Distributed power braking

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BNSF Railway distributed power pushes an eastbound empty coal train at Hathaway, Mont., in June 2014. Tom Danneman Q In two recent issues, Trains stated that distributed power helps maintain trainline air for brakes. How can this be without giving up lead unit control of the brakes? – Jay Noyes, Lowell, Ind. A In distributed […]

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Ask MRVP: Episode 42

David Popp stands behind a counter in the Model Railroader workshop and introduces a video.

Having trouble viewing this video?   Please visit our Video FAQ page Host David Popp wants YOU to watch this episode of Ask MRVP! If for no other reason than to hear his responses to hobby questions from viewers just like you. Tune in to find out how HO scale locomotives with capacitors run through […]

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Ask MRVP: Episode 42

David Popp stands behind a counter in the Model Railroader workshop and introduces a video.

Having trouble viewing this video?   Please visit our Video FAQ page Host David Popp wants YOU to watch this episode of Ask MRVP! If for no other reason than to hear his responses to hobby questions from viewers just like you. Tune in to find out how HO scale locomotives with capacitors run through […]

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Design your railway, Part 1: Organize the plan

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1. Retired but still active, Jerry and Alison Ogden maintain their Possum Creek Railroad to stay lush, with wall-to-wall plants they bought from Miniature Plant Kingdom. At this stage, six years after its initial construction, the trackplan still works and access is easy, but several unruly or languishing plants have been replaced. Jerry started with […]

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Design your railway, Part 2: Focus on a theme

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1. Near their back door in Nevada, a railyard introduces viewers to the theme of Joe and Mary Schrock’s highly detailed railway, Bulldog Junction. This picture communicates the teamwork necessary on railroads. All parts support the main theme. The distant backdrop of pointed dwarf Alberta spruce (Picea glauca ‘Conica’, Zones 4-8) suggests the scale world […]

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Lake Allatoona line relocation

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A Nashville, Chattanooga & St. Louis train crosses the Etowah River, soon to be Lake Allatoona, in December 1944. CSX Transportation now operates the line. Trains collection Q Which issue of Trains featured the article about a line relocation on the Western & Atlantic, an early Louisville & Nashville predecessor, at Lake Allatoona, near Cartersville, […]

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Ask Trains: How do train crews earn their pay?

Union Pacific Ask Trains engine crew pay

A Union Pacific local train passes through suburban areas near Minneapolis-St. Paul, Minn., in October 2017. TRAINS: Steve Sweeney Question: How do trains crews earn their money? — Lee Martens, Rifle, Colo. Answer: In short, it is complicated. There are differences between how most Class I railroaders are paid and their short line colleagues — […]

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