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 […]
Modeling Topic: Model Railroad Operations
Cody’s Trackside Finds
Welcome to Cody’s Trackside Finds, a new series on Trains.com, where we’ll look at interesting locomotives, freight cars, structures, or details that I’ve come across while railfanning. In these entries, I’ll provide some background information on the subject, give you some modeling tips, and most importantly, encourage comments from the Trains.com community. Do you have […]
A fun way to operate your garden railroad
We enjoy operations on our Weona (we-own-a) Railroad, but we wanted something different for our operating sessions. Here’s how we do it. I made a pair of four-sided dice, one with sides labeled 1, 2, 3, and 4, and the other 1, 2, 3, and blank, giving a possible outcome of 1 to 7, to […]
Adjusting coupler height on passenger cars
It’s important to mount couplers at the correct height and to do so consistently on all cars. Because of their length, passenger cars magnify the chance for unwanted uncouplings when track isn’t perfectly level. Of course, having made the car height accurate, I don’t want to change that, so to adjust coupler height I move […]
Operating the N scale Bachmann 4-6-4 Hudson with sound; SD80MAC; iron ore book review
In this installment, Cody test-runs Bachmann’s new sound-equipped N scale New York Central 4-6-4 Hudson, as well as Athearn’s Genesis 2.0 HO scale SD80MAC. He also looks at Jeff Wilson’s latest book, The Model Railroader’s Guide to Iron Ore Railroads. In addition, Cody shares tips about using Rails Unlimited reproduction railroad industry directories to improve […]
Operating the N scale Bachmann 4-6-4 Hudson with sound; SD80MAC; iron ore book review
In this installment, Cody test-runs Bachmann’s new sound-equipped N scale New York Central 4-6-4 Hudson, as well as Athearn’s Genesis 2.0 HO scale SD80MAC. He also looks at Jeff Wilson’s latest book, The Model Railroader’s Guide to Iron Ore Railroads. In addition, Cody shares tips about using Rails Unlimited reproduction railroad industry directories to improve […]
The Hills Line with James McNab: Modeling prototype operating procedures, Episode 10
Shall we play a game? Host James McNab is up for a round of Operations on his HO scale Hills Line layout! In this episode, he works from a perspective inside the cab of a locomotive to explain some of the prototype procedures crews follow to make running his small model railroad so interesting. […]
The Hills Line with James McNab: Modeling prototype operating procedures, Episode 10
Shall we play a game? Host James McNab is up for a round of Operations on his HO scale Hills Line layout! In this episode, he works from a perspective inside the cab of a locomotive to explain some of the prototype procedures crews follow to make running his small model railroad so interesting. […]
Trains.com Holiday Party: Fun Run, Episode 10
Around the Kalmbach HQ, workin’ on the railroad is part of the job. But at Christmastime, we all make sure to park our various projects and take a moment to have some fun simply running trains! Join Eric White, Cody Grivno, Ben Lake, and David Popp as they each share one of their favorite trains […]
Trains.com Holiday Party: Fun Run, Episode 10
Around the Kalmbach HQ, workin’ on the railroad is part of the job. But at Christmastime, we all make sure to park our various projects and take a moment to have some fun simply running trains! Join Eric White, Cody Grivno, Ben Lake, and David Popp as they each share one of their favorite trains […]
The ‘Century’ at Syracuse
In 1928 I was a freshman at Syracuse University. I needed a part-time job, and got one with American Railway Express, Inc., which became Railway Express Agency the following year. I worked at the New York Central’s Syracuse depot on the night shift Friday, Saturday, and Sunday evenings from 5 p.m. until 1 a.m., whenever […]
45 Years on the Milwaukee, Racine & Troy
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