Some good news for toy train hobbyists: Mike Wolf might be retiring, but his former company isn’t. A year after M.T.H. Electric Trains’ owner announced his plan to depart the industry, a significant portion of the company is relocating from its Columbia, Md. facility to a new one in Elkridge, Md., while another part continues […]
Scale: Large Scale
M.T.H. will continue to make trains
Some good news for toy train hobbyists: Mike Wolf might be retiring, but his former company isn’t. A year after M.T.H. Electric Trains’ owner announced his plan to depart the industry, a significant portion of the company is relocating from its Columbia, Md. facility to a new one in Elkridge, Md., while another part continues […]
Model railroad locomotive, freight car, passenger car, detail, tool, and book announcements for May 20, 2021
Product news Model railroad operators and builders can get the latest information about locomotives, freight cars, passenger cars, tools, track, and more by reading Model Railroader’s frequent product updates. Here are the products Model Railroader editors have news on for the week of May 20, 2021. HO scale locomotives Genesis 4-8-4 FEF-2 and FEF-3 steam […]
Create a soybean field for your garden railroad
Always looking for new ways to make the farm scene on my garden railroad layout look more realistic, I decided to add a field of crops. With my limited knowledge of gardening, creating long rows of perfectly aligned tiny plants just wasn’t possible. I pondered several ideas but discovered the best one as I strolled […]
Model railroad locomotive, freight car, detail, book, tool, and club announcements for May 13, 2021
Product news Model railroad operators and builders can get the latest information about locomotives, freight cars, passenger cars, tools, track, and more by reading Model Railroader’s frequent product updates. Here are the products Model Railroader editors have news on for the week of May 13, 2021. HO scale locomotives Electro-Motive Division GP40-2 and GP40-2L diesel […]
A fun way to operate your garden railroad
We enjoy operations on our Weona (we-own-a) Railroad, but we wanted something different for our operating sessions. Here’s how we do it. I made a pair of four-sided dice, one with sides labeled 1, 2, 3, and 4, and the other 1, 2, 3, and blank, giving a possible outcome of 1 to 7, to […]
Welcome to garden railroading!
Get an overview of the garden railroading hobby by watching our introductory video. If you are interested in knowing more about putting trains in your backyard or garden, consider signing up for our welcome email series. […]
Kitbash a large-scale structure from a craft birdhouse
Our local Michaels craft store sells an unfinished wooden birdhouse you can buy for just $4.99 (or less if you use a coupon). I’ve found it useful for kitbashing small buildings for your railroad. I will share three examples I made for my own railroad. [Note: All unfinished wood should be painted/stained before leaving […]
How to clean track on your garden railway
There are dozens of methods used to clean the rails in the garden. There are track-cleaning locomotives, track-cleaning cars, polishing wheels you can fit to the underside of a truck, blocks, poles with pads on the end—enough innovation to make a mousetrap inventor think his job is simple. These can be broken down into “manual” […]
News & Products for the week of April 22, 2021
Large scale locomotives RailAdventure VI BR 103 electric locomotive. Spring-loaded metal pantographs (not equipped for overhead pickup); two five-pole can-type ball-bearing motors; molded and separately applied details, including lights; windshield wipers, handrails, horn, bumpers, and more; red and white directional lighting; dual-mode Digital Command Control sound decoder (locomotive will run on analog DC, but sound […]
Model railroad locomotive, freight car, structure, train set, and tool announcements for April 22, 2021
Product news Model railroad operators and builders can get the latest information about locomotives, freight cars, passenger cars, tools, track, and more by reading Model Railroader’s frequent product updates. Here are the products Model Railroader editors have news on for the week of April 22, 2021. HO scale locomotives North County Transit District Sprinter articulated […]
News & Products for the week of April 15th, 2021
Large scale locomotives Pennsylvania RR 2-6-0 steam locomotive. Five-pole precision can-type ball-bearing motor; SoundTraxx sound decoder; 5 volt smoke unit; factory-applied piping, handrails, ladders, and cow catcher; engineer figure; and hook-and-loop couplers. $689.99. May 2021. PIKO America, 619-280-2800, piko-america.com Large scale rolling stock Union Pacific drovers caboose. Positionable side baggage doors; light-emitting-diode marker lamps; factory-applied […]