Amtrak Acela adventure along the Northeast Corridor

Join Trains.com staffers Kent Johnson and Ben Lake, as they explore Business Class and First Class experience aboard Amtrak’s Acela high-speed passenger service! From South Station (BOS) to Union Station (NHV), follow the duo as they take the train to work between Boston, Mass. to New Haven, Conn. in Business Class. Then watch as their […]

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Pacific Southern Railway in HO scale

With a mainline run of more than 1,000 feet, this freelanced HO scale (1:87.1) club layout is quite impressive! But the fact that the established Pacific Southern Railway Club 501(c)(3) nonprofit raises funds for a local emergency services definitely makes this model railroad a stand-out/stand-up amongst some of the finest in the hobby! To learn […]

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The Hills Line with James McNab | Adventures in tracklaying, Episode 15

In this episode, Host James McNab embarks on a journey to elevate model railroading skills by exploring cutting-edge methods. Specifically featuring the use of Central Valley tie strips to build hand laid trackwork. With the objective of encouraging modelers to employ fresh techniques, James demonstrates the process on his portable HO scale Hills Line module, […]

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Polar Express five-day layout build

scene of toy train on holiday layout

The Classic Toy Trains staff built the Polar Express layout over a five day period, from benchwork to final scenery. The layout features scenes from the beloved movie, including the Hero Boy’s house, the train crossing the frozen river, and the city scene where the First Gift of Christmas is given. Staffers Hal Miller, Roger […]

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Summer Camp 2023 | After Hours

Trains.com Summer Camp 2023 has shut down for the season. But that certainly doesn’t mean Camp Director David Popp’s modeling efforts will come to an end! In fact, David recently hosted a Trains.com Webcam live stream video session (akin to Midday Modeler) from his basement, just to show and share many of the projects he’ll […]

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Summer Camp 2023 | Day 7

Last Day of Summer Camp 2023 on Trains.com Video! Camp Director David Popp has been been working really hard all week to get his locomotive weathered, boxcar decaled, bridge constructed, detailed parts assembled and painted, as well as the truck project completed too. Although camp closes after this session, we’ll see you back on the regularly programmed Olympia […]

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Summer Camp 2023 | Day 6

Summer Camp 2023 | Day Six. The “extra” days on the weekend have allowed Camp Director David Popp to tackle all of those little projects that he hasn’t had time to do while working on bigger efforts for the On30 scale Olympia Logging Co. railroad. Hard to label these “little” projects as chicken scratch…but one of […]

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Summer Camp 2023 | Day 5

Summer Camp 2023 | Day Five. Camp Director David Popp is wearing a hard hat because that means we’ve got a lot of hard work ahead of us. It’s clear that it won’t all be completed in five days this week… But no worries — We’ll extend our sessions into the weekend! Looking to keep up […]

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Summer Camp 2023 | Day 4

Welcome to Summer Camp 2023 Day Four. Today is an odds and ends kind of day, because we have all sorts of things to advance to the next level. Campers will get involved in detailing work, constructing part of the truck before painting the subassemblies, plus starting to paint the Sculptamold once that’s dry. Looking to […]

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Summer Camp 2023 | Day 3

It’s Day Three of Summer Camp, and David already has a bridge to show he’s having fun modeling while hidden away from the heat of the sun! Abutments await, as well as a truck building project to start this session. Plus, a few more surprises to keep things exciting! Looking to keep up with the […]

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Summer Camp 2023 | Day 2

Good morning, summer campers! It is time for Day Two of summer camp. Camp Director David has a couple of different little projects to do today, but then he’ll turn to one really big project — building a bridge. If you’re just arriving, then be sure to catch up by reviewing the Day One (1 […]

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