7 tips for your roadbed and right-of-way: Keep your trains rolling with these easy tips. Learn how to store ballast nearby, easily pick up leaves, clear switch points, and more! Piping under the roadbed When we built our garden railroad, we found that we needed to provide water to plants on the far side of […]
Meet Bill Barnwell In a paragraph, how did you get started in the hobby? I got started in trains at the age of six with a Lionel 027 steam freight set and an oval of track under the Christmas tree. I still remember the smell of electric ozone in the air, laying on the rug at […]
Common name: Axilflower, Magic Carpet Yellow, Baby Jump Up Latin name: Mecardonia x ‘Magic Carpet Yellow’, M. x ‘Gold Dust’, and M. x ‘Gold Flake’ Plant type: Annual USDA Hardiness Zones: 9-11, or grown as an annual Cultural needs: Moist, well drained, neutral or slightly acidic soil; full sun Plant size: 4″ high x 6-12″ […]
Kid-friendly garden railroading: We all know that garden railroading is a magical hobby, one that we enjoy sharing with other adult enthusiasts. But have you considered inviting a child to share in the fascination? Kids of any age (and adults too) aren’t given to stand by and idly observe a garden railway. Rather, most would […]
Six tips for better structures Build better stair stringers To build stairs with identical risers and steps, I cut a board, 1 x 2, or 1 x 4, into one wide stringer on my table saw with a dado blade set for 1/2″-wide cuts. You could also lay out the steps on the edge […]
Basic railroad signal terminology Here is a glossary of railroad signal terminology. Signals are used for protection and control of train traffic. However, there is no national standard or system, so signals used by individual railroads may vary. Glossary of railroad signal terminology Absolute signal: A signal whose “stop” indication means “stop and stay.” Usually […]
Common name: Dahlberg daisy, golden fleece Latin name: Thymophylla tenuiloba var. tenuiloba, syn. Dyssodia tenuiloba Plant type: Annual USDA Hardiness Zones: n/a Plant size: 6-12″ high and wide Cultural needs: Sunny, well drained, neutral or slightly acidic poor soil Delicate little annuals with lacy foliage and small yellow daisies soften the toughest rocks. Dahlberg daisy […]
The next time you watch a quartet of six-motor diesels go grinding past with an 11,000-ton unit coal train, consider that all that horsepower is being transmitted through the train by a mere 11-inch-high chunk of steel at the end of each car. This simple little device – the “knuckle” – is the key part […]
Before radio communication came into wide use in the 1960s, a locomotive’s whistle was an important tool in conveying information to other employees, both on and off the train, and many signals were on the books. The General Code Of Operating Rules, used by many railroads, contains the following list of whistle signals and their […]
Given a choice, railroads will always follow a straight, level path. Trains use less energy, speeds are higher, and there’s less wear on equipment when railroads can build on an arrow-straight line. But land rises and falls, obstacles must be avoided, and this requires grades to compensate for changes in elevation and curves to reorient […]
Adding water and smoke to an O scale garden railway While picking up my supply of filtered water, I was “amazed and mystified” by the counter display—a faucet floating in mid air, spouting a stream of water that never quite filled a bucket. When the owner showed me the clear plastic tube that had been […]
Hypertufa recipe and techniques How have you made structures and walls with hypertufa or similar cement products? Two reports show four different applications for hypertufa. Ray Turner shows a picture of his helix mountain still unpainted for us to study; the final photo shows a magnificently finished set of bridges spanning the cement-product valley backdropped […]
