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

ThisNorthernPacificclassCdepothasseenitsbetterdaysCodyGrivnoexplainshowtomodelaweatherbeatenwoodstructure

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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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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MR Insider Weekly: July 1, 2014

David Popp

Having trouble viewing this video?   Please visit our Video FAQ page In this July 1st edition of MR Insider Weekly, the MRVP crew takes a scouting trip to visit a colleague’s model railroad – all in the name of planning a brand-new MRVP series! When one of Kalmbach’s own needed a little help working out […]

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Restoring Chesapeake & Ohio 2-6-6-2 No. 1309

FULL SCREEN FULL SCREEN FULL SCREEN J.P. Hankey Frederick Junction, Maryland FULL SCREEN J.P. Hankey Sykesville, Maryland FULL SCREEN J.P. Hankey Weverton, Maryland FULL SCREEN J.P. Hankey Weverton, Maryland FULL SCREEN St. Denis, Maryland FULL SCREEN St. Denis, Maryland FULL SCREEN St. Denis, Maryland FULL SCREEN C&O Canal, Maryland FULL SCREEN Cumberland, Maryland FULL SCREEN […]

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MRC and Model Power enter licensing agreement

Model Rectifier Corporation has announced that they will produce and market Model Power’s railroad products under the Model Power brand. Model Power and Mantua railroad and accessory products will now be available worldwide from MRC.  Frank Ritota, president of MRC, explained that “the plan is to use the obvious synergy from the melding of the product lines to […]

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New England short line

Providence & Worcester train NR-3, a weekday turn between Plainfield, Conn., and Worcester, Mass., is northbound at Wauregan, Conn., on March 20, 2014. The train has B39-8s Nos. 3906 and 3905 for power. Photo by Gerald Aubin […]

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Whizzer

The Wisconsin & Southern, affectionately known as the “Whizzer” to local railfans, whizzes through Waukesha, Wis., on June 2, 2014. Photo by Brian Schmidt […]

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Book Review: Garratt Locomotives

Garratt Locomotives

Garratt Locomotives Reprinted by Heimburger House Publishing, 7236 W. Madison St., Forest Park, IL 60130; 36 pages, 50 illustrations; softcover, 11.5 x 8.5 in.; $18.95 Heimburger House has published this reprint of a 1920s-era Beyer, Peacock & Co. Garratt locomotive catalog. To North American eyes, the Garratt is an unusual-looking machine, but the fact that […]

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Book Review: Rock Island Requiem: The Collapse of a Mighty Fine Line

Rock Island Requiem

Rock Island Requiem: The Collapse of a Mighty Fine Line By Gregory L. Schneider University Press of Kansas, 2502 Westbrooke Cir., Lawrence, KS 66045; 392 pages, 26 photos; hardcover, 6.125 x 9.25 in.; $37.50 This impressive volume chronicles the long, sad decline of the Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific Railroad, and illustrates how federal regulation […]

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