Model Railroader’s HO scale Winter Hill project layout Model Railroader‘s 2013 project layout is located on our HO scale club layout, the Milwaukee, Racine & Troy. It’s a 2 x 12-foot scene with many interesting aspects including making the quarry pit for Larson Stone Co. extend into the aisle. Registered users can click the following […]
The drawing of this coal trestle is based on a prototype located on the Norfolk & Western Ry. in Montpelier, Va. Coal from this terminal was loaded onto trucks with a conveyor and delivered to the nearby DuPont estate. Since the terminal was for private, exclusive use, there was no weigh scale or office house. […]
Refineries are a fascinating industry to model, and they can add considerable switching activity to a model railroad operating session. Kits for contemporary refineries are available, but they weren’t much help on my 1895-era railroad where the principal retail petroleum product is kerosene instead of gasoline. Some time ago, I became aware of the remains […]
This enginehouse would fit on many model railroads set in the modern era The prototype structure is found along the Bath & Hammondsport Rail Corp., a shortline subsidiary of the Livonia, Avon & Lakeville RR, operates on the former Erie Lackawanna line between Wayland and Painted Post, N.Y. In addition, it also serves customers along […]
The full-size Central Seed Co. was built shortly after World War II. What made this business interesting is that it received rail shipments from the Green Bay & Western at one end of the building and Soo Line at the other. Truck shipments were handled at the covered dock. In the February 2012 issue of […]
In the January 2012 Model Railroader, Jim Richards explains how he kitbashed a Walthers double-track swing bridge into an offset swing bridge. The prototype Milwaukee Road bridge Jim modeled first appeared in the July 1947 MR. […]
Nuckolls Packing is one of many structures depicted in period photos of Telluride shot from the mountain south of town and published in The RGS Story, Volume II by Russ Collman (Sundance Publications, out of print). The industry was on a siding, so it was an ideal subject for my model, which would serve as […]
Small freight houses were once a common sight in rural towns across North America. Built in the early 20th century, they provided a link for less-than-carload-lot (LCL) and full carload shipments between the railroad and its local customers. This freight house served Montour Falls, a small community about two miles south of Watkins Glen, N.Y., […]
Introduction In an article in the August 2011 Model Railroader, I described a method to control yard ladders with a single rotary switch. By simply turning the rotary switch, all turnouts would automatically line up for the selected yard track. The method was based on using a bipolar power supply, Tortoise switch machines, and one […]
The early 1900s were a period of great expansion and modernization on the Prince Edward Island Ry. (PEIR). Existing stations were replaced or expanded, new locomotives and cars were acquired, and a number of branch lines were built. Three of these branch lines shared a very attractive standard station design. These stations were built at […]
A house, a car, and a layout all have something in common: they turn out better when they’re built on a solid framework. This is especially true of a helix. A helix – a spiral ramp meant to lift a model train from one level of a layout to another – may not be prototypical, […]
Open-grid benchworkStarter layouts are often flat and built on a 4 x 8 sheet of plywood. However, the majority of layouts have tracks at varying heights separated by grades. The easiest way to add elevation to a layout is to use open-grid benchwork. For this type of construction you place a plywood subroadbed under the […]
