Brian Sheron’s Long Island Rail Road

Title screen showing skyline, yard, and elevated line on an HO scale model railroad.

Brian Sheron’s Long Island Rail Road is a 27 x 48-foot HO scale model railroad that depicts Queens, Brooklyn, Manhattan, and the north shore of Long Island. He built the layout, featured in the August 2024 issue of Model Railroader, in three phases. Brian started work on the model railroad in 1988 with the Port […]

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Olympia & Sand Creek, Sidetrack Ep. 6 | Harnesses and reins

In this concluding video of the Olympia & Sand Creek Sidetrack Series, host David Popp finalizes the assembly of the horses, mules, and wagons. Follow along as he shares techniques for hitching the ponies to the carts, before he gets back to working on the On30 model railroad! Be sure to explore the entire Olympia […]

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Sam Foster’s Owl Cove Lumber Co. in O scale

Enjoy a glimpse of 1930s-era logging operations on Sam Foster’s 6 x 40-foot On30 (1:48) scale model railroad. Tall timber and equally impressive railroad engineering abound on this freelanced, around-the-walls narrow gauge (30″) layout. You can read more about the layout in the August 2024 issue of Model Railroader magazine. […]

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Nevada Northern Railway | Be the Engineer insights

Wouldn’t it be nice to be able to run a steam locomotive?  Well, you can!  Come with us as Trains.com visits the Nevada Northern Railway for their “Be the Engineer” program, where trained crews will teach you how to run a steam locomotive.  This short clip is from our feature-length “Introduction to Steam Locomotives: How They Work” […]

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Great Railfan Roads | U.S. Highway 460 in Virginia

U.S. Highway 460 is one of the great railfan roads, paralleling the former Norfolk & Western mainline across the state of Virginia for hundreds of miles. Starting in Norfolk on the Atlantic coast, 460 follows today’s Norfolk Southern into the Blue Ridge Mountains to Roanoke and beyond.  West of Roanoke, the Norfolk & Western confronts […]

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Trains LIVE — What’s in the bag?

Two men in a TV studio joined by on a TV screen for an interview. Trains LIVE — what's in the bag?

Trains LIVE — What’s in the bag? — 6-7-2024 — Trains Magazine is known for showcasing railroad photography. Images are submitted by photographers from across the country. Some are seasoned professionals. Others are snapping some of their first train pictures. The common denominator is that each photographer needs a camera, or two, or three, and […]

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Trains LIVE — Exploring the fish car

Green Pullman car used for transporting fish. Trains LIVE — Exploring the fish car

Trains LIVE — Exploring the fish car — 5-24-2024 — Officially the “fish car” is the Wisconsin Fish Commission Badger #2, built for the state of Wisconsin by Pullman in 1913. It was designed to move fish ready to be stocked in lakes and streams from one of Wisconsin’s 25 fish hatcheries. The car has […]

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Olympia & Sand Creek, Sidetrack Ep. 5 | Painting a horse figure

As the Sidetrack Series trots along, David shares his technique for painting the ponies. But following his savvy advice, he begins by decorating the details (harness, hitch, etc.). After painting the body and other fine features, David then demonstrates how to give the steed a suitable, well-weathered appearance. But don’t hitch your horse to this […]

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