PDF: Build a retired boxcar

Build a retired boxcar

Download the PDF of this project here. Note: This PDF is tiled to print on your home printer. Two “overview” pages will print first, followed by the full-size plans. Each page has 1 1/2″ of intentional overlap. Trim the excess paper from each page and assemble the sections using the overview pages as a guide. […]

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House of Balsa false front, barber-shop facade

Kevin Strong G scale, false front, barber-shop facadeHouse of Balsa, Inc.10101 Yucca Rd.Adelanto CA 92301Price: $29.95 plus $6.00 s&h (per order)Web site: www.houseofbalsa.com Beginner’s laser-cut kit; balsa and 1/8″ plywood pieces; clear plastic for window glazing. Dimensions: 9 1/2″ tall x 7 1/2″ wide x 1 3/4″ deep Pros: Clear pictorial instructions guide you step […]

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Diagram of CN’s Stratford, Ontario, steam shop

In his article “Nine Decades in the Service of Steam” in the Summer 2004 issue of Classic Trains magazine, James A. Brown looks at the final, glorious years of Stratford Big Shop, Canadian National’s last steam-locomotive overhaul facility. Below is a PDF that includes the layout of the Canadian National Stratford Shop. Please note that […]

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Ace Trains station canopy

FINALLY, ALL OF THOSE grand, O gauge passenger trains have an equally grand destination: Ace Trains station canopy. Ace Trains is a British company that makes tinplate reproductions of classic Hornby-style O gauge locomotives and rolling stock. Ace’s station canopy kit, distributed in the United States by Weaver Models, is its first structure. And what […]

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Kamloops Junction Wood Products water tower

Kevin Strong 1:24-scale water towerKamloops Junction Wood Products850 Ida LaneKamloops, British Columbia V2B 6V1 CanadaPrice: $119.99 Can.Note: Manufacturer is no longer in business Craftsman-level kit; pre-cut cedar stripwood; Sonotube section for the tank substructure; corrugated plastic sub-roof material; sandpaper roofing material; resin castings for the water spout, counterweights, and nut-bolt-washers; steel wire for the tank […]

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Pride Lines prewar-style mini-terrace

EVERY ONCE IN A WHILE, a manufacturer has a brilliant idea for a product that should have been obvious – but wasn’t – to everyone in the toy train hobby. The latest to accomplish this feat is Pride Lines. It did so by thinking small! Specifically, Pride Lines realized that a classic Lionel Standard gauge […]

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Cheap tricks in timber

Scrap wood, like that pictured here, is readily available and free for the asking. Rene Schweitzer Trestles! Bridges! Cribbing! Wooden rolling stock! There are many applications of unpainted wood for an outdoor pike to challenge the beginner and veteran alike, all requiring tools, time, money, and skill. The most common choices of wood for outdoor […]

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Walther’s HO modular structure system is easy to use

Walther's HO modular structure system

Walther’s HO modular structure system A clever modular structure-building system is now available from Walthers that makes it easy to produce good-looking brick buildings of nearly any size. Its components are cleanly molded, have excellent detail, and fit together in innumerable combinations. Cornerstone Modulars are sold in planned structure kits and as packages of individual […]

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Walthers’ neoclassic big city passenger station comes to N scale

Walthers' N scale passenger station

Walthers’ N scale passenger station A traditional big city passenger terminal has been released in N scale, and the model’s clean lines, cut-stone exterior, and impressive columns make it one big and beautiful structure. It definitely fits the image former Trains magazine editor David P. Morgan described as a “temple of transportation.” The architecture of […]

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City Classics HO scale company house is a common design

City Classics HO scale company house

City Classics HO scale company house HO company house is a common design Here’s a company house that’ll fit perfectly on the gritty blue-collar side of the tracks on most model railroads. Made by City Classics, this easy styrene structure kit follows the form and function of numerous dwellings commonly found around industrial centers from […]

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Nu-line N scale modern concrete warehouse kit

Nu-line N scale modern concrete warehouse

Nu-line N scale modern concrete warehouse If you’re looking for a mid-sized modern industrial building that dwarfs the railroad cars and semi-trucks serving it, then this Nu-Line Structures kit is for you. Standing a scale 40 feet high, the 120 x 168-foot concrete-panel structure has the right look and feel for many present-day businesses. Nu-Line’s […]

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