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Q: Way, way back in the 20th century, I think in the 1980s (though I’m probably wrong), Model Railroader ran an article about making your own coupler height gauges in the various scales, including TT scale. Can you advise which issue that was? None are available in TT today, and I could use a couple on […]
Cabooses (no, not cabeese) were a common occurrence on freight trains throughout most of the 1900s, yet we rarely see them today. Why is that? When did they stop operating? Where did they go? And lastly, how can I model the last days of the caboose on my layout? Why? In one word: technology. Advances […]
Steam locomotives in the garden Do you have a photo you’d like considered for a future gallery? Email editor@gardenrailways.com for more information. […]
To mark the 50th anniversary of Ntrak, I thought I’d take a look at the Ntrak modular standard and sketch up a sample track plan for a couple modules. Ntrak started at an N scalers’ gathering in Signal Hill, Calif., in 1973, where the modelers were discussing ways to get more people into their favorite […]
Lionel Santa Fe Alco diesel Q: What toy train locomotive means the most to you? A: The locomotive that means the most to me is the Lionel Santa Fe Alco diesel. Yes, that’s right, Lionel only called it an “Alco diesel” with no designation of Alco model. It’s decorated in the attractive Santa Fe “Bluebonnet” […]
Do you have a photo you’d like considered for a future gallery? Email editor@gardenrailways.com for more information. […]
Roadbed for main lines and spurs: Lots of modelers in all scales take measures to differentiate mainline track from spurs and sidings. Spurs are dead-end tracks leading to industries, loading ramps, and sometimes stations. Sidings are tracks usually parallel to mainline tracks and are double-ended so a train can take the siding, stop, and wait […]
3D printed structures in N scale: In the heart of Tehachapi, Calif., near the Union Pacific’s double-track main line, stands a steam-era Southern Pacific 65,000-gallon water tank. It was brought to the town from another location on the railroad after a major earthquake destroyed its predecessor on April 21, 1952. Without it, Tehachapi had a […]
Kitbash a saddle tank engine: I uncovered an old Lionel large scale 0-6-0 with outside drive gears that I had kitbashed several years ago. It had a neat cab and unusual stack, which was a little bent due to a smoke unit overheating. The drive system was so poor that I had to undo one of the driver […]
See what you’re really modeling: Does this ever happen to you? You’re driving down a street you’ve gone down a hundred times before and you notice a particular house for the first time. “Where the heck did that come from?” you’re wondering. My point is we can look right at things and not really see […]
Derailments of the curious kind: Several months ago, my operations chief Gordy Spiering and I were orbiting a couple trains on my N scale layout for a group of visitors and the same boxcar kept derailing at the west end switch in the town of Tehachapi. In a situation like that the show must go […]
An N scale loading ramp for Bakersfield: In 1979, Jim FitzGerald, remembered fondly by many of us N scalers as Mr. Ntrak, introduced me to the Tehachapi Loop and its environs, and my model railroading fate was sealed forever. I wrote a remembrance of Jim in the May 2014 Model Railroader for my N Scale […]
