“Which type of subroadbed is right for me?” It’s a question that is especially asked by beginners. The subroadbed is the material that you place under your roadbed, track, and often scenery. It serves as the foundation for your model railroad, so choosing the correct material is very important. Before evaluating good subroadbed options, let’s […]
When we moved to our new office in Brookfield, Wis., one of my favorite aspects of this new space was the workshop area. Not only do we have plenty of space for modeling and layout building, but we have just enough space for the Winston-Salem Southbound layout to sit next to our workbenches. One day […]
Q: I recently started working again on my HO scale layout, which features a Digitrax Super Chief Starter Set and Bachmann E-Z Track. I cleaned all of the track and have been testing locomotives. One of the units, an Athearn Genesis HO scale Electro-Motive Division GP38 that has not been used in some time, will […]
Follow host Gerry Leone as he digs into the plans and efforts to rework a structure he initially kitbashed for a previous iteration of his HO scale (1:87.1) Bona Vista model railroad. But first, he ventures back to the old familiar set of his “Off The Rails” series, all with the objective of answering a […]
I model the Western Maryland Ry. (WM) from the 1920s to before the start of World War II. Appropriate commercial models of coal hoppers for my modeling era are limited in large scale. I was using LGB two-bay and Bachmann three-bay hoppers as stand-ins, but I wanted accurate, period-specific coal hoppers for my rolling stock […]
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There’s something magical about childhood memories, especially those centered on beloved toys. My grandparents had a Marx train set, once belonging to my uncles, hidden under a bed upstairs. My sisters and I discovered it and, of course, wanted to set it up and play. We’d wait until the evenings, when my grandparents were busy […]
Q: I have a question about one of the articles in your special issue Best of Industries. On page 16, Rich Cobb wrote about a fertilizer blend plant. Can you tell me what kind of loads a plant like this would receive? — Markus Russ A: We released that special-interest publication in 2021, so I […]
Around the time that I got my driver’s license in the late 1960s I started to visit a local train store in High Point, N.C. Not having a lot to spend, I was looking for bargains. Two freight cars caught my eye, a nice brown Pennsylvania boxcar (No. 202) and a black Wabash coal hopper […]
Common name: Trailing lobelia, edging lobelia, annual lobelia Latin name: Lobelia erinus ‘Riviera Sky Blue’ Plant type: Annual Plant size: 8-10″ high and spreading USDA Hardiness Zones: 10-11 for overwintering, all Zones as an annual Cultural needs: Moist soil, sun or part shade, fertilize regularly for continuous blooming So few miniature plants have such a […]
Excessive track noise was one of the main reasons I decided to rebuild my HO scale Daneville & Donner River layout. I hadn’t paid much attention to the noise level until I started using locomotives with sound decoders. That’s when I recognized how the wheel noise from rolling freight cars nearly overpowered the sound of […]
When Kalmbach Publishing Co. moved from Milwaukee to the western suburb of Waukesha in 1989, the Milwaukee, Racine & Troy had a blank slate. The ink-stained concrete floor; large, drafty windows; and sun-faded scenery were in the past. “Our new layout room is a beautiful place, an open, rectangular space with a tile floor, drop […]
