When I built my outdoor railway – on three sides of my house – I never intended to sell it. I thought I’d be teetering behind a walker at 90, running my live-steam engines over rails I had built to last a lifetime. I like building strong, “permanent” track, which gives me a feeling of […]
My little shelf layout is made from track and lumber salvaged from a small model railroad I was building in my apartment living room back in Pennsylvania before I moved to Wisconsin to work for Model Railroader. In my current living room, I only have room for a shelf layout, which is built into an […]
Garden center owner Walt Uebele had an idea—build a garden railway to keep the husbands and kids entertained while the wives shopped. Little did he know that folks of all ages would love watching the trains run. Watch an interview conducted by Production Editor Rene Schweitzer about the railway and its beginnings, only on Trains.com! […]
Visit Steve Albee’s dual-level O gauge layout that fits in a spare room! This layout is one of many with plans that appears in the fall 2021 CTT special publication Toy train layouts for small spaces. Get your print or digital version here! There are freight trains and subways bringing light, action, and sound to […]
HO Scale Walthers turnouts introduction Like their predecessors, the latest generation of turnouts is DCC friendly. Turnouts that are DCC friendly minimize the possibility of a short shutting down part of a model railroad due to metal wheels contacting adjacent rails that are at a different polarity. The new Walthers Track line turnouts are available […]
Visit Ken Cook’s layout, featured in the September 2021 issue of Classic Toy Trains. Ken mixes postwar Lionel trains with modern track, structures, details, and scenery to create a one-of-a-kind display that entertains your eyes, ears, and imagination. Click here to see the track plan. […]
In the April 2021 issue of Model Railroader, I wrote about DCC reversing sections. I briefly touched on some automatic reversing section controllers (ARSC) that are available. This month I will focus on ARSCs that do more than just the basic reversing functions. Have no fear, because all ARSCs still work with as few as […]
My garden railroad, the Snake River Railroad, is named after my interest in the Union Pacific. This has been my favorite railroad ever since I saw the Big Boy. The 200 by 300-foot railroad is shaped like a mirror image of Idaho, because of large Ponderosa pines in the backyard. There are two separate […]
John’s layout appears in the September 2021 issue of Classic Toy Trains. It features tremendous trackwork and wonderful scenery (see the plan here), in addition to some spectacular modern trains. Watch and hear freight and passenger consists work their way around it. […]
Take a tour of George Campbell’s impressive freelanced layout, an 11 x 30 foot module modeled after Cincinnati, Ohio to Appalachia. […]
On Dave Abeles’ HO scale Conrail-inspired layout, locomotive fleet operations warrant the same careful attention as it does in 1:1 scale. Follow along to see how he and his crew ready the motive power for smooth and reliable performance at the head-end of his trains! […]
Modeling is for hobbyists of all ages, and the Turlan family is an example that proves just that! Xavier and Lindsay Turlan, along with their seven-year-old son Gabriel, all worked together to build a layout for the 2021 National Model Railroad Build-Off. Interested in hearing more from the Turlans? Check out their interview. […]
