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One interesting feature of this Model Railroader project layout are the folding legs that support the benchwork. Dick Christianson, the layout builder and Model Railroader magazine’s former managing editor, gives you a demonstration of how the folding legs work. He’ll also discuss the fascia and backdrop material that he used for the N scale Salt […]
Having trouble viewing this video? Please visit our Video FAQ page The HO scale Ohio Southern, built by Senior Editor Jim Hediger, is not only one of the first multi-level model railroads, the layout is also one of the first to use a helix. Listen to Jim recall how he built his first helix […]
Route 66 – the two-lane highway that winds its way from Chicago to Los Angeles – has been immortalized in popular music, literature, and television. Who doesn’t remember the Joads making their way west on the Mother Road of the U.S. in John Steinbeck’s The Grapes of Wrath or Tod and Buz tooling along in […]
Having trouble viewing this video? Please visit our Video FAQ page This week Model Railroader Associate Editor Cody Grivno celebrates the 2 year anniversary of the Modeler’s Spotlight video series with a trip south of the border. Along with a look at some new model railroading products, Cody will show you an easy way […]
Having trouble viewing this video? Please visit our Video FAQ page This week Model Railroader Associate Editor Cody Grivno celebrates the 2 year anniversary of the Modeler’s Spotlight video series with a trip south of the border. Along with a look at some new model railroading products, Cody will show you an easy way […]
See these two articles on Doug Tagsold’s Denver, Front Range & Western. Doug Tagsold’s Denver, Front Range & Western Railfanning in Colorado […]
Good lighting helps Flemming Örneholm hide the compact covered corner in his background. Coved corners help to reinforce the feeling of great distance that’s produced by a good backdrop. Large layouts with plenty of real estate often use wide, gently curved panels to make these inside corners disappear. But modelers with small layouts can’t afford […]
Scenic baseA layout’s scenic base is the foundation for all of its scenery, including roads, grass, trees, and rocks. An inexpensive scenery base can be made using a lightweight support structure, such as cardboard strips glued together, covered with layers of plaster-soaked gauze or paper towels. Another type of base you can use is made […]
Open-grid benchworkStarter layouts are often flat and built on a 4 x 8 sheet of plywood. However, the majority of layouts have tracks at varying heights separated by grades. The easiest way to add elevation to a layout is to use open-grid benchwork. For this type of construction you place a plywood subroadbed under the […]
Types of locomotives Prototype steam engines were used for about 130 years, from the first railroads in the 1830s until the early 1960s. The first diesels appeared in the early 1930s and operated side-by-side with steamers on many railroads during the 1940s and early 1950s. A wide variety of plastic and metal locomotive models is […]
Prototype Any real-life object that’s modeled is considered a prototype. Examples of prototypes include locomotives, freight and passenger cars, structures, trackwork, and even an entire railroad. Period modeling Many modelers set their layouts in a particular span of time. For example, a modeler may choose a period when steam engines hauled most trains. If the […]
Dispatcher control (cab control)To operate more than one train using direct current (DC) train control, a model railroad can be divided into a series of isolated electrical blocks. A dispatcher then assigns one or more blocks to an operator’s cab, allowing him to run his train in these areas. Memory throttleA memory throttle allows an […]
