Do you know where your boxcar is?

Trainsdownload1

In the December 2014 Model Railroader, Seth Neumann and Chris Drone wrote an article about using radio-frequency identification (RFID) and a computer to track rolling stock and new possibilities for operation. Prototype railroads have been using scanning technology since the late 1960s. Automatic Car Identification (ACI) used an optical reader and a color-coded plate to […]

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HO scale Terminal of Toledo RR

TerminalofToledoRR

Name: Terminal of Toledo RR Layout designer: Doug Tagsold Scale: HO (1:87.1) Size: 39 x 39 feet Prototype: Toledo Terminal RR, serving Amtrak, Ann Arbor, Chessie System, Conrail, Detroit & Toledo Shore Line, and Norfolk & Western Locale: Toledo, Ohio Period: summer 1979 Style: around the walls Mainline run: 250 feet Minimum radius: 30″ Minimum […]

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HO scale Washington Northern, Port Andrews Tideflats District

WashingtonNorthernRRPortAndrewsTideflatsDistrict

Name: Washington Northern, Port Andrews Tideflats District Layout designer: Kevin Klettke Scale: HO (1:87.1) Size: 11′-0″ x 12′-6″ Prototype: freelanced Locale: Washington State’s Olympic Peninsula Era: mid-1990s Style: around the walls Mainline run: 29 feet Minimum radius: 22″ (main line), 18″ (industrial track) Minimum turnout: no. 5 Maximum grade: none Originally appeared in Great Model […]

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HO scale Doswell Junction

DoswellJunction

Name: Doswell Junction Layout designer: Robert W. Sprague Scale: HO (1:87.1) Room size: 10 x 13 feet Prototype: Chesapeake & Ohio and Richmond, Fredericksburg & Potomac Locale: Doswell, Va. Era: 1979 to 1980 Style: around the walls Mainline run: 33 feet (RF&P), 38 feet (C&O) Minimum radius: 24″ Minimum turnout: no. 6 Maximum grade: none […]

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HO scale Tennessee Midland Ry. Co.

TennesseeMidlandRyCo

Name: Tennessee Midland Ry. Scale: HO (1:87.1) Size: 30 x 40 feet Prototype: freelanced Locale: West Virginia and Tennessee Era: mid-1980s Style: Walk around Mainline run: 150 feet Minimum radius: 40 inches Minimum turnout: no. 6 mainline, no. 4 siding Maximum grade: 1.5 percent Originally appeared in the October 2014 Model Railroader. Click on the […]

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Video: HO scale Tennessee Midland Ry.

HO scale Tennessee Midland Ry

Having trouble viewing this video?   Please visit our Video FAQ page Dave Davenport’s HO scale Tennessee Midland models big-time railroading through West Virginia and Tennessee in the mid-1980s. Watch diesel locomotives haul freight trains through the Appalachian scenery […]

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Video: HO scale Tennessee Midland Ry.

HO scale Tennessee Midland Ry

Having trouble viewing this video?   Please visit our Video FAQ page Dave Davenport’s HO scale Tennessee Midland models big-time railroading through West Virginia and Tennessee in the mid-1980s. Watch diesel locomotives haul freight trains through the Appalachian scenery […]

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Canadian Pacific in 1974

Screen Shot 20140612 at 23556 PM

You squint through the train window to read the signs on parallel highway 148. They’re in French and English. It dawns on you that your ride in a Budd Rail Diesel Car from Ottawa to Montreal is about the most inauspicious way to begin a trip around the world. But no matter. It’s February 1974, […]

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HO scale Progressive Rail

ProgressiveRail

Name: Progressive Rail Layout designer: Jim Hediger Scale: HO (1:87.1) Size: 3 x 16 feet Prototype: Airlake Industrial Park Locale: Minnesota Era: 1970s Style: Island Minimum turnout: no. 5 Originally appeared in the June 2002 Model Railroader. Click on the link to download the PDF of this track plan. […]

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Kansas City tonnage: 1971 and 2003

Kansas City tonnage

Chicago might have more trains, and St. Louis a big shiny arch, but Kansas City is the ton-mile king, with over 1 billion tons passing through the city (or above it, on flyovers) in 2003. That is 15 percent more tons than Chicago. What is remarkable about K.C. is its sheer growth, from 378 million […]

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