John Brennan’s Chicago, Peoria & Western Canton Branch

Cab view of model railroad

Owner: John Brennan Prototype Modeled: Interchange with EJ&E, IC , CB&Q Reporting Marks: CP&W Layout Era: Sept. 1940 Theme: Midwestern Scale: HO The railroad is an overlay of the CB&Q from Chicago staging to Galesburg staging. There are 23 trains scheduled in three-hour session on a 4 to 1 fast clock. Power is almost exclusively […]

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Layout Tour – Willoughby Line with Guy Cantwell

Model town of Willoughby

This HO scale masterpiece is a double-deck proto-lance 1950s-era layout built by Guy Cantwell that represents parts of California’s central valley, as well as the railroads that operated in the Sierra foothills and mountains. It features prototypes from the Southern Pacific, Western Pacific/Tidewater Southern, Sierra, Hetch Hetchy, Yosemite Valley Railroad, and West Side Railroads. Most […]

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In Memoriam: John Flann, 1930-2018

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John Flann developed a novel car-forwarding system for his Clark Fork RR that used playing cards. He wrote about the system in Great Model Railroads and Model Railroad Planning. John Flann, a noted British and North American model railroader, died in March. A native of England, John was an award-winning modeler and author. When he […]

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New model trains for the week of April 26, 2018

Rapido Trains HO scale Alco/Montreal Locomotive Works FA-2 and FPA-2 diesel locomotives

Rapido Trains HO scale Alco/Montreal Locomotive Works FA-2 and FPA-2 diesel locomotives HO scale locomotives Alco/Montreal Locomotive Works FA-2 and FPA-2 diesel locomotives. FA-2: Ann Arbor (delivery scheme); Burlington Northern (Spokane, Portland & Seattle patchout); Chicago & North Western (yellow and green); CP Rail (Action Red with Multimark); Erie Lackawanna (gray and maroon); Long Island […]

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How to build and paint model railroad backdrops

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Don’t miss the backdrop special in the June 2018 Model Railroader. If you’re looking for more backdrop-related projects, check out this digital collection of previously published articles. Whether you’re looking for a simple sky-blue scene divider or a detailed mountain vista, adding scenic backdrops to your layout isn’t hard with help from some experts featured […]

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HO scale St. George

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Name: St. George Layout owner: John Ottman Scale: HO (1:87.1) Size: 12 x 16 feet Prototype: freelanced, inspired by Louisville & Nashville, Norfolk & Western, Southern Ry., Wheeling & Lake Erie Locale: Appalachian Mountains Era: steam-to-diesel transition Style: walk-in Mainline run: 70 feet Minimum radius: 22″ Minimum turnout: no. 5 Maximum grade: 3 percent Benchwork: […]

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JLWII2000 Video: Athearn Genesis HO EMD SD70M

Athearn Genesis HO EMD SD70M box

    In this exclusive video for Model Railroader from James Wright of the JLWII2000 YouTube channel, you’ll see highlights of the superdetailed HO scale SD70M from Athearn Trains. Part of the firm’s Genesis series, the diesel locomotive model features a SoundTraxx Tsunami2 Digital Command Control (DCC) sound decoder. […]

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