate indoors, or at least try to, with heating, air conditioning, humidifying, dehumidifying, and such, but still we sometimes run into problems with track kinking on our model railroads. The […]
Test twice, solder once: It’s one of the best lessons I’ve learned in building layouts. In fact, it’s such a good lesson that I relearn it every once in while. My problem is patience. Testing takes a little time and slows my progress, or so I sometimes start to think. Actually, it can (and I […]
News & Products for the week of March 13th 2023 Model railroad operators and builders can get the latest information about locomotives, freight cars, passenger cars, tools, track, and more by reading Model Railroader’s frequent product updates. The following are the products Model Railroader editors have news on for the week of March 13th 2023. […]
On today’s Midday Modeler, David and Cody discuss painting track on the project railroad. Eric shows off the work he’s doing on a switch tower kit. Steve gives an update on the structures he’s building for the project layout. Mitch talks about working on the next layout structure, the water street freight terminal. David and […]
In this exclusive Trains.com video tour of an HO scale (1:87.1) model railroad based on New Haven operations in the 1950s and ‘60s, you’ll get to see close-up views of a masterfully detailed display! First showcased in the August 2004 issue of Model Railroader and Great Model Railroads 2020, Rick’s layout features exquisite catenary installations, […]
The photo above shows a pair of HO scale 48-foot intermodal containers that I made using paper, cardstock, and cardboard. If you don’t want white containers, copy or print the drawings found in the link to the pdf below full-size on color paper. I find red or blue paper yields the best looking containers. I […]
Another layer of planning: Perfect model railroaders (of which I suspect there might be three in the entire world) strike a delicate balance between efforts spent planning their layouts and time devoted to building them. Most of us, though, are somewhere on the plan/build continuum. Myself, I’m pretty far over on the “let’s start sawing […]
Adventures in code 55 track: I’m now building my fourth layout featuring the Tehachapi Loop, so I call it Tehachapi IV. I’d used Peco code 55 track on Tehachapi III, and liked it very much, so I was planning to use it again. Then I saw Atlas’s new code 55 flextrack and was smitten. The […]
Helixology for N scalers: Never say never. I thought I’d never build a layout with a helix because of a number of well-known disadvantages: Helixes take up a lot of space, so unless you’ve got a large area in which to build, you aren’t gaining much layout. If you have enough space available for a […]
Also in this issue: ON TRAINS.COM, pg. 6 The latest features on our website FROM THE EDITOR, pg. 8 Model railroading could save your life NEWS & PRODUCTS, pg. 10 Hobby industry news ASK MR, pg. 14 What goes into modeling a breakfast cereal factory? DCC CURRENTS, pg. 52 Powering turnout motors and frogs PRODUCT REVIEWS, […]
A (sort of) successful move: Back in 1995, I wrote a story for the first issue of Model Railroad Planning about Tehachapi III, the N scale Southern Pacific and Santa Fe layout I was building. In that story I told how I built the layout in 13 bolted-together sections supported by easy-to-disassemble L-girder benchwork. The […]
