Ask MR: Building and powering a garden railroad

Large-scale track is seen resting in a bed of gravel in front of a small wood depot

Q: I am building a garden railroad in Colorado. Any suggestions as to how I should build and lay my track? – Dennis Dvorak, Colorado Springs, Colo. A: Our sister magazine, Garden Railways, published a whole lot of information about how to build a garden railroad. Model Railroader’s Rene Schweitzer, who comes from GR-land, says that many […]

Read More…

How are a crane’s hooks secured for transit?

A brown-and-silver wreck crane is seen in transit, its boom secured to the deck

Q: I have a couple of 25-ton cranes on my layout. While running them in a work train, the hooks swing, giving them an unrealistic look. Are the hooks normally tethered to the boom when the cranes are being transported? I couldn’t find any photos of actual cranes during transport. – Steve Favale, Buffalo, N.Y. […]

Read More…

Leave trucks loose on model railroad freight cars

A screwdriver tightens a screw holding a truck to the bottom of a green boxcar

Q: I’ve been a reader for several years, but don’t recall reading about the tightness of truck screws before your November issue. In “How to weather a covered cement hopper,” Cody Grivno writes, “One [truck] screw should be tight enough that the truck rotates freely but doesn’t wobble. The other should be loose enough that […]

Read More…