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! […]
Modeling Topic: Structures
Meet James Royal
Meet James Royal How did you get started in the hobby? I got started with my Dad back in the 1950s. He had a modular Lionel O scale layout in our attic with a Santa Fe Super Chief AB set with freight cars that was about 8 x 24 feet and included several operating accessories […]
Five ways to make durable signs for your structures
We share five ways to make durable signs for your large-scale structures. Methods include using decals, vinyl stencils, styrene and magnets, and more. Weathered enamel signs Here’s an easy way to simulate old, rusting enamel signs. First, invent and print the sign, or take a photo of a real one. Print the image on glossy […]
Scratchbuild a rural large scale depot
I wanted to scratchbuild a rural large scale depot to replace one that was past its prime on my garden railroad. While I was working as an art director for a commercial printing company, one of my sales reps came across a 1916 combination freight/passenger-depot blueprint. He asked his client, a buyer for the Union […]
Dallas Union Terminal from above
Dallas’s Union Terminal hosted trains from eight railroads and featured through tracks. The tracks at upper right lead to a coach yard. Historic American Engineering Record photo […]
Small O and S gauge layouts have always been part of the hobby
Small O and S gauge layouts are how the hobby began. To demonstrate the wonders of layouts designed to fit into small spaces, let’s travel back to when most current enthusiasts were youngsters. This most likely means we’re talking about the 25 years immediately following World War II. These men and women can trace their […]
Chesapeake & Ohio Alleghany, Va., station from the C&O Historical Society
Alleghany, Va., C&O Station Scale: HO (1:87:1) Price: $89.95 Era: Post-1920 Manufacturer: Produced by Southern Heritage Models exclusively for the C&O Historical Society, chessieshop.com Alleghany, Va., C&O station features: Laser-cut parts Two waiting rooms Wide eaves Weatherboard (clapboard) siding Copy of C&O Magazine article “C&O’s Last Standard Station Design” from December 2010 included for reference Release date: […]
2022 National Garden Railway Convention: grandfather, grandson win modeling prizes
The 2022 National Garden Railway Convention saw a grandfather and grandson take home prizes in a modeling contest. Here’s a report from the former: I attended the 2022 National Garden Railway Convention in Denver in June with my son and his family. Both me and my grandson entered models in the convention’s contest this year. […]
Building Nicholson Viaduct
Construction of the Lackawanna Railroad’s colossal viaduct over Tunkhannock Creek at Nicholson, Pa., is in its early stages in this photo from Oct. 21, 1913. Nicholson Public Library photo […]
Long Island’s Morris Park engine terminal
Consolidation 111 moves away from the coal dock at the Long Island Rail Road’s Morris Park engine terminal near Jamaica in the early 1940s. Also in the scene are (from left) an engine dating from before the Pennsylvania Railroad gained control of the LIRR in 1900, a PRR-design LIRR G5s 4-6-0, and a PRR K2s […]
B&O Pacific entering Howard Street Tunnel
Baltimore & Ohio’s first P-7 Pacific, No. 5300 (originally named President Washington) is about to enter Howard Street Tunnel as it departs Mount Royal Station in Baltimore with train 21, the Washingtonian, in 1952. The 4-6-2 would soon be retired to the B&O’s museum in Baltimore, where it resides today. James P. Gallagher photo […]
Old trainshed on the CV
Nearly new Central Vermont GP9 4557 leads freight train 201, whose first car is a baggage car, through the old wooden trainshed at Essex Junction, Vt., in 1957. The venerable structure was demolished by 1960. Jim Shaughnessy photo […]