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Visit Steve Albee’s dual-level O gauge layout that fits in a spare room! This layout is one of many with plans that appears in the fall 2021 CTT special publication Toy train layouts for small spaces. Get your print or digital version here! There are freight trains and subways bringing light, action, and sound to […]
Visit Ken Cook’s layout, featured in the September 2021 issue of Classic Toy Trains. Ken mixes postwar Lionel trains with modern track, structures, details, and scenery to create a one-of-a-kind display that entertains your eyes, ears, and imagination. Click here to see the track plan. […]
Visit Ken Cook’s layout, featured in the September 2021 issue of Classic Toy Trains. Ken mixes postwar Lionel trains with modern track, structures, details, and scenery to create a one-of-a-kind display that entertains your eyes, ears, and imagination. Click here to see the track plan. […]
On Dave Abeles’ HO scale Conrail-inspired layout, locomotive fleet operations warrant the same careful attention as it does in 1:1 scale. Follow along to see how he and his crew ready the motive power for smooth and reliable performance at the head-end of his trains! […]
When you think of engine facilities on the BNSF Ry., images of large, multi-bay structures; wash racks; and sand towers and fuel columns that can handle 10 or more locomotives at a time probably come to mind. And that makes perfect senses considering the railroad’s size. BNSF has facilities like this in Alliance (Neb. and […]
Independent Locomotive Service (ILSX) and KBN Inc. became co-owners of my hometown railroad, the Minnesota Northern (MNN), in August 2000. Since taking over the short line from RailAmerica, the railroad’s fleet of MNN-painted and lettered diesels has been supplemented with assorted lease units from ILSX. Everything from Electro-Motive Division (EMD) SW1s to SD40T-2s have been […]
Welcome to the final installment in our three-part series “Modeling from postcards.” This time, we’ll take a look at cards that show two of Crookston’s rail-served industries. Welcome to Wilds. In 1964, Cargill Inc. built a grain elevator at the south end of Crookston near the station sign Wilds. In addition to the main elevator, […]
Modeler Dave Abeles shares insights on the signal installations and operations on his HO scale Conrail-inspired layout. In this narrated trackside tour of the layout, Dave shares how to interpret signal indications. Also explore additional signaling info in the Kalmbach book, Guide to Signals & Interlockings, available from KalmbachHobbyStore.com. […]
Modeler Dave Abeles shares insights on the signal installations and operations on his HO scale Conrail-inspired layout. In this narrated trackside tour of the layout, Dave shares how to interpret signal indications. Also explore additional signaling info in the Kalmbach book, Guide to Signals & Interlockings, available from KalmbachHobbyStore.com. […]
In last month’s installment, we took a look at two postcards that showed aerial views of Crookston, Minn., my hometown. This time we’ll examine two ground-level scenes, one in the city and the other in the country. The heart of downtown. The intersection of Broadway (the north-south street the photographer is standing in) and Robert […]
Welcome to the first of a three-part series where I’ll show you the various modeling information you can learn from postcards. The cards in this series are all from Crookston, Minn., my hometown and the focus of my modeling research. Similar postcards can be found for most communities. Online auction websites like eBay are a […]
Railroading is an industry that operates around the clock, and modeler Dave Abeles proves that model railroads can roll just fine in the dark too! Watch the night moves from a trackside position on Dave’s Conrail-inspired HO scale layout, and then look for additional coverage of the model railroad in the September 2019 and February […]
