The Rooster Creek Railroad

front face of train

The railway at a glance Name: Rooster Creek Size of railroad: 50′ X 120′ Scale: Varied-1:20.3 to 1:32; buildings, 1:24 Gauge: Nº 1 Era: 1930s to 1950s Themes: Narrow gauge, Denver & Rio Grande; standard gauge, Southern Pacific Age: Six years Motive power: Narrow gauge: K-27, K-36 (2), K-37, 2-truck Shay, 3-truck Shay, Climax, Heisler, […]

Read More…

The D&R Railroad

The railway at a glance Name: D & R Railroad Size of Railroad: 60′ x 150′ Scale: 1:20.3 Gauge: 45mm (Nº 1) Era: 1900s-1940s Theme: Chama branch of the D&RGW Railroad Age: 4 years Motive power: Battery-powered locomotives Length of mainline: 1,000′ Maximum Gradient: 3% Type of track: Aristo-Craft brass, code-332 flex track; Parker Company […]

Read More…

Stove Pipe Wells

Track plan at a glance Name: Stove Pipe WellsScale: N (1:160) narrow gauge (Nn3)Size: 4′-1″ x 9′-0″Theme: mining short lineEra: 1870s to 1950s, depending upon rolling stock usedStyle: portableMainline run: 34′-6″Minimum radius: 10″Minimum turnout: no. 5Maximum grade: 5 percentOriginally appeared in the December 2006 issue of Model Railroader.Also appeared in 102 Realistic Track Plans.Click on […]

Read More…

The R&F Railroad

The railway at a glance Name: The R&F Railroad Size: 110′ x 165′ (1/3 acre) Scales: 1:20.3 to 1:32 Gauge: Nº 1 (45mm) Era: 1920s through the present Theme: Predominately western railroads, including Santa Fe, Union Pacific, Denver & Rio Grande Western Age: 19 years Length of track: Total, 3,000′; double 500′ mainlines Type of […]

Read More…

The Southern Cross Railway

TSOMO DRIFT. It’s the usual problem on a single-track railway—waiting for traffic coming the other way. A great horseshoe curve links Tsomo Drift with Orange River, although, as the crow flies, they are very close, so the driver of the Baldwin 2-8-0, Nº 724, can see the reason for this long delay. Over at Orange […]

Read More…

Those darned Marx toy train gears

Many old Marx steam locomotives have gears that extend the full diameter of the wheel, resulting in incompatibility with most track switches. Q: I am starting to build a small O gauge layout with two loops and some switching in between for variety. I have some newer Lionel trains and some old Marx trains from […]

Read More…

The Snake River Railroad

The steel truss bridge spans a deep gully. It was assembled entirely with screws and nuts on a purpose-built table. Marc Horovitz The railway at a glance Name: Snake River Railroad Size of railroad: 200′ x 300′ (approximately) Scale: 1:29 Gauge: Nº 1 (45mm) Theme: Mainline railroading in the Northwest Era: Modern Age: 15 years […]

Read More…

2007 National Trains Show final report

Electro-Motive Division MP15AC

The National Train Show was held in conjunction with the National Model Railroad Association national convention in Detroit, Mich., July 27-29, 2007. Below are some of the new items we saw at the show. Electro-Motive Division MP15AC HO scale locomotives Electro-Motive Division MP15AC. Preproduction sample shown. Canadian Pacific, CSX, Milwaukee Road, Soo Line, Southern Pacific, […]

Read More…

Atlas O O gauge Alco RSD-7/15 diesel

ALCO DIESELS ARE POPULAR with the O gauge crowd. After checking out the models of the RSD-7 and RSD-15, you may have to crown Atlas O the king of three-rail Alco power. The RSD-7 and the RSD-15 are basically the same locomotive, except that the RSD-7 had an Alco 244-series diesel engine and the RSD-15 […]

Read More…

SMR Trains O gauge 4-4-0 steam locomotive

I’LL BET THAT MOST children of the baby boom spent at least a little time in their school library thumbing through books about the Civil War or the Wild West. As model train enthusiasts, we probably spent extra time gazing at black-and-white images of impossibly frail-looking steam power and rolling stock – those trains always […]

Read More…

SMR Trains O gauge frontier-era rolling stock

WHILE CREATING AN OPERATING scale model of a vintage locomotive is commendable, not too many of us will be happy just staring at it in a case. The folks at Schneider Model Railroading (SMR Trains) acknowledge the inner engineer of potential customers, and they’ve launched a line of scale-sized brass equipment that looks right at […]

Read More…