The N scale Salt Lake Route project layout part 2

Dick Christiansen next to layout

One interesting feature of this Model Railroader project layout are the folding legs that support the benchwork. Dick Christianson, the layout builder and Model Railroader magazine’s former managing editor, gives you a demonstration of how the folding legs work. He’ll also discuss the fascia and backdrop material that he used for the N scale Salt […]

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The N scale Salt Lake Route project layout part 2

Dick Christiansen next to layout

One interesting feature of this Model Railroader project layout are the folding legs that support the benchwork. Dick Christianson, the layout builder and Model Railroader magazine’s former managing editor, gives you a demonstration of how the folding legs work. He’ll also discuss the fascia and backdrop material that he used for the N scale Salt […]

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Video: History according to Hediger 9

Wooden helix with track

Having trouble viewing this video?   Please visit our Video FAQ page The HO scale Ohio Southern, built by Senior Editor Jim Hediger, is not only one of the first multi-level model railroads, the layout is also one of the first to use a helix. Listen to Jim recall how he built his first helix […]

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John Ruh’s O gauge tribute to Route 66

Route 66 – the two-lane highway that winds its way from Chicago to Los Angeles – has been immortalized in popular music, literature, and television. Who doesn’t remember the Joads making their way west on the Mother Road of the U.S. in John Steinbeck’s The Grapes of Wrath or Tod and Buz tooling along in […]

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Compact coved backdrop corners

Good lighting helps Flemming Örneholm hide the compact covered corner in his background.

Good lighting helps Flemming Örneholm hide the compact covered corner in his background. Coved corners help to reinforce the feeling of great distance that’s produced by a good backdrop. Large layouts with plenty of real estate often use wide, gently curved panels to make these inside corners disappear. But modelers with small layouts can’t afford […]

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Scenery

Fig. 6. Ground foam. This trackside hill on the Milwaukee, Racine & Troy has several layers of ground foam on it.

Scenic baseA layout’s scenic base is the foundation for all of its scenery, including roads, grass, trees, and rocks. An inexpensive scenery base can be made using a lightweight support structure, such as cardboard strips glued together, covered with layers of plaster-soaked gauze or paper towels. Another type of base you can use is made […]

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Layout construction

Fig. 5. L-girder benchwork. A simple L-girder table is a good, sturdy choice for a long, table-style layouts and around-the-wall designs.

Open-grid benchworkStarter layouts are often flat and built on a 4 x 8 sheet of plywood. However, the majority of layouts have tracks at varying heights separated by grades. The easiest way to add elevation to a layout is to use open-grid benchwork. For this type of construction you place a plywood subroadbed under the […]

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Model locomotive and rolling stock terminology explained

In any hobby, or indeed in any field, there is terminology used as shorthand by those with experience in the hobby or field, to refer to things specific to that hobby. That terminology, though, can be a barrier to entry for the uninitiated. This article is intended to serve as a brief introduction to model […]

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Prototypes and modeling terminology explained

New York Central 3001 steam locomotive with freight train on curve

It can be difficult to get started in the hobby of model railroading. The terminology a beginner needs to learn is daunting for some, particularly for those without experience with or knowledge of prototype railroading. This article explains prototypes and modeling terminology for beginner model railroaders, or those looking to brush up on their model […]

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