Climbing over La Mesa Model Railroad Club’s Tehachapi Subdivision

Climbing over La Mesa Model Railroad Club’s Tehachapi Subdivision | In this Trains.com Video Exclusive Layout Extra, our staff captures trackside views of both freight and passenger train forging the enormous 42 x 80-foot HO (1:87) scale public display depicting the route over Southern California’s famed Tehachapi Loop. Sit back and enjoy this extended reel […]

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Railroading Heritage of Midwest America | Silvis, Ill.

Headquartered in the former Rock Island Railroad steam locomotive backshops in Silvis, Ill., Railroading Heritage of Midwest America is quickly becoming a major player in the rail preservation scene.  The new owner of famed Union Pacific 4-6-6-4 Challenger No. 3985 and DDA40X Centennial diesel No. 6936, the RRHMA is the proud owner of a large […]

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How-to Library | Installing an N scale TCS Keep-Alive

From start to finish, David Popp shares his techniques for installing a TCS KA-N1 Keep-Alive Capacitor into an N scale (1:160) modern diesel locomotive for use on his recently completed T-Trak module, as well as in Model Railroader magazine’s MR&T State Line Route project railroad (as featured in the January 2022 issue and Trains.com Video series)! […]

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Harvey Simon’s HO F Line traction layout

Title screen of layout visit video featuring trolley car, vehicles, and downtown buildings.

Harvey Simon’s HO F Line traction layout is set in modern-day San Francisco, re-creating the route between the Castro District and Fisherman’s Wharf. The modified walk-in model railroad features open-grid benchwork, 6-1/4” minimum radius curves, and a mainline run of 40 feet. In this layout tour video, you’ll get an opportunity to see San Francisco […]

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Harvey Simon’s HO F Line traction layout

Title screen of layout visit video featuring trolley car, vehicles, and downtown buildings.

Harvey Simon’s HO F Line traction layout is set in modern-day San Francisco, re-creating the route between the Castro District and Fisherman’s Wharf. The modified walk-in model railroad features open-grid benchwork, 6-1/4” minimum radius curves, and a mainline run of 40 feet. In this layout tour video, you’ll get an opportunity to see San Francisco […]

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Trains.com Insider Exclusive | To hoard, or not to hoard

Should it stay or should it go? Model Railroader magazine editors Eric White and Bryson Sleppy talk about the reasons to keep or discard rare, unique, special, irreplaceable model railroad “treasures”. From rolling stock to tools to modeling supplies, if you question whether or not you should keep something in your collection, they have answers! […]

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July 2024

The July 2024 cover of Trains magazine

In every issue Trains.com, p. 4 Guide to the latest content posted on our website News, p. 6 Brightline West hosts a first-spike ceremony for its Las Vegas-Southern California high-speed line Bill Stephens, p. 10 Class Is should thank the FRA for two-person crew ruling Preservation, p. 44 Wisconsin Great Northern rescues a steam locomotive […]

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Spaces to Places VI | Fixing a wayward waterway, part 1

In this ongoing mini-series, host Gerry Leone works on a fixer-upper-decker! In simpler terms, he’s looking to correct a mistake he made when initially constructing the top tier of his all-new Bona Vista HO scale model railroad. There’s no doubt–Gerry has amazing vision and power to re-route a wayward river into something more impressive than […]

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Brian Sheron’s Long Island Rail Road

Title screen showing skyline, yard, and elevated line on an HO scale model railroad.

Brian Sheron’s Long Island Rail Road is a 27 x 48-foot HO scale model railroad that depicts Queens, Brooklyn, Manhattan, and the north shore of Long Island. He built the layout, featured in the August 2024 issue of Model Railroader, in three phases. Brian started work on the model railroad in 1988 with the Port […]

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