MR Insider: 2014 National Train Show, Part 1

model railroad display at the 2014 National Train Convention

Having trouble viewing this video?   Please visit our Video FAQ page The MR/MRVP Dream Team including David, Neil, Dana, Cody, and publisher Kevin Keefe storm into Cleveland to cover the 2014 National Train Show. In part 1 of 2 videos, Cody talks with several manufacturers eager to share their exciting new products. He also […]

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Desert oasis

An eastbound BNSF Railway intermodal, led by C44-9Ws Nos. 4444 and 5386, passes the former Santa Fe depot in Barstow, Calif., on Oct. 10, 2009. Photo by Gus Lambert […]

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Cousins

Two Alco switchers, one active and one derelict, call the National Railroad Museum in Green Bay, Wis., home. Here, on May 31, 2014, one pulls an excursion train around the railroad’s loop track. Both are painted for the Green Bay & Western. Photo by Brian Schmidt […]

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Pride of the fleet

Steam locomotive with short train on prairie

Canadian Pacific 4-6-4 No. 2816 is seen on the Brooks Subdivision at milepost 139 near Strangmuir, Alberta, in June 2010 on a test run following a 20-month rebuild. Photo by Bill Hooper […]

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MR Insider Weekly: July 7, 2014

Jenny Freeland at her computer

Having trouble viewing this video?   Please visit our Video FAQ page This week on MR Insider Weekly, MRVP’s Jenny Maaske catches up with assistant editor Ben Lake. Jenny talks with Ben about his forthcoming MRVP debut in front of the camera, rather than behind it! Ben reveals some of the challenges of being under […]

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Olympia Logging Series: Part 12 – Backdrop painting

Hand holding airbrush painting a back drop.

Using little more than a cardstock template and a couple paint colors, artist Jay Smith shows viewers just how quick and easy it is to add a realistic pine forest treeline to MRVP’s On30 Olympia Logging Co. layout. Jay used his favorite internal mix airbrush to apply the paint, but his simply technique for making […]

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Olympia Logging Series: Part 12 – Backdrop painting

Hand holding airbrush painting a back drop.

Using little more than a cardstock template and a couple paint colors, artist Jay Smith shows viewers just how quick and easy it is to add a realistic pine forest treeline to MRVP’s On30 Olympia Logging Co. layout. Jay used his favorite internal mix airbrush to apply the paint, but his simply technique for making […]

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Model a weather-beaten wood structure

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This Northern Pacific class C depot has seen its better days. Cody Grivno explains how to model a weather-beaten wood structure. In model railroading, weathering is typically associated with freight cars and locomotives. However, structure weathering is another way to add realism to a layout. Peeling and faded paint, a roof in need of repair, […]

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Kindnesses on the Omaha Road

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Omaha Road 4-6-2 No. 500 departs Minneapolis with a train for Superior, Wis., in August 1950. Bob Borcherding At nearly 70 years of age, I am still enthralled at the passage of trains. Today’s trains—often featuring high-horsepower diesel locomotives, radio-controlled helpers, rotary-dump coal cars by the unit-trainload, and containers carrying products from halfway around the […]

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The wreck of NP 10

Name:    Janis Roguskie Railroad Name:    Reading Lines Location:    Pennsylvania Scale:    Lionel O Gauge Theme:    Reading Railroad in Pennsylvania Description:    Where there’s trains, there’ll be wrecks. I had a derailment while getting a tonnage train underway. Never one to waste an opportunity, I decided to exploit the play value of the derailment. All I need now […]

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