HO scale Arcadia & Betsey River Ry.

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Name: Arcadia & Betsey River Ry. Layout owner: Harley “Skip” Luyk Scale: HO (1:87.1) Size: 14 x 28 feet Prototype: freelanced logging line Locale: Pacific Northwest Era: 1910 to 1957 Style: walk-in Mainline run: 74 feet (main), 87 feet (branch line) Minimum radius: 22″ Minimum turnout: no. 5 Maximum grade: 4 percent Benchwork: mix of […]

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HO scale Piney Fork Branch

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Name: Piney Fork RR Layout Owner: Seth Gartner Scale: HO scale (1:87.1) Size: 23 x 31 feet Prototype: New York Central Locale: eastern Ohio (Minerva to Dillonvale) Era: early 1960s Style: multilevel, walk in Mainline run: 260 feet Minimum radius: 24″ Minimum turnout: no. 4 (industries), o. 5 (yardns), no. 6 (main line) Maximum grade: […]

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HO scale B&O Paquettin Division

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Name: B&O Paquettin Division (updated 2018) Layout owner: Mike Tricker Scale: HO (1:87.1) Size: 16′-6″ x 16′-6″ Prototype: inspired by Baltimore & Ohio Locale: Appalachia to New Jersey Style: partial mushroom Era: early to mid-1950s Mainline run: 78 feet (excluding helix) Minimum radius: 18″, 15″(waterfront) Minimum turnout: no. 6 (main), no. 4 (waterfront) Maximum grade: […]

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HO scale Palmetto Subdivision

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Name: The Palmetto Subdivision Layout designer: Christian Javier Scale: HO (1:87.1) Size: 13 x 20 feet Prototype: Atlantic Coast Line Locale: southwest Florida Era: 1958-1959 Style: walkaround Mainline run: 93 feet Minimum radius: 28″ Minimum turnout: no. 6 Maximum grade: none (flat) This track plan originally appeared in the July 2018 issue of Model Railroader. […]

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Mountains to seaside on a triple deck model railroad

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Note: This article originally appeared in the June 2013 Model Railroader. Mike updated his plan and wrote a followup story in the July 2018 issue. Ever since receiving my first Hornby train set as a child in 1954, my modeling interests were focused on the railways of my home country, Great Britain. About 10 years […]

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Layout Tour – Willoughby Line with Guy Cantwell

Model town of Willoughby

This HO scale masterpiece is a double-deck proto-lance 1950s-era layout built by Guy Cantwell that represents parts of California’s central valley, as well as the railroads that operated in the Sierra foothills and mountains. It features prototypes from the Southern Pacific, Western Pacific/Tidewater Southern, Sierra, Hetch Hetchy, Yosemite Valley Railroad, and West Side Railroads. Most […]

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Layout Tour – Willoughby Line with Guy Cantwell

Model town of Willoughby

This HO scale masterpiece is a double-deck proto-lance 1950s-era layout built by Guy Cantwell that represents parts of California’s central valley, as well as the railroads that operated in the Sierra foothills and mountains. It features prototypes from the Southern Pacific, Western Pacific/Tidewater Southern, Sierra, Hetch Hetchy, Yosemite Valley Railroad, and West Side Railroads. Most […]

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‘X’ locomotive number

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Southern Pacific cab-forward 4-8-8-2 No. 4219 leads an extra train at Dunsmuir, Calif., in August 1948. Guy L. Dunscomb, Martin E. Hansen collection Q On some early Union Pacific and Southern Pacific steam and diesel locomotives there is an “X” in front of the number. Why is this done? – Leon Bassik, Langhorne, Pa. A […]

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