Spaces to Places V | A new path to the underpass, part 3

In this episode of Spaces to Places, we find host Gerry Leone in the thick of two projects! The main objective of his efforts was to build out the highway underpass and scenery along a layout peninsula. But Gerry also scrambles to complete trackwork reconfiguration that will improved the operation of his HO scale Bona […]

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Mike Farrow’s N scale Norfolk & Western

Title screen from video showing train on bridge passing over train below.

Mike Farrow’s N scale Norfolk & Western Pocahontas Division layout is set in southern West Virginia during the 1970s and early 1980s. The 36 x 36-foot walk-in model railroad features a 290-foot mainline run, 18” minimum radius curves, and No. 6 turnouts. Among the items used to re-create the authentic Appalachian scenery were ground foam, […]

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Doug Dederick’s N scale Great Northern

Title screen from video showing N scale model railroad.

Doug Dederick’s N scale Great Northern Kalispell Division is set in Montana in the late 1950s. The 29 x 36-foot walk-in layout, featured in the April 2024 issue of Model Railroader, is set between Whitefish, Mont., and Shelby, Mont. The model railroad features several of GN’s name passenger and freight trains, including the Empire Builder, […]

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Doug Dederick’s N scale Great Northern

Title screen from video showing N scale model railroad.

Doug Dederick’s N scale Great Northern Kalispell Division is set in Montana in the late 1950s. The 29 x 36-foot walk-in layout, featured in the April 2024 issue of Model Railroader, is set between Whitefish, Mont., and Shelby, Mont. The model railroad features several of GN’s name passenger and freight trains, including the Empire Builder, […]

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Mike Farrow’s N scale Norfolk & Western

Title screen from video showing train on bridge passing over train below.

Mike Farrow’s N scale Norfolk & Western Pocahontas Division layout is set in southern West Virginia during the 1970s and early 1980s. The 36 x 36-foot walk-in model railroad features a 290-foot mainline run, 18” minimum radius curves, and No. 6 turnouts. Among the items used to re-create the authentic Appalachian scenery were ground foam, […]

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The Milwaukee, Racine & Troy RR in HO scale (2024)

A model railroad trackplan with labeled locations and structures

Facts and features Name: Milwaukee, Racine & Troy RR Layout owner: Model Railroader staff Scale: HO (1:87.1) Size: 28 x 54 feet Prototype: freelanced bridge line Locale: Southeastern Wisconsin Era: current day Style: walk-in Mainline run: approx. 200 feet Minimum radius: 36″ (main) Minimum turnout: no. 6 (main), no. 4 spurs Maximum grade: 3 percent […]

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A 12×20-foot Christmas winter wonderland layout

Christmas winter wonderland layout: Donald and Miriam Pruter 12 x 20-foot O gauge Christmas layout

A version of this article appeared in the December 2017 issue of Classic Toy Trains. Whenever Classic Toy Trains features a layout distinguished by snowy scenes and Santa Claus plus his reindeer, readers naturally assume whoever built it did so while a blizzard raged and icicles formed on eaves and downspouts. They can’t help envisioning […]

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Quick-and-easy snow covered trees

hand holding hairspray can and model tree

While commercial snow-covered trees are easy to come by during the holiday season, here’s an option for you to make your own. I was able to make a lot of snowy trees for our Polar Express layout quickly by using the method shown here. You need just three things: cheap hairspray, a bag or two […]

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Gordon Hough O gauge Christmas layout

christmas_hough1

Every six months, photos of O gauge trains traversing the snowy hills and quaint villages of a sprawling layout arrive at the office. What a treat! And they represent the outstanding modeling done by Gordon Hough with help from his mother, Jeannie, who finishes the scenery and paints the backdrops. No matter fast I try […]

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Design a toy train layout

Toy trains on track

Design a toy train layout — O, S, or Standard/Wide gauge — it requires above all making one fundamental decision. Each operator must decide what sort of look he or she wants the layout to have. To be specific, each modeler has to figure out the extent to which the layout, regardless of size or […]

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