Do it yourself locomotive restoration

pile of green toy trains

Do it yourself locomotive restoration Yes, you can do it yourself! Restoring old tin trains is not as difficult as the popular folklore would have you believe. It doesn’t require any special skill or knowledge that you can’t master. Nor does it entail exotic or expensive equipment. Anyone can do it with simple household tools […]

Read More…

Grand Crossing

20191122

This 1902 northward view of Chicago’s Grand Crossing makes it obvious how this busy South Side rail intersection got its name. Six tracks of Illinois Central (two suburban, two passenger, two freight) cross the Pittsburgh, Fort Wayne & Chicago (Pennsylvania Railroad) and Lake Shore and Michigan Southern (New York Central). Illinois Central photo […]

Read More…

Build a sugar beet dump

Photo HO scale scene with wood ramp, wagon, horses, and gondola.

Sugar beet production and sugar refining was an important rail industry throughout the 20th century. Every fall, farmers brought their crops to nearby sugar beet dumps, where beets were loaded into railcars and rushed to sugar company factories. In the early 1900s, sugar companies built tall wooden Carroll beet dumps to speed loading. At the […]

Read More…

13 tips for storing your trains

blue engine and car with boxes

13 tips for storing your trains 1. Modern trains go in their boxes. Be sure you store them out of direct sunlight and fluorescent lighting in a cupboard, drawer, or other dark, dry area. A packet or two of silica gel inside the box helps keep moisture and humidity low so your boxes won’t get […]

Read More…

Where do I find paint for toy train projects?

Two bottles of paint, one orange, the other yellow, in front of a white background

Where do I find paint for toy train projects? Q: I am looking to restore some of my trains. How do I get started? Where do I find the paint for the job? – Ray Fiorini, Endicott, N.Y. A. Ray, if you have a handy pile of CTT back issues or access to the online […]

Read More…

U.S. themed garden railroad in Australia

model locomotive crossing steel bridge

Garden railroad in Australia: I have been a model railroader in both N and HO scale, and then I discovered large scale. My other pastime is the sport of Cowboy Action Shooting, so I knew my theme would be the Wild West. Space was limited on my inner-city block, so I set up a basic […]

Read More…

Short steam era passenger cars

Model of a dark green coach

What is the largest radius curve on your layout? If you said anything less than 24”, you won’t be running 85-foot passenger cars any time soon. Even then, a 24” curve is extremely tight for those cars to navigate. Fear not, I have the solution for your long passenger car dilemma: short steam era passenger […]

Read More…

A Lionel GE locomotive history

Lionel New Haven EP-5 2350

The Lionel-GE locomotive history arguably goes back more than a century. The first General Electric models made by the toy train manufacturer in electric and diesel profiles were separated by about 60 years. The internal-combustion model came almost a decade-and-a-half after GE started making that type of engine. Lionel GE locomotive history General Electric entered […]

Read More…

Menards Cripple Creek County Jail

Menards Cripple Creek County Jail

The Menards Cripple Creek County Jail is a place where your O scale folks can do the time if they’ve committed a crime. It has a sort of dark demeanor of a place you can take your 10-year-old who filched a candy bar to and scare them straight! This building has what the movies call […]

Read More…