Follow host Gerry Leone as he digs into the plans and efforts to rework a structure he initially kitbashed for a previous iteration of his HO scale (1:87.1) Bona Vista model railroad. But first, he ventures back to the old familiar set of his “Off The Rails” series, all with the objective of answering a […]
In a space just beyond the lower-level yard recently featured in Spaces to Places VII, is where our host Gerry Leone now turns to make a place for a locomotive servicing area on his double-deck, HO scale (1:87.1) model railroad. Follow along as he first plans and plots out the trackwork and structures needed to […]
By the time they’ve built the benchwork and installed and wired that track, the typical new layout builder starts asking a very important question: “What comes next?” The answer, of course, is scenery. Trains, track, or a command control system can be used more or less straight from the box. Even benchwork, which starts its […]
Host Gerry Leone is back for more work on his double-deck model railroad, specifically targeting the lower-level yard recently featured in Spaces to Places VII. Follow along as he finishes out the scene by restoring and recycling ballasted track from his previous HO scale Bona Vista layout! Want to see more of Gerry’s work on […]
I love details. Thirty years ago, I built my first craftsman structure kit and found out what details could do to “raise the roof” on my modeling. If you think about it, what you mostly see of a structure on a layout is the roof. On my railroad, a roof has to have one or […]
Trains.com host David Popp invites you along for this initial overview of Model Railroader magazine’s emerging HO scale (1:87.1) project layout, the East Troy Industrial Park Railroad! To get things started, David shares how 1:1 scale operations of a Class III railroad (as featured in the Trains.com Video Series “Taking Care of Business: SMS Rail […]
A work train slowly moves across 1,130-foot-long Baird Creek Trestle during the bridge’s construction in 1940 at Weyerhauser Co.’s St. Helens Tree Farm near Longview, Wash. The 235-foot-high structure was dismantled in 1961 when the railroad closed. Weyerhauser photo […]
In this episode, host Gerry Leone takes a bit of a respite from construction of his HO scale Bona Vista HO scale model railroad. Join Gerry at Milwaukee’s Trainfest 2024 event, where he works with miniprints owner Bernard Hellen (a.k.a “Dr. Mini”) to prepare O and HO scale life-like figures of himself! Want to see […]
Most of us who love model trains value them for some aspect of their engineering, artistry, and nostalgia. We tend to be a meticulous and detail-oriented community, and we prize and cherish the integrity and aesthetics of the layouts we painstakingly build. Like any machinery, model trains need maintenance and cleaning to look and function […]
I have hunted for a variety of antiques and collectibles over the years. From old phonographs and projectors to motion lamps and of course, model trains. I often wonder about how an item ended up where it was when I ran across it. For example, I have a complete collection of the first two years […]
Structures help set the stage for a layout’s look and practicality. There are no bounds to the variety of buildings a modeler can bring to the table (or should we say benchwork). Yet there’s always that one particular building you’ll usually find on most layouts. With great insight from Model Railroader Editor Eric White, let’s […]
If your garden railroad is set in the steam or steam-to-diesel transition era, it’s going to need a coal tower. When I started to gather rolling stock and build my railroad in 2013, there were no commercial coal towers on the market. The only existing product was from Pola, but I couldn’t find one on […]
