HO scale Lehigh & Keystone Valley

MRRA0913_Lehigh_A

Name: Lehigh & Keystone Valley Layout designer: Lehigh & Keystone Valley model railroading club Scale: HO (1:87.1) Size: 45 x 60 feet Theme: Eastern Pennsylvania and western New Jersey Locale: Pennsylvania’s Lehigh Valley Era: 1950-1970 Style: linear walkaround Mainline run: 960 feet Minimum radius: 28″ Minimum turnout: no. 5 Maximum grade: 1.5 percent in helix […]

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2013 National Train Show new products report part 1

AthearnTrainsHOscaleElectroMotiveDivisionSDP45.Preproductionsamplesshown

Athearn Trains HO scale Electro-Motive Division SDP45. Pre-production samples shown. HO scale locomotives Electro-Motive Division SDP45. Erie Lackawanna, Great Northern (Big Sky Blue), and Southern Pacific. Four road numbers per scheme. Detailed cab interior, flat or pointed long hood end as appropriate, and railroad-specific brake cylinder placement on trucks. Direct-current model, $189.98; with SoundTraxx Digital […]

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Building Bay Junction part 1

Neil Besougloff next to layout

Beginning in the January 2011 issue you’ll see the latest Model Railroader project layout, the HO scale Bay Junction on the Milwaukee, Racine & Troy. We built this modern junction town as part of our MR&T club layout, but we’ll show you how you can build the railroad as a standalone island or shelf layout. […]

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Thin Branch Series: Making puffball trees

Neil Besougloff holding materials for puffball trees.

Having trouble viewing this video?   Please visit our Video FAQ page Need a lot of tree-covered hills on your layout? In this video, MR’s editor Neil Besougloff shows you how to make common puffball trees. This technique models just the treetops, and it’s a great way to fill background hills with trees quickly. […]

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Thin Branch Series: Making puffball trees

Neil Besougloff holding materials for puffball trees.

Having trouble viewing this video?   Please visit our Video FAQ page Need a lot of tree-covered hills on your layout? In this video, MR’s editor Neil Besougloff shows you how to make common puffball trees. This technique models just the treetops, and it’s a great way to fill background hills with trees quickly. […]

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Thin Branch Series Ballasting a 1950s main line track

Cody ballasting alongside a track.

Having trouble viewing this video?   Please visit our Video FAQ page Cody Grivno, our one-man ballasting crew, shares his tips and techniques for ballasting a well-groomed 1950s mainline track. Cody takes you through the process start to finish on our HO scale Thin Branch project, but his techniques work just as well in other […]

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Thin Branch Series Ballasting a 1950s main line track

Cody ballasting alongside a track.

Having trouble viewing this video?   Please visit our Video FAQ page Cody Grivno, our one-man ballasting crew, shares his tips and techniques for ballasting a well-groomed 1950s mainline track. Cody takes you through the process start to finish on our HO scale Thin Branch project, but his techniques work just as well in other […]

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Cody’s Workshop Episode 6 – rolled roofing

Cody Grivno placing a structure on a model railroad

Having trouble viewing this video?   Please visit our Video FAQ page Our July visit to the workshop finds Cody finishing the freight house project by adding rolled roofing and final details to the structure. Along the way, Cody will also show you how to prepare a plastic shell for painting, join Atlas and Peco […]

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Cody’s Workshop Episode 6 – rolled roofing

Cody Grivno placing a structure on a model railroad

Having trouble viewing this video?   Please visit our Video FAQ page Our July visit to the workshop finds Cody finishing the freight house project by adding rolled roofing and final details to the structure. Along the way, Cody will also show you how to prepare a plastic shell for painting, join Atlas and Peco […]

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Kato USA HO scale GE P42 diesel locomotive

KatoUSAHOscaleGEP42diesellocomotive

Kato USA HO scale GE P42 diesel locomotive Are two motors better than one? A typical HO scale locomotive uses a single direct-current (DC) motor mounted on the chassis. Earlier this year, Kato introduced a new approach on one of its HO scale Japanese locomotives by using two compact coreless motors mounted in the trucks. […]

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Bachmann HO scale hi-rail truck

BachmannHOscalehirailtruck

Bachmann HO scale hi-rail truck Price: $109.99 Manufacturer Bachmann Trains 1400 E. Erie Ave. Philadelphia, PA 19124 www.bachmanntrains.com Era: 1980s to present Comments: This HO scale hi-rail truck from Bachmann Trains features a dual-mode Digital Command Control (DCC) decoder that operates on both direct-current (DC) and DCC layouts. The truck’s plastic body shell doesn’t represent […]

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