Download the PDF of this project here. This PDF is formatted to print on your home printer. Most pieces are formatted to fit on a 8.5″ x 11″ piece of paper. For larger parts of the plan, you will see “break lines.” Line up the break lines to create the larger piece. Despite our best […]
Section: How To
Checking car weight
Having trouble viewing this video? Please visit our Video FAQ page Model Railroader associate editor Cody Grivno shows how to make sure that a car is weighted properly to roll efficiently on your layout. […]
Bay Junction (Milwaukee, Racine & Troy)
Name: Bay Junction (Milwaukee, Racine & Troy) Layout designers: The MR staff Scale: HO (1:87.1) Size: 6′-8″ x 26′-0″ Theme: freelanced junction town Locale: southern Wisconsin Era: 1990s Style: walkaround Mainline run: 42 feet Minimum radius: 30″ (except as noted) Minimum turnout: no. 6 Maximum grade: 3 percent Originally appeared in the January 2011 issue […]
Goldfield & Hangtown RR
Name: Goldfield & Hangtown RR Layout designer: Allan Wallace Scale: HO (1:87.1) Size: 20 x 25 feet Theme: mining and logging Locale: Sierra Nevada Era: 1890-1915 Style: walk-in Mainline run: 250 feet Minimum radius: 30″ Minimum turnout: no. 4 Maximum grade: 11⁄2 percent Originally appeared in the January 2011 issue of Model Railroader. Click on […]
Metropolitan Union Passenger Terminal
Name: Metropolitan Union Passenger Terminal Layout designer: Stan Sweatt Scale: HO (1:87.1) Size: 10 x 20 feet Theme: Passenger terminal Locale: freelanced Era: late steam Style: walk-in Mainline run: 120 feet Minimum radius: 30″ Minimum turnout: no. 8 (main), no. 6 (yard), no. 5 (spurs) Maximum grade: 3 percent Originally appeared in the January 2011 […]
The Milwaukee, Racine & Troy
Read the original article about Model Railroader‘s HO scale club layout, the Milwaukee, Racine & Troy by clicking here. It was originally published in December 1989. […]
A modeler’s guide to USRA locomotives
USRA locomotives were born under unique circumstances. A confluence of circumstances led to the nationalization of many of America’s railroads under President Woodrow Wilson in 1917. The outbreak of World War I, which necessitated a ramp-up of American industrial production capacity, and the financial circumstances of the early 1910s led to a liquidity crisis for […]
Cedar Valley Short Lines
Name: Cedar Valley Short Lines Layout designer: John Saxon Scale: HO (1:87.1) Size: 10 x 22 feet (additional two-track loop suspended from ceiling of adjoining garage) Theme: freelanced, based on Tony Koester’s Allegheny Midland Locale: West Virginia Era: 1960 Style: multilevel walkaround Mainline run: 168 feet Minimum radius: 27″ (visible), 24″ (hidden) Minimum turnout: no. […]
Chesapeake & Ohio Ry. Mountain Subdivision
Name: C&O Mountain Subdivision Layout designer: Bernard Kempinski Scale: N (1:160) Size: 30 x 30 feet Prototype: Chesapeake & Ohio with interchange connections to the Norfolk & Western and Southern Ry. Locale: Blue Ridge Mountains and Shenandoah Valley, Virginia Era: 1950 Style: linear walkaround Mainline run: 175 feet Minimum radius: 24″ Minimum turnout: no. 6 […]
Pennsylvania RR Panhandle Division
Name: Pennsylvania RR Panhandle Division Layout designer: Curt LaRue Scale: HO (1:87.1) Size: 40 x 41 feet Prototype: Pennsylvania RR Locale: western Pennsylvania, West Virginia panhandle, and eastern Ohio Eras: 1950-1952 (primary), 1955-1956 (secondary) Style: around the walls Mainline run: 120 feet Minimum radius: 36″ Minimum turnout: no. 6 Maximum grade: none Click on the […]
Adding operations to a model railroad
Read how Brooks Stover made a three-hour operating session for a 6- to 8-member crew with what seemed like so little action. Adding operations to a model railroad […]
Main line through the mountains
Read how John Armstrong developed the Southern Pacific Lines Shasta Division for Otis McGree, Jr. Main line through the mountains […]