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Facts & features Name: Reading Co. Scale: HO (1:87.1)Size: 13′-6″ x 22′-0″ plus 2′-6″ x 5′-3″ West Philadelphia additionPrototype: Reading Co.Locale: eastern PennsylvaniaEra: 1930s to 1940sStyle: walk-inMainline run: 80 feetMinimum radius: 36″ (main)Minimum turnout: No. 6 (main), No. 4 (yards and industries)Maximum grade: 2%Benchwork: modified L-girderHeight: 50″ to 58″Roadbed: cork on plywood (main), Homasote on […]
Facts & features Name: Conway Scenic RRScale: N (1:160)Size: 6 x 12 feetPrototype: freelancedLocale: New Hampshire’s White Mountain regionEra: modernStyle: islandMainline run: 45 feetMinimum radius: 36″Minimum turnout: No. 8Maximum grade: 3.5%Benchwork: open gridHeight: 36″Roadbed: CorkTrack: Peco code 80 flextrackScenery: extruded-foam insulation boardBackdrop: painted on wallsControl: SCADA automation system Download this trackplan! Buy the […]
Facts & features Name: Wolf Creek Central RRScale: HO (1:87.1)Size: 8′-1″ x 13′-1″ Prototype: freelancedLocale: southeast North CarolinaEra: 1990sStyle: peninsulaMainline run: 81 feetMinimum radius: 24″Minimum turnout: no. 4Maximum grade: 2.7%Benchwork: L-girderHeight: 48″Roadbed: HomasoteTrack: code 70, 83, and 100 flextrackScenery: Woodland Scenics ground foamBackdrop: Painted tempered hardboardControl: Digitrax DB150 DCC Download a PDF of this […]
Overlooked during the prewar era and for the first decade of the postwar, it inspired four O gauge diesels and an operating boxcar in the space of four years in the second half of the 1950s. Let’s focus on the No. 2240 F3s. Introducing the Wabash The Wabash Ry. was one of several lines crossing […]
Lionel no. 2460 crane car During the prewar decades, crane cars became one of the hallmarks of the Lionel roster, with the No. 500 derrick car added to the 2 7/8-inch gauge roster in 1903. However, the Standard gauge line that followed did not boast a crane until the No. 219 made its debut in […]
Lionel’s engineers reached greater heights in 1959 when the firm introduced the No. 44 U.S. Army mobile missile launcher. Lionel offered an example of motive power that could pull cars and carry out a task worthy of a separate toy. To this moment in Lionel’s history, the best that its locomotives could offer were lights, […]
Miniature trees for warmer climates Since I seldom travel to parts of North America in USDA Hardiness Zones 9 and 10, it’s easier for me to write about plants adapted to more temperate climes. A number of you who have garden railways in those warmer regions have asked for more information about plants suited to […]
Greg Hurd’s Central Division of Glacier Gorge RR Gauge: SDimensions: 14 x 31 feetTrack and switches: Gilbert American Flyer, GarGraves, K-Line (diameters range from 40 to 62 inches)Motive power: American Models, Gilbert American Flyer, Lionel American Flyer, Rex Engineering, S-Helper ServiceRolling stock: Ace Trains, Ambroid, American Models, Gilbert American Flyer, JC Models, Kinsman, Lionel American […]
Dimensions: 9 x 17½ feetTrack: Lionel tubular (diameters range from 31 to 72 inches)Switches: K-Line, LionelMotive power: Atlas O, K-Line, Lionel (postwar, modern), MTH Electric, Trains, WilliamsRolling stock: K-Line, Lionel (post-war, modern), MTHControls: Lionel postwar type-ZW transformers (3)Accessories: American Flyer, Colber, Lionel, MTHStructures: Lionel, Menards, MTH See the layout in action on Trains.com […]
Lionel’s automatic refrigerated milk car model No. 3672 is an updated version of the path-breaking car that Lionel enthusiasts of all ages loved when it debuted as the No. 3462 in 1947. The evolution of the milk car that culminated with the 3672. It is known among collectors of postwar trains as the “Bosco car.” […]
Did you ever look to your kitchen as source for free items to make your layout more visually appealing? With just a little paint and some imagination, items like pudding cups, freezer packaging rolls, and fast-food condiment containers can become stock tanks, flatcar loads, and much more! If you are looking for scale items, some […]
The Green River layout is impressive. After all, at 33 x 44 feet, there’s a lot to be impressed with. Hilton Glavish, the owner of the layout, began modeling the Wyoming Division of the Union Pacific, from Echo Canyon to Green River in the 1950s, in 2012. “In 2008, I drove the road from Ogden […]
