Truck’s Toy Trains: Episode 10 – P&H Construction Cars

Host John Truckenbrod and Classic Toy Trains’ Roger Carp share collector insights regarding P&H construction machinery that Lionel Corp. paired with their O gauge flatcars. Plus, they’ll also examine one of the most unusal, yet prototypical, freight cars Lionel produced! […]

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Rehab My Railroad Sidetrack: Building a tugboat, Part 1

Having trouble viewing this video?   Please visit our Video FAQ page In the this sidetrack series of Rehab My Railroad: Jones Island, MR’s Eric White shares some of the plans and processes he’s using to build an HO scale tugboat for the harbor on the MR&T layout. Eric starts by studying photos that inspire […]

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How to find items in your chosen scale

three scale rules on a table

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 cast plaster rocks for model railroad scenery

Pouring Hydrocal into a rubber rock mold

Rubber rock molds and hydrocal plaster make it easy to add exposed rockfaces and other dramatic scenic elements to your model train layout   Nothing says “impressive” quite like a rugged mountain range full of jagged rock faces. Though mountains appear solid to us, many are just individual layers of rocks, stacked one on top […]

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DIY rock molds from Play-Doh

Hands packing Play Doh into rock mold

Use this quick tip to make custom rock molds for realistic model railroad scenery Want to make unique rock castings? Here’s an interesting method that was featured in the March 2002 Classic Toy Trains. Play-Doh, a children’s modeling toy, is a great one-time-use mold-making material. It’s water-soluble, easy to work with, and reproduces crisp details […]

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