How to find items in your chosen scale

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How to find items in your chosen scale Download the PDF here. Once you have settled on a scale that strikes the right balance for you, you can then begin to assemble the pieces to build your railroad—locomotives, rolling stock, buildings, vehicles, and people. Some manufacturers are good enough to mark the scale of their […]

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How to choose a scale: A garden railroader’s guide

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This three-rail track incorporates two different gauges—0 gauge and 1-gauge. Trains in 16mm-scale (1:19) and 15mm-scale (1:20.3) are equally at home on these rails. Marc Horovitz Download the PDF here. Let’s look at the various scales available and list their characteristics, with an eye to finding their advantages and disadvantages. As mentioned above, the thing […]

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Ask MR: How to line turnouts on thick benchwork

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Question: I‘m building an N scale layout on a hollow core door covered with 2″ thick extruded-foam insulation board on top. I’d like to remotely control a few of the turnouts that aren’t easily reachable from the front of the layout. Any suggestions on how to operate these turnouts? The thickness of the foam plus […]

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Computer desktop wallpaper from the June 2020 Model Railroader

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Click on the links at left to download the image. Lee Marsh’s HO scale Great Northern Cascade Division is featured in the June 2020 Model Railroader. Download this photo from Lee’s layout to use as a background on your computer screen. Click on the links below to download the appropriately sized image. Download the 1600 […]

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Ask MRVP: Episode 50

David introduces a video while standing near the Jones Island section of MR&T layout.

Having trouble viewing this video?   Please visit our Video FAQ page Time to talk trackwork, winter scenery, wood glue, maintenance-of-way equipment, and so much more in this Q&A episode of Ask MRVP. As always, host David Popp and his pals are willing to dig in to dig out the answers that’ll help YOU make […]

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What are scale and gauge?

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Marc Horovitz Marc Horovitz This 1:20.3-scale figure may look right for this 1:32-scale locomotive but if you tried to put him into the cab you’d quickly realize your error. Marc Horovitz These three models are all of similar prototypes—3′-narrow-gauge boxcars. In the foreground is an early Hartford Products car in 1:24 scale; in the middle […]

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Common scales of large scale trains

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Common scales of large scale trains: Most of us have had this experience as we got started in garden railroading: You go to the hobby shop or look online, looking for equipment for your new railroad. It’s all large scale and it all looks good. But the more you look, the less comprehensible your choices […]

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Ask MR: What did MR’s birthplace really look like?

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Question: I just purchased the Model Railroader animated sign [available from the Kalmbach Hobby Store at kalmbachhobbystore.com/product/ layout-accesory/84033 – Ed.]. I also have a resin kit of “The Birthplace of Model Railroader” sitting on the shelf. Not that the combination would be prototypical in any way, but I’m considering using the two together on a […]

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Computer desktop wallpaper from the May 2020 Model Railroader

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Click on the links at left to download this image sized appropriately for your computer screen. A Boston & Maine 4-8-2 Mountain-type steam locomotive rolls past Superior Bakery on Thomas Oxnard’s HO scale layout featured in the May 2020 Model Railroader. Click on the links below to download the image sized appropriately for use as […]

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Computer desktop wallpaper from the April 2020 Model Railroader

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Click on the links at left to download this image sized appropriately for your computer screen. Lance Mindheim As evening approaches, Los Angeles Junction Ry. no. 2619, a Santa Fe-rebuilt CF7, crosses District Boulevard in Los Angeles. Frequent Model Railroader contributor Lance Mindheim photographed the scene on his HO scale shelf layout. Click on the […]

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