The HO scale Rice Harbor
Welcome to Rice Harbor, Model Railroader’s new staff-built project railroad. In this and subsequent issues, we’ll show you how we built this 5 x 8 layout – from the wheels at the bottom of its legs to the top of the illuminated lighthouse.
Rice Harbor is an HO model of a fictional South Carolina seashore town in the 1930s. It’s served by the freelanced Seaboard Shore Line RR, a short line that in our version of history had picked up some name redundancy from mergers in the late 1800s.
Registered users can click the following links to view the first video and the desktop wallpaper. Model Railroader subscribers can download the track plan and watch the multi-part video series on building the layout from start to finish.
- Building the HO scale Rice Harbor video series
- Part 1: Learn about this 5 x 8-foot model train layout built by the Model Railroader staff
- Part 2: Options for a passenger train station and track laying begins
- Part 3: Turnout strategies, portable staging, and pattern maker’s pins for layout alignment
- Part 4: Building a lighthouse and weathering model railroad track with an airbrush
- Part 5: Turntable and bridge for the harbor railroad
- Part 6: Ground cover, rolling stock, and garden tracks for the layout
- Part 7: Planning scenes and scenery for Rice Harbor
- Part 8: Laying track along the waterfront
- Part 9: Painting the harbor bottom and other waterfront scenery details
- Part 10: A look at the finished layout and rolling stock
