Menards Cripple Creek General Store review

Menards Cripple Creek General Store cowboy side view

Menards Cripple Creek General Store is the latest O scale structure for the apparently burgeoning fictional burg. Several of the company’s buildings, including a recently released interlocking tower, are “located” there. This one is a little different detail-wise from the others. It has more of an “old West” feel primarily due to the figures that […]

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Springfield, Mass., station

Springfield Massachusetts Amtrak station

Amtrak’s station at Springfield, Mass., had six tracks in this early 1990s view. Regular trains to and from Boston and Washington, plus the Boston section of the Lake Shore Limited, stopped at the station. The elevated structures are baggage elevators used for handling mail and express in pre-Amtrak days. Located on New York Central’s Boston […]

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Glue for outdoor wood kits on garden railroads

Three bottles of glue on a workbench

Q: I am getting ready to start building a boat kit that is made with wood. I seem to remember reading years ago that I should use “yellow” wood glue, rather than white glue, as the white glue might eventually warp the wood. Does it make any difference whether I use yellow or white glue? […]

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Frank Vodvarka’s layout has something for everyone

Frank Vodvarka's layout

Frank Vodvarka’s layout, the 23′ x 27′ Eclectic Empire, is featured in the May-June 2022 Classic Toy Trains. It’s colorful and entertaining, with pre- and postwar Lionel and other O- and Standard gauge trains from the U.S. and abroad. Plus it has accessories, figures, and structures from multiple eras and manufacturers like Bayko, Britains, Bassett-Lowke, […]

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A rural farmhouse for your garden railroad

garden railroad farmhouse front

When I started my garden railroad, around 1994 or 1995, I built structures from drawings printed in old Model Railroader issues. At the time, I was looking for something to build for the contest at the National Garden Railway Convention in Orlando, Fla. (mid 1996). I found drawings in the January 1992 issue (p. 124)  […]

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Texas on a turntable

Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad Burlington Route

At the Burlington Route’s Centralia, Ill., engine terminal in September 1954, a hostler rides the turntable with 2-10-4 6313 as sister 6311 and a Mikado stand in the distance. Philip R. Hastings photo […]

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Scout plans train meet as fundraiser for club

GFW Trainfair flyer

A northern Illinois model railroader is using his – and others – love of the hobby as a Boy Scout project to raise funds for a large-scale railroad group to expand its facilities. George Werderich, who appears on the toy-train oriented GFW Trains Channel on YouTube, is organizing GFW Trainfair as a community service project […]

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Postwar and modern Lionel trains mix on this layout

Postwar and modern Lionel trains on Richard Shutt's layout.

Postwar and modern Lionel trains mix on Richard Shutt’s layout! The 21 x 24-foot O gauge display, featured in the March-April 2022 Classic Toy Trains, is built for operation. His lifelong interest in the Norfolk & Western Ry. matches a deep-seated fascination with trains and accessories from the post-World War II period. It also includes […]

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Scout plans train meet as fundraiser for club

GFW Trainfest flyer

A northern Illinois model railroader is using his – and others – love of the hobby as a Boy Scout project to raise funds for a large-scale railroad group to expand its facilities. George Werderich, who appears on the toy-train oriented GFW Trains Channel on YouTube, is organizing GFW Trainfest as a community service project […]

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