The D&R Railroad

The railway at a glance Name: D & R Railroad Size of Railroad: 60′ x 150′ Scale: 1:20.3 Gauge: 45mm (Nº 1) Era: 1900s-1940s Theme: Chama branch of the D&RGW Railroad Age: 4 years Motive power: Battery-powered locomotives Length of mainline: 1,000′ Maximum Gradient: 3% Type of track: Aristo-Craft brass, code-332 flex track; Parker Company […]

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The R&F Railroad

The railway at a glance Name: The R&F Railroad Size: 110′ x 165′ (1/3 acre) Scales: 1:20.3 to 1:32 Gauge: Nº 1 (45mm) Era: 1920s through the present Theme: Predominately western railroads, including Santa Fe, Union Pacific, Denver & Rio Grande Western Age: 19 years Length of track: Total, 3,000′; double 500′ mainlines Type of […]

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The Southern Cross Railway

TSOMO DRIFT. It’s the usual problem on a single-track railway—waiting for traffic coming the other way. A great horseshoe curve links Tsomo Drift with Orange River, although, as the crow flies, they are very close, so the driver of the Baldwin 2-8-0, Nº 724, can see the reason for this long delay. Over at Orange […]

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The Snake River Railroad

The steel truss bridge spans a deep gully. It was assembled entirely with screws and nuts on a purpose-built table. Marc Horovitz The railway at a glance Name: Snake River Railroad Size of railroad: 200′ x 300′ (approximately) Scale: 1:29 Gauge: Nº 1 (45mm) Theme: Mainline railroading in the Northwest Era: Modern Age: 15 years […]

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PDF: Build a 1:20.3 scale Climax locomotive

Build a 1:20.3 scale Climax locomotive

Download the PDF of this project here. Note: This PDF is formatted to print on your home printer. Most pieces are formatted to fit on a 8.5″ x 11″ piece of paper. For larger parts of the plan, you will see “break lines.” Line up the break lines to create the larger piece. Despite our […]

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New technology in live steam

Jeff Young Full-size steam locomotives have been in existence for over 200 years, and live-steam models for nearly that long. On that basis, it might be easy to conclude that the hobby of small-scale live steam is one that would not see a lot of new technology. To the contrary, there have been a number […]

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PDF: 1:20.3 scale lobster boat, part 1

1:20.3 scale lobster boat

Download a PDF to build part one of our 1:20.3-scale lobster boat. Part one includes plans for the boat itself. Note: This PDF is tiled to print on your home printer. Two “overview” pages will print first, followed by the full-size plans. Each page has 1 1/2″ of intentional overlap. Trim the excess paper from […]

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PDF: Build a 1:20.3 scale drovers’ caboose

Build a 1:20.3 scale drovers' caboose

PDF: Build a 1:20.3 scale drovers’ caboose Download the PDF of this project here. Note: This PDF is tiled to print on your home printer. Two “overview” pages will print first, followed by the full-size plans. Each page has 1 1/2″ of intentional overlap. Trim the excess paper from each page and assemble the sections […]

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PDF: Build a 1:20.3 scale one-horse Shay

Build a 1:20.3 scale one-horse Shay

Download the PDF of this project here. Note: This PDF is tiled to print on your home printer. Two “overview” pages will print first, followed by the full-size plans. Each page has 1 1/2″ of intentional overlap. Trim the excess paper from each page and assemble the sections using the overview pages as a guide. […]

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PDF: Build a 1:20.3 scale sleigh

Build a 1:20.3 scale sleigh

Download the PDF of this project here. Note: This PDF is tiled to print on your home printer. Two “overview” pages will print first, followed by the full-size plans. Each page has 1 1/2″ of intentional overlap. Trim the excess paper from each page and assemble the sections using the overview pages as a guide. […]

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PDF: 1:20.3 scale lobster boat, part 2

1:20.3 scale lobster boat

Download a PDF to build part two of our 1:20.3-scale lobster boat. Part two includes finishing and detailing the boat. Note: This PDF is tiled to print on your home printer. Two “overview” pages will print first, followed by the full-size plans. Each page has 1 1/2″ of intentional overlap. Trim the excess paper from […]

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Build a work caboose

Download these free plans for a work caboose! They accompany our “Garden railway basics” articles from the June and August 2006 issues. Follow along with author Kevin Strong to build a work caboose from styrene. […]

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