Maumee Route (Cleveland, Indianapolis, Cincinnati & St. Louis)

Name: Maumee Route (Cleveland, Indianapolis, Cincinnati & St. Louis) Layout owner: Bill Darnaby Scale: HO (1>87) Size: 35′-2″ x 42′-1″ Prototype: free-lance, based on Nickel Plate Road and Wabash practice Period: 1955 Style: walkaround, mulit-level Minimum radius: 42″ Minimum turnout: nos. 6 to 8 Maximum grade: 2 percent Originally appeared in the 1995 issue of […]

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New York Central Pittston Harbor Subdivision

Name: New York Central PittstonHarbor Subdivision Layout owner: Jeff Kraker Scale: HO (1:87.1) Room size: 11 x 14 feet Prototype: New York Central Locale: New York City Era: 1950-1970 Style: walk-in Mainline run: 50 feet (on running track) Minimum radius: 18″ Maximum grade: none Originally appeared in the June 2010 issue of Model Railroader. Click […]

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Roanoke & Southern

Name: Roanoke & Southern Layout owner: Jeff Kraker Scale: HO (1:87.1) Size: 9′-31/2″ x 22′-6″ Theme: freelanced Eastern coal hauler Locale: southwest Virginia Era: 1953-1960 Style: walk-in Mainline run: 78 feet Minimum radius: 22″ Minimum turnout: no. 5 Maximum grade: 4 percent Originally appeared in the May 2010 issue of Model Railroader. Click on the […]

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East Broad Top and Pennsylvania RR

Name: East Broad Top and Pennsylvania RR Layout owner: Don Shook Scale: HO (1:87.1) and HOn3 (1:87.1, three foot gauge) Size: 24′-3″ x 26′-3″ Prototype: EBT and PRR Locale: central Pennsylvania Era: Summer 1955 Style: walk-in Mainline run: 120 feet (EBT), 96 feet (PRR) Minimum radius: 24″ (EBT), 52″ (PRR) Minimum turnout: no. 6 Maximum […]

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Great Northern

Name: Great Northern Layout owner: Jim Shaw Scale: HO (1:87.1) Size: 9 x 11 feet Prototype: freelanced, based on Great Northern and Canadian Pacific Locale: Pacific Northwest Era: Early diesel era Style: around-the-walls Minimum radius: 15″ Minimum turnout: no. 4 Maximum grade: none Originally appeared in the April 2010 issue of Model Railroader. Click on […]

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A simple transition-era locomotive terminal

Want to add a basic locomotive servicing area but don’t have room for the turntable, roundhouse, and other shop and warehouse buildings typical of a large facility? As this 1953 photo of a Missouri Pacific RR fueling facility in Little Rock, Ark., shows, a no-frills fueling area can easily be modeled in limited space. At […]

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Development of the railroad tank car

The first tank car. This replica of a Densmore-type tank car is on display at the ACF Industries plant in Milton, Pa.

The invention of the tank car coincided with the discovery of oil in northwestern Pennsylvania in the 1860s. Oilmen quickly discovered that hauling oil to market in horse-drawn wagons or floating barrels down local streams wasn’t going to do the job as oil production ramped up. The oil industry needed to find a way to […]

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Järfälla Model Railroad Club

Name: Järfälla Model Railroad Club Scale: HO (1:87.1) Size: 33 x 46 feet Theme: generic American Era: variable Style: walkaround Mainline run: 360 feet Minimum radius: 47″ Minimum turnout: no. 6 Maximum grade: 2 percent (main), 3.5 percent (branch line) Originally appeared in the March 2010 issue of Model Railroader. Click on the link to […]

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