West Side Lumber Co. in On3

West Side Lumber Co

Name: West Side Lumber Co. Layout designer: Ken Larson Scale: O (1:48), three-foot gauge Size: 35 x 38 feet Prototype: West Side Lumber Co., Tuolumne, Calif. Locale: Sierra Nevada foothills, Stanislaus National Forest Era: July 4, 1950 Style: linear walkaround Mainline run: 180 feet Minimum radius: 28″ (main), 26″ (wyes) Minimum turnout: no. 4 Maximum […]

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Voodoo and palmettos

Voodoo and palmettos-1

Bob Springs used Lance Mindheim article from Great Model Railroads 2008 to build his large scale Miami CSX layout. Read Lance’s article about his HO scale shelf layout by clicking here. […]

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Utah Belt 2006

Utah Belt

Track plan at a glance Name: Utah Belt Layout designer: Eric Brooman Scale: HO (1:87.1) Size: 22′-8″ x 39′-6″ Prototype: freelanced Period: the present Style: linear walkaround Mainline run: 173 feet Minimum radius: 39″ Minimum turnout: no. 6 Maximum grade: 1.5 percent Originally appeared in the 2006 issue of Great Model Railroads. Click here to […]

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Utah Belt

Utah Belt

Track plan at a glance Layout designer: Eric Brooman Name: Utah Belt Scale: HO (1:87.1) Size:17 ‘-7″ x 23 Prototype: free-lanced Period: the present Style: linear walkaround Mainline run: 173 feet Minimum radius: 39″ Minimum turnout: no. 6 Maximum grade: 1.5 percent Originally appeared in Great Model Railroads 1997 and in the February 1998 issue […]

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HO scale Milwaukee Road Beer Line

MRR-G1111_BeerLine

Name: Milwaukee Road’s Beer Line Layout designer: Rich Steenwyk Scale: HO (1:87.1) Size: 20 x 48 feet Prototype: Milwaukee Road Chestnut Street Branch Locale: Milwaukee Era: 1975 Style: around-the-walls Branch line run: 85 feet Minimum radius: 26″ (main), 15″ (spurs) Minimum turnout: no. 5 Maximum grade: 2 percent Originally appeared in the November 2011 issue […]

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How to use an NMRA gauge

Jim Hediger next to layout

Having trouble viewing this video?   Please visit our Video FAQ page Model Railroader senior editor Jim Hediger shows how to use a National Model Railroad Association gauge to check the spacing of different aspects of track and your model trains. […]

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HO scale Brandywine Valley RR

Brandywine Valley RR_A

Name: Brandywine Valley RR Layout designer:  Dil Huey Scale: HO (1:87.1) Size: 26 x 42 feet Prototype: Octoraro RR Locale: Southeastern Pennsylvania and parts of Delaware and Maryland Era: transition era to 1980s Style: multilevel walk-in Mainline run: 365 feet Minimum radius: 30″ Minimum turnout: Peco large radius Maximum grade: 2 percent Originally appeared in […]

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HO scale Canada Central Ry.

Name: Canada Central Ry. Layout group: Montreal Railroad Modelers Association Scale: HO (1:87.1) Size: 37 x 123 feet Prototype: freelance Locale: Quebec and Ontario, some western landscapes Era: 1959 Style: walkaround Mainline run: 1,200 feet Minimum radius: 42″ (main), 36″ (branch) Minimum turnout: no. 6 Maximum grade: 2.2 percent Originally appeared in the October 2011 […]

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