“Let us ride your bikes, we’ll let you shovel coal”

LV3421

A Camelback switcher like Lehigh Valley 3421, pictured at Jersey City in 1939, was a powerful magnet for a couple of young boys. Stanley D. Crews My buddy Mike and I were sitting on our bikes at a Lehigh Valley yard in northern New Jersey one day in 1950. We had our eyes on a […]

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July new large scale products from Garden Railways magazine

piko_mogul

PIKO America Mogul PIKO America Halloween hopper Egghaulers car MTH UP Challenger MTH EMD SD70ACe LGB Christmas car LGB Christmas caboose Police Eggliner Fire & Rescue Eggliner Denver & Rio Grande Western Eggliner Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Eggliner Engines & rolling stock PIKO America, 4610 Alvarado Canyon Rd., Ste. 5, San Diego CA 92120, […]

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CP puts damper on plans for more ‘Hiawathas’

Hiawatha_Techny_Lassen

MADISON, Wis. — Wisconsin’s plans for increasing Chicago-Milwaukee Amtrak Hiawatha service may not be as close to fruition as state officials have believed. Canadian Pacific Railway, the host railroad for much of the Hiawatha route, has released a letter to the state’s rail program manager saying it will not support additional service without additional improvements […]

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New model trains for the week of August 1, 2019

Broadway Limited Imports HO scale Baldwin Sharknose diesel locomotives

HO scale locomotives 2-6-2 Prairie steam locomotive. New paint schemes: Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe and Boston & Maine. New road number: Pennsylvania RR. Model features operating headlight and smoke unit. $159. Bachmann Trains, 215-533-1600, www.bachmantrains.com Broadway Limited Imports HO scale Baldwin Sharknose diesel locomotives Baldwin Sharknose diesel locomotives. BF-16A ($279.99): Baltimore & Ohio (blue, […]

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Anatomy of a water feature

water_illustration_v2

Nancy Norris/Rick Johnson Water goes down to ‘seek its own level’. Hygroscopic tension forces water sideways when moisture follows the underside of a spill rock or fallen branch. Soil wicks water in all directions by osmosis. Splashing bounces up. Water evaporates into thin air and we wonder if the reservoir is leaking. Water needs to […]

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Waterscape your garden railway

train on trestle

Waterscape your garden railway: Swirling water stirs the imagination. Splashing shuts out city sounds, and viewers remember seeing famous falls at national parks or smaller watercourses near home. Bridges over brooks urge us to see connections to the land and how plantings create the habitat for a popular scenic attraction. There are countless reasons why […]

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Build a steel-frame snow plow

snowplow_project

Follow along with author Mike Lafond as he builds a steel-frame snow plow in the Fall and Winter 2019 issues. Download a full-size version of his CAD drawings here. Please note: Check your printer settings before printing. Uncheck the “scale to fit” box. You may need to tile these pieces into two pages. See gray […]

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Waterscape your railroad regional reports

Mynderup1web

The Mynderups keep their plants potted, which they grow on shelf-like terraces within their Redwood Creek and Tallulah Ridge garden railroad. Richard Mynderup Lighting under the Japanese maple illuminates the waterfall and is a beautiful and relaxing scene in the evenings. Richard Mynderup What tricks can you share about integrating water into your railway? Richard […]

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