Download these full-size drawings for a miniature gazebo […]
Make a gazebo for your railroad garden
Tag: How To
Mulch in the garden railroad
A lecturer once told our Master Gardener group, “Mulch is like underwear: we need it, but we don’t want to see it.” Ideally, the ground is best covered with plants, but it takes time for small starts of groundcover plants to spread and fill the areas we want. If the soil is left bare between […]
Dwarf hardy jasmine
Nancy Norris Common name: Dwarf hardy jasmine, Parker’s jasmine Latin name: Jasminum parkeri Plant type: Shrubs & small trees USDA Hardiness Zones: 7-11 (overwinter indoors in lower zones) Cultural needs: Regular moisture, well-drained, slightly acidic soil, sun or part shade Plant size: 8-18″ high x 18″ wide Many plants are called jasmine but stem from […]
HO scale CSX’s KD Subdivision
Name: CSX’s KD Subdivision Layout owner: Brian Moore Layout designer: Bob Sprague Scale: HO (1:87.1) Size: 15′-0″ x 22′-3″ Prototype: CSX Locale: Eastern Tennessee and Kentucky Era: Present day Style: Multiple-deck walkaround Mainline run: 168 feet Minimum radius: 30″ Minimum turnout: no. 6 Maximum grade: 3 percent Click on the link to download a PDF […]
The Salt Lake Route, Part 6 – Industry and yard scenery
In the final installment of our N scale project layout series, Dick Christianson explains how he modeled the industries and yard in Caliente, Nev. Fig. 1 Backdrop. Lacking enough sky to cover the tempered hardboard, Dick cut the sky and clouds from the photo and let the blue backdrop suffice. Fig. 2 Protective covering. Dick […]
HO scale Hoosac Valley RR
Name: Hoosac Valley RR Layout owner: Dick Elwell Scale: HO (1:87.1) Size: 32 x 62 feet Prototype: freelanced, inspired by New York Central and Boston & Albany Locale: Northeast Era: 1940s to 1960s Style: walk-in Mainline run: 365 feet Minimum radius: 42″ (main line) Minimum turnout: no. 6 (one no. 4 turnout) Maximum grade: 1.5 […]
Z scale Gulf, Illinois & Rocky Mountains RR
Click the image to download a copy of the track plan. Name: Gulf, Illinois & Rocky Mountains RR Layout owner: John-Baptiste Merillot Scale: Z (1:220) Size: 7 x 15 feet Prototype: none; includes locomotives from Union Pacific, CSX, Canadian National, Canadian Pacific, among others Locale: Northwestern United States Era: late 1960s to present Style: walk-in, […]
Olympia 2, The Log Blog: Part 6 – Track deliberations
Having trouble viewing this video? Please visit our Video FAQ page David is eager to get out of the basement and enjoy the summer weather! But before heading into the great outdoors, he’s bound and determined to sort out a few track, scenery, and benchwork issues on the expanding Olympia Logging Co. On30 layout. […]
Canadian Canyons Series: Part 12 – Installing Tortoise switch motors
Having trouble viewing this video? Please visit our Video FAQ page Popp. David Popp. That’s who we’ve got (Mr. Bond wasn’t up to the task) to demonstrate how to position, align, and connect the Tortoise switch machines used with the turnouts of our N scale Canadian Canyons project layout. Don’t miss his not-so-secret agent […]
The Salt Lake Route, Part 5 – Easy-to-build desert scenery
Union Pacific road diesels lead a stack train along the Meadow Valley Wash. Dick Christianson explains how he scenicked this side of our N scale project layout. photo by Bill Zuback Fig. 1 Cutting foam. Dick’s friend Stener Harildstad used a serrated kitchen knife to cut the extruded-foam insulation board. The sloping contour of the […]
The Salt Lake Route, Part 4 – Wiring a small layout for DCC
Dick Christianson explains how to wire the Salt Lake Route for Digital Command Control. He concealed the system’s command station in a drawer built beneath the layout’s intermodal yard. Bill Zuback photo Fig. 1 Power feeders. Last month Dick explained how to install Kato Unitrack power feeders during tracklaying. He used plug-in sections on the […]
The Salt Lake Route, Part 3: Laying realistic sectional track
A pair of Union Pacific freights bank into the superelevated curves on the N scale Salt Lake Route. Dick Christianson explains how he installed Kato Unitrack, including the firm’s new double-track sections with superelevated curves (inset), on our project layout. One of the parameters Model Railroader gave me regarding the N scale project layout was […]
