MR Insider Weekly: September 29, 2014

Drew Halverson and Brian Schmidt at the Rochelle Railroad Park

Having trouble viewing this video?   Please visit our Video FAQ page MR Insider Weekly for September 29, 2014, takes you to Rochelle, Ill., where Drew Halverson, host of Drew’s Trackside Adventures, meets up with Brian Schmidt of Trains magazine. Drew and Brian share insights from the recent installation of a webcam at the Rochelle […]

Read More…

LOCOMOTIVE’S 2014 ROSTER

MRLRoster

Tom Danneman Trains Art Director Tom Danneman takes you inside Montana Rail Link’s Livingston, Mont., shop for a typical day at the railroads’ main locomotive maintenance facility in “Backstage at Livingston” in Locomotive 2014. Explore the regional’s entire all-EMD roster here and read the intriguing story about Montana Rail Link’s shop in Locomotive 2014. Order your copy now. No. […]

Read More…

HO scale Leadville & Red Cliff (LARC)

HOscaleLeadvilleRedCliffRR

Name: Leadville & Red Cliff (LARC) Layout designer: Bill and Steve Brown Scale: HO (1:87.1) Size: 25 x 40 feet Prototype: Union Pacific (lower level), Rio Grande Southern and Denver & Rio Grande (upper) Locale: Central and Southern Colorado Era: Modern day (lower level), 1949 (upper) Style: walkaround Mainline run: 300 feet (standard gauge), 75 feet (narrow […]

Read More…

N scale CSX Indianapolis Sub

NscaleCSXIndianapolisSub

Name: CSX Indianapolis Sub Layout designer: Robert W. Sprague Scale: N (1:160) Size: 9′-6″ x 13′-0″ Prototype: CSX Indianapolis Subdivision Locale: Indiana Era: present day (could be backdated to pre-2000) Style: walk-in Mainline run: 62 feet Minimum radius: 15″ (main), 12″ (branch) Minimum turnout: no. 6 Maximum grade: none (main line), 2 to 3 percent […]

Read More…

N scale Pennsylvania, Hudson & Potomac

NscalePennsylvaniaHudsonPotomac

Name: Pennsylvania, Hudson & Potomac Layout designer: Charles Klein Scale: N (1:160) Size: 12′-6″ x 12′-6″ Theme: freelanced, transition-era, freight and passenger trains Locale: Mid-Atlantic states Era: 1930 to 1948 Style: around the walls Mainline run: 200 feet Minimum radius: 16″ (hidden track), 20″ (visible track) Minimum turnout: no. 4 Maximum grade: 1 percent Originally […]

Read More…

Erie milk and express car drawings

MRRC1114_Amilkcar

The Rochester and Genesee Valley Railroad Museum near Rochester, N.Y., took delivery of an Erie-Lackawanna RR steel-bodied milk car, no. 6603, in 1987. It was built by the Greenville Steel Car Co. for the Erie RR in June 1935. At first glance, the car looks like a standard steel refrigerator car. But since it was […]

Read More…

Great Model Railroads 2015 desktop wallpaper

GMRcover

Pre-order Great Model Railroads 2015 Now! Great Model Railroads 2015 showcases 10 dream layouts engineered into reality by talented modelers. This special issue includes track plans, how-to tips, and vibrant photographs, which capture the vivid detail of these brilliant layouts. If you’re looking for inspiration and clever ideas, Great Model Railroads 2015 will spark your […]

Read More…

Three major NYC yards

Selkirk Yard-BEV

Selkirk Yard near Albany, N.Y. New York Central Cornerstone of New York Central’s $25 million “Castleton Cutoff” improvement project, Selkirk opened on November 20, 1924. Central’s objective was to bypass congestion at Albany, where two Hudson River drawbridges and the “Water Level Route’s” one big bump, the 1.75 percent West Albany grade between the Hudson […]

Read More…

First Look: WalthersMainline HO scale Budd passenger cars

MRRNP0215_100

Model Railroader recently had a chance to look at hand-painted, pre-production samples of the HO scale WalthersMainline Budd 85-foot passenger cars, scheduled for release in January 2015. The newly tooled cars, which can operate on 18” radius curves, will feature truck-mounted couplers, 36” turned-metal wheelsets, sprung diaphragms, and Proto-Max knuckle couplers. The gap between the […]

Read More…

DCC Programming: episode 11 – manual notching

Manual notching using a QSI Quantum decoder.

Having trouble viewing this video?   Please visit our Video FAQ page Modern sound decoders have made it possible for your model locomotives to sound just like the real thing. In this episode, DCC Programming Series host Dana Kawala shares a few ways to tweak the sound effects to further enhance the realistic operation of […]

Read More…