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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. […]
David works to put all the right sounds in all the right places on his Olympia Logging Co. On30 layout. His secret to installing the proper audio effects lies in the PRICOM Dream Player modules and the wide array of sounds samples that fit on a tiny micro-SD card. Follow along to learn David’s pro […]
Trains.com Director David Popp shares 11 easy urban lighting tips to help model railroaders learn to light their layouts for nighttime operations. As if model railroads aren’t cool enough by themselves, adding miniature lights to the streets, buildings, and automobiles on your layout can make it so cool it glows – literally! Recently, I […]
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 […]
Five model railroad uses for Lego. My wife and I have two kids who are enthusiastic about Lego. We enjoy watching the creations they make straight from the box and share in their joy when they make new creations by rebuilding sets. And, like many of you, we’ve also felt the pain of stepping on […]
Operating the layout | In the previous Episode 25 (Car routing with JMRI OperationsPro), you saw the crew prepare the State Line Route N scale model railroad for an operating session. Now, host David Popp walks you through the prototypical actions as they transpire over the simple, yet engaging layout! Enjoying this coverage of our […]
How do you blow up a decoder? Fail to isolate the motor, creating a dead short. Various older locomotives used the chassis as part of the power pathway to one of the motor brushes, making the chassis is electrically live. This can be easily fixed with insulating tape placed under the motor and plastic or […]
How to add DCC sound to a compact HO switcher: When Bachmann introduced an HO scale General Electric 44-ton switcher, I knew it would make a great addition to my Boston & Maine roster. The model includes a Digital Command Control (DCC) decoder, and I bought a version in the B&M livery. Out of the […]
Track buses for Digital Command Control: Layouts wired for direct-current block control have several isolated track sections called blocks. Each block has an electrical switch that controls which DC throttle powers that track section. In theory, a Digital Command Control (DCC) layout could be wired as one large block with two wires feeding the power […]
With underside wiring in place, David returns front and center at the side of his Olympia Logging Co. On30 layout. That’s where he temporarily placed the fascia, and prepared to into install hand-operated, mechanical Blue Point turnout controls. Follow along to learn the process and techniques pros like David use! And be sure to explore […]
