Lingonberry or mountain cranberry Common name: Lingonberry, mountain cranberry Latin name: Vaccinium vitis-idaea Plant type: Perennial USDA Hardiness Zones: 2-6 Cultural needs: Moist, well-drained, very acidic soil, full sun to partial shade Plant size: 4-12″, depending on variety and culture Hello, Zone 2 gardeners! This naturalized Scandinavian import is hardy to -50°F! Mountaincranberry, […]
Clean track and repel critters: I’ve been running my garden railway for about nine years. While operations have been successful, I’ve had to deal with two recurring challenges that seem to affect other large-scale operators as well, namely connectivity and Mother Nature. Connectivity issues usually means either bad joint connections between pieces of track or […]
Let’s look at some different types of tunnels. In the real world, tunnels are incredibly expensive to build and maintain. Prototype railroads would only dig a tunnel when there was no other way through or around an obstruction like a mountain, a river, or a built-up city. However, some types of tunnels are often necessary […]
John Allen’s Locomotive Weathering Secrets: Digging through back issues of Model Railroader the other day, I came across a short article about John Allen’s techniques for weathering locomotives. The January 1964 article features the work of several modelers, including Bill McClanahan and John Allen, and provides some tips on their practices for painting and weathering […]
Large scale boxcars and graffiti in an art exhibit: The Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles (MOCA) opened its Art in the Streets show on April 17, 2011. It is the first major US museum exhibition on the history of graffiti and street art, tracing its development from the 1970s to the global movement […]
Many hobbyists strive to model freight cars accurately. Selecting the right doors, installing the correct hatch covers, and using the proper ladders and stirrup steps are just some of the things freight car enthusiasts focus on. Those re-creating earlier eras may even add chalk marks to the car sides. How to graffiti a freight car […]
One piece of rolling stock I can bet almost every model railroader owns is a caboose. These cars are a staple in both real life and the model form, to the point where many people who don’t know much about trains at all know what a caboose is. Along with the existence of the word […]
Conrail diesels in large scale: Mark Bottrill’s Bishopstown Subdivision is designed to summon up memories of Conrail’s heyday in the Northeast, but it’s located in the Buckinghamshire county in the south of England! The railroad has a 600-foot double-track mainline, and features a number of rail-served industries, including a steel recycling facility and a large […]
Facts & features Name: Post cereal plant in Battle Creek, Michigan Scale: N (1:160) Size: 12-0′ x 14-0′ Prototypes: Grand Trunk Western and Penn Central Locale: Battle Creek, Michigan Era: 1970s Style: Single deck Mainline run: Not applicable Minimum radius: 18″ Minimum turnout: no. 6 Maximum grade: 3 percent Benchwork: L-girder with risers and open-grid […]
Facts & features Name: Post cereal plant in Battle Creek, Michigan Scale: HO (1:87) Size: 12-0′ x 14-0′ Prototypes: Grand Trunk Western and Penn Central Locale: Battle Creek, Michigan Era: 1970s Style: Single deck Mainline run: Not applicable Minimum radius: 30″ Minimum turnout: no. 6 Maximum grade: 2 percent Benchwork: L-girder with risers and open-grid […]
Facts & features Name: Bishop Street Branch Scale: HO (1:87.1) Size: 10′-6″ x 22′-0″ Prototypes: Guilford/Pan Am Railways Locale: Portland, Maine Era: Late 1980s through the 1990s Style: Walk-in Mainline run: None Minimum radius: 24” Minimum turnout: no. 6 Maximum grade: None Benchwork: Open grid Height: 51″ Roadbed: 1⁄2″ birch plywood with N scale cork […]
Facts & features Name: Vermont Rail System Scale: HO (1:87) in standard, narrow (3-foot), and dual gauges Size: 22’-103⁄4” x 25’-7” Prototypes: Vermont Rail System, Rutland Railroad Locale: Vermont Era: 1960s to present Style: Walk-in Mainline run: 96 feet point-to-point, 106 feet loop Minimum radius: 24” Minimum turnout: no. 4 (yards), no. 6 (main) Maximum […]
