Layout tour of the Texas, Colorado & Western

Ron Marsh's N-scale layout, the Texas Colorado & Western Railway

This is a video layout tour of Ron Marsh’s N-scale layout, the Texas Colorado & Western Railway. The TC&W is a protolanced model of BNSF operations From Fort Worth, TX, into central Colorado in 2008. The layout is a double deck, point-to-point style with approximately 100 feet of visible mainline, a 9 1/2 turn helix […]

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The Salt Lake Route, Part 4 – Wiring a small layout for DCC

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Dick Christianson explains how to wire the Salt Lake Route for Digital Command Control. He concealed the system’s command station in a drawer built beneath the layout’s intermodal yard. Bill Zuback photo Fig. 1 Power feeders. Last month Dick explained how to install Kato Unitrack power feeders during tracklaying. He used plug-in sections on the […]

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The Salt Lake Route, Part 3: Laying realistic sectional track

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A pair of Union Pacific freights bank into the superelevated curves on the N scale Salt Lake Route. Dick Christianson explains how he installed Kato Unitrack, including the firm’s new double-track sections with superelevated curves (inset), on our project layout. One of the parameters Model Railroader gave me regarding the N scale project layout was […]

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Easy easements for model train track

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Laying tangent (straight) track is pretty straightforward but those curves can, well, throw you a curve. Equipment that enters a sudden curve is more likely to derail. And even if wheels stay on the rails the sight of a train jolting into a sudden curve can make even the most realistic layout look like a […]

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Canadian Canyons Series: Part 10 – Helix fundamentals

Having trouble viewing this video?   Please visit our Video FAQ page Our N scale project railroad is relatively small, but a helix is still a perfect space-saving, mainline-extending feature to include! In this installment of the Canadian Canyons series, David Popp first shares the key design considerations. He then jumps right into demonstrating the […]

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Canadian Canyons Series: Part 10 – Helix fundamentals

Having trouble viewing this video?   Please visit our Video FAQ page Our N scale project railroad is relatively small, but a helix is still a perfect space-saving, mainline-extending feature to include! In this installment of the Canadian Canyons series, David Popp first shares the key design considerations. He then jumps right into demonstrating the […]

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Video Step by Step: Installing Touch Toggles

Gerry Leone assemble and install a simple touch-sensitive button.

Having trouble viewing this video?   Please visit our Video FAQ page From manual ground throws to DCC decoders, there are countless options for controlling how turnouts are thrown on your layout. In this video, Gerry Leone shares how to assemble and install a simple touch-sensitive button to swing those switch points! For additional information, […]

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