Questions and answers about large-scale locomotives and rolling stock

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What grade can an engine climb? Different engines will climb different grades. If you are trying to stay within full-size railroad practice, your grades should be no more than about 3 percent for mainline traffic (3″ of rise in 100″ of travel) or 5 percent to 6 percent for logging, mining, or industrial lines.  I […]

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Trains Tube: In a Swiss Tunnel 2018

Orange-clad workers in a darkened rail tunnel.

Join Trains on a visit to a track work project in a Swiss tunnel. Rhomberg Sersa and the Rhaetian Railway invited Trains to see how they re-build meter-gauge track in often grueling conditions in September 2018. See Steve Sweeney’s full story in the March 2019 issue of Trains, THE magazine of railroading! […]

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How-to Library: Airbrushing with Aaron, Episode 12, Water Effects

Aaron Skinner in an airbrushing studio.

Having trouble viewing this video?   Please visit our Video FAQ page   In this episode of AWA, host Aaron Skinner is making BIG waves! Follow along to learn an easy technique for making a realistic seascape atop a foam insulation base. […]

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Winter running on the CPR Joy Division

trains running in winter on a garden railroad

Name: Kent Johnson Railroad Name: Canadian Pacific Joy Division Location: Milwaukee, Wisc. Scale: 1:29 Theme: Modern-era branch line in Western Canada Description: The sun was making a weak effort to shine over the CPR Joy Division garden railroad on a cold January afternoon. Even so, I still wanted to capture the inaugural run of my […]

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Rock Island Passenger Train No. 18, “The Plainsman”

Scene on model train layout

Rock Island passenger Train No. 18, “The Plainsman”, passes through Trenton, MO., Des Moines, Nevada, Clear Lake Jct., IA., and Albert Lea, MN., on its journey from Kansas City to St. Paul / Minneapolis. This train is operating on my Rock Island-based HO scale model railroad. Video by Michael Armstrong. […]

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