For its 13th holiday season, the Eiteljorg Museum’s Jingle Rails showcased the American West in a whimsical fashion. Created by the team at Applied Imagination, the G gauge display featured miniature depictions of downtown Indianapolis along with landmarks of the western United States. Such features included Lucas Oil Stadium, Monument Circle, the Grand Canyon, Yellowstone […]
Basic parts of a gauge-1 switch: Switches are necessary any time one wants to send a train in an alternate direction. They’re what makes it possible to store one train on a siding and run another around it, or any other basic operation. They’re essential if you want your trains to do more than just […]
Earthwork on the project railroad: We are ready to begin grading the line. The first thing we had to do was to transfer our design to the ground. This would give us a feeling for how the railroad would actually sit in its site and it would also delineate where the earthwork had to be […]
An overview of garden railroading: Garden railroading is the art of combining a model railroad and a beautiful garden to create a railway-like atmosphere. The difference between a traditional indoor layout and a garden railway is the difference between realism and reality. Indoors, the goal is to create the illusion of reality through the use […]
Questions and answers about large-scale track I see there are locomotives in 1:24 scale for gauge-3 track. What width is gauge-3 track? How many gauges are there? Gauge 3 is 2.5″, which is the correct gauge for modeling standard-gauge trains in G scale (1:22.5). 1:24 scale is close. There are three gauges commonly used in […]
Have questions about getting started in garden railroading? Start here. What are large scale trains? “Large scale” is a term that denotes trains that are larger than 0 scale (1:48) but smaller than the trains that are large enough to ride on. Large-scale trains generally run on gauge 0, gauge 1, or gauge 3 track. […]
Lego Trains for Large Scale Rails In the Summer 2019 issue, Gary Raymond shares how he modified Lego trains to run on gauge-1 track. Here, Ben Lake has shown the steps to build a Mack diesel using Lego parts. Download the PDF below and share what you build with us! […]
White Pygmy cypress Latin name: Chamaecyparis pisifera ‘White Pygmy’ Common name: White Pygmy cypress Plant type: Dwarf conifer Growth rate: 12″ x 14″ wide USDA Hardiness Zones: 5-8 Cultural needs: Sun to part shade, rich soil, moderate water White Pygmy is one of the smallest dwarf conifers available, usually growing only to a foot tall […]
Kitbash an inexpensive flag stop station: I stopped by a garage sale last year that had children’s toys piled up on a table. I found several items I thought I could use, including what looked to be a horse stable building. The seller was asking 50 cents for it and the other items I picked […]
As modelers we take pride in our work, especially our layouts, whether they be a shelf layout, or a sprawling rail empire. One thing that we may not spend enough time doing, however, is taking care of said layout, especially cleaning it. We may run a track cleaning car around the mainline a few times […]
Meet James Kottkamp How did you get started in the hobby? My interest in model trains came from the real thing. After church on Sundays, Dad would park the car next to the Missouri Pacific Railroad tracks in Kirkwood, Mo. Kirkwood was the crest of the hill; westbound from St. Louis and eastbound from Valley […]
One of the most appealing aspects of garden railroading is the fact it can be enjoyed year-round in the great outdoors! And with the proper equipment at hand, large scale trains can even run in a moderate accumulation of fresh, crystalize precipitation. In this video, you’ll see the efforts a few resilient railway owners made […]
