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Name: Narragansett RR Scale: On3 (O scale, 3-foot gauge) Size: 24 x 24 feet Prototype: freelanced, inspired by Narragansett Pier RR Locale: Narragansett, R.I. Era: 1950 Style: walk-in Mainline run: 78 feet Minimum radius: 28″ Minimum turnout: no. 6 Maximum grade: none Benchwork: L-girder and tabletop Height: 601⁄2″ Roadbed: Homasote on spline subroadbed Track: handlaid […]
Having trouble viewing this video? Please visit our Video FAQ page Even in the midst of the extensive tracklaying effort on MRVP’s HO scale Winston-Salem Southbound layout, David Popp continued adding various benchwork and scenery elements. In this video, David Popp brings you up to date on those projects. […]
Name: Great Lakes & Western Scale: HO (1:87.1) Size: 37 x 48 feet Theme: freelanced Class 1 with standard gauge logging and narrow gauge branch lines Locale: Midwest to Western United States Era: 1940s to present day (depends on operating session) Style: walk-in Mainline run: approx. 800 feet Minimum radius: 30″ (main line), 26″ (narrow […]
Name: Manassas Junction, Va. Scale: N (1:160) Size: 34″ x 52.5″ Prototype: Manassas Gap RR and Orange & Alexandria RR Locale: Manassas Junction, Va. Era: July 1861 Style: diorama Mainline run: 4′-4″ Minimum radius: 19″ Minimum turnout: no. 4 Maximum grade: none Benchwork: 1 x 2 frame with 1⁄4″ plywood top Height: 47′-6″ Roadbed: built […]
Free software available online, such as Sketchup, can be used to design models that are produced by 3-D printing services like Shapeways. Alex Marchand followed this path to model a CSX class U-13 phosphate hopper in N scale. When I was in high school in the late ’90s, I saw a TV show that ran […]
Having trouble viewing this video? Please visit our Video FAQ page The command control sound effects offered on many new locomotive models are far more than just “cool” features. As Model Railroader magazine’s contributing editor Andy Sperandeo demonstrates in this video, the bell and whistle sounds can be used in a prototypical manner to […]
Having trouble viewing this video? Please visit our Video FAQ page MR Contributing editor Tony Koester makes his point – point rails that is! In this video installment, Tony demonstrates how to add the movable points, a switch rod, and guardrails on the turnout he’s built for MRVP’s HO scale Winston-Salem Southbound layout. […]
Having trouble viewing this video? Please visit our Video FAQ page MR contributing editor Tony Koester now has all the essential components of the handlaid trackwork installed. In this video, David Popp takes up the effort to add a Blue Point switch control, cut gaps in the rail to isolate the frog, and then […]
Having trouble viewing this video? Please visit our Video FAQ page Tony Koester continues with final preparations before he starts adding rails to the turnout on MRVP’s HO scale Winston-Salem Southbound layout. In this video you’ll see Tony’s techniques for spiking and gauging the rails, building a frog, plus a quick tip for testing […]
Author Rob Foreman described how he scratchbuilt an 1870s-era railroad water tower from stripwood and styrene in the August 2015 Model Railroader. Get inspired to try a scratchbuilding project on your model railroad. […]
Three colors of paint, an airbrush, and a couple of hours is all MRVP’s David Popp needed to enhance three different types of N scale diesel locomotives with realistic weathering effects. In this video, David shows the paints and airbrushing techniques required to give the Red Oak N scale units, or practically any other diesel […]
1. Hardy African iceplant makes a great groundcover, here blooming in late May. On the right is Angelina stonecrop, with yellow-green leaves, rising to 4-5″ tall. (All photos were taken on the author’s Hoot ’n’ Holler Railroad unless noted.) Photos by the author Don Parker 2. This small, yellow-flowering stonecrop (probably Sedum acer ‘Aureum’) is […]
