Name: Lehigh & Keystone Valley Layout designer: Lehigh & Keystone Valley model railroading club Scale: HO (1:87.1) Size: 45 x 60 feet Theme: Eastern Pennsylvania and western New Jersey Locale: Pennsylvania’s Lehigh Valley Era: 1950-1970 Style: linear walkaround Mainline run: 960 feet Minimum radius: 28″ Minimum turnout: no. 5 Maximum grade: 1.5 percent in helix […]
Name: Norfolk Southern Harrisburg Line Layout designer: Bob Sprague Scale: N (1:160) Size: 12′-10″ x 13′-4″ Prototype: Norfolk Southern Locale: Hershey, Pa. Era: present Style: multilevel walk in Mainline run: 35 feet Minimum radius: 15″ (except where noted) Minimum turnout: no. 6 Maximum grade: 2 percent Originally appeared in the September 2013 Model Railroader. Click […]
Name: Central California RR Layout designers: Robert Jackson and Brian Jackson Scale: S (1:64) Size: 27 x 39 feet Prototype: Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe (diesel) and Southern Pacific (steam and diesel) Locale: Fresno to Sacramento, Calif. Era: 1955-1959 Style: walkaround Height: 55″ to 58″ Benchwork: L-girder Roadbed: Homabed Track: code 100 flextrack and handlaid […]
Athearn Trains HO scale Electro-Motive Division SDP45. Pre-production samples shown. HO scale locomotives Electro-Motive Division SDP45. Erie Lackawanna, Great Northern (Big Sky Blue), and Southern Pacific. Four road numbers per scheme. Detailed cab interior, flat or pointed long hood end as appropriate, and railroad-specific brake cylinder placement on trucks. Direct-current model, $189.98; with SoundTraxx Digital […]
Having trouble viewing this video? Please visit our Video FAQ page Need a lot of tree-covered hills on your layout? In this video, MR’s editor Neil Besougloff shows you how to make common puffball trees. This technique models just the treetops, and it’s a great way to fill background hills with trees quickly. […]
Having trouble viewing this video? Please visit our Video FAQ page Cody Grivno, our one-man ballasting crew, shares his tips and techniques for ballasting a well-groomed 1950s mainline track. Cody takes you through the process start to finish on our HO scale Thin Branch project, but his techniques work just as well in other […]
Having trouble viewing this video? Please visit our Video FAQ page Back in the 1970s Jim Hediger and Model Railroader‘s then new editor, Russ Larson, took a fall trip to ride the Cumbres & Toltec Scenic Ry., one of the famous western narrow gauge lines. Jim shares the story, complete with some great photographs […]
Having trouble viewing this video? Please visit our Video FAQ page Our July visit to the workshop finds Cody finishing the freight house project by adding rolled roofing and final details to the structure. Along the way, Cody will also show you how to prepare a plastic shell for painting, join Atlas and Peco […]
Having trouble viewing this video? Please visit our Video FAQ page The 2013 National N Scale Convention was held in Milwaukee the last of week of June, so the MR staff joined in the fun. This MR Insider video covers some of the events, including the train show, a tour of Kalmbach Publishing Co. […]
Kato USA HO scale GE P42 diesel locomotive Are two motors better than one? A typical HO scale locomotive uses a single direct-current (DC) motor mounted on the chassis. Earlier this year, Kato introduced a new approach on one of its HO scale Japanese locomotives by using two compact coreless motors mounted in the trucks. […]
Sunset Models HO scale Northern Pacific 4-6-6-4 steam locomotive A hefty brass model of the last steam engine ordered by the Northern Pacific matches its prototype in both details and pulling power. Sunset Models’ new HO scale class Z-8 4-6-6-4 articulated steam engine also features powerful, realistic sound, thanks to its QSI Titan Digital Command […]
Bachmann HO scale hi-rail truck Price: $109.99 Manufacturer Bachmann Trains 1400 E. Erie Ave. Philadelphia, PA 19124 www.bachmanntrains.com Era: 1980s to present Comments: This HO scale hi-rail truck from Bachmann Trains features a dual-mode Digital Command Control (DCC) decoder that operates on both direct-current (DC) and DCC layouts. The truck’s plastic body shell doesn’t represent […]
