Tabla de contenidos para July 2024 en Model Railroader

Steve Miazga’s N scale Missabe Junction operating session Enjoy an insider’s look at an informal operating session hosted on Steve Miazga’s N scale model railroad, set in northern Wisconsin. The real thrill comes from seeing Steve and his friends, including notables like current MR editor Eric White and former MR managing editor Jim Kelly, gather to set the model railroad into motion! Be sure to scan the QR code above to watch this video and more on Trains.com. Non-traditional model railroad benchwork Model railroad benchwork is the support structure that hold up our train layouts. It’s traditionally made of wood with a plywood surface, and this is fine for many builders. But sometimes, there’s a need for non-traditional model railroad benchwork. Follow along as editor Eric White explores various forms…

Price: $24.95 (undecorated, $17.95) Manufacturer Atlas Model Railroad Co. 378 Florence Ave. Hillside, NJ 07205 shop.atlasrr.com Road names: New paint schemes: Transportation Corp. of America; Burlington Northern (with FRA-224 stripes); CATX; David J. Joseph Transportation; Midwest Railcar; Minneapolis, Northfield & Southern; and Rail Logistics. New road numbers: Canadian National and Peavey. Also available undecorated. Era: Late 1970s to present Comments: Atlas is offering its Trainman series Thrall 4,750-cubic-foot capacity three-bay covered hopper in new paint schemes and road numbers. The model is based on full-size cars built in the late 1970s and early 1980s. The sample we received is decorated as Transportation Corp. of America 60078, part of the leasing company’s 60000 through 60199 series built by Thrall Car between June and September 1979. Cars 60069 through 60084 were leased…

All of the locomotives and freight cars on my HO scale layout are equipped with Kadee knuckle couplers. I enjoy the operating enhancement of uncoupling cars without having to reach into the layout. I find that the illusion of a detailed model railroad scene is spoiled when a giant hand and a pointed stick are introduced to break up a train. However, I don’t like the appearance of permanent magnets between the rails, and I’ve found no adequate way to hide them. The permanent magnets that are about the thickness of the roadbed and fit under the ties work well and are hidden. But they will uncouple any cars that happen to be spotted over them, so inadvertent uncoupling is common. I tried using commercial electromagnetic uncouplers, but found them…

In the years since dismantling my Torres & Prietas layout, featured in the April 2015 issue of Model Railroader, I’ve turned my attention to building an On30 sectional layout based on Southern Pacific’s narrow gauge Keeler Branch in California’s Owens Valley. My interest in modeling the SP was inspired by not only the dramatic landscape that its narrow gauge line ran through, but also my limited connection with the railroad’s only narrow gauge diesel locomotive. Around the time I built the On30 Torres & Prietas RR, I was researching and writing my self-published book Sonora Narrow Gauge: Railroads, Mines, Trams & Scams South of the Border (2010). During a research trip to Mexico, I was granted access to photograph former Southern Pacific General Electric 50-ton diesel No. 1. The end-cab unit,…

The Naples Branch of the Lehigh Valley ran southwest from Geneva to Naples, N.Y., in the central part of the state. Along the way the railroad passed through many small communities, each with a wood depot. The exception was Gorham, which was home to an elaborate concrete block and stucco structure. The depot’s flowing lines and glass patterns surrounding the canopies make it an interesting modeling subject. Prototype history In the middle of the 19th century, the area between of Geneva and Naples was noted for its nurseries, foundries, and glass and brick foundries. Later, Naples gained fame for its wineries. The shores of the nearby Finger Lakes have an ideal climate for grape growing. At the time, the market for these businesses was primarily local, since the area lacked…

Over the past 40-plus years, I’ve found it a not only challenging but rewarding experience to delve into the history and workings of the industries I modeled on my HO scale West Hoosic Division and my On30 Sandy River & Rangeley Lakes (SR&RL) layouts. I could simply work from photographs of a prototype and model what I see there. But I find it more interesting to understand what an industry does and how those scenic details are used. This lets me build a more realistic scene. Let’s talk about a couple of the industries on my layout as examples. Peerless Tanning I included a model of Peerless Tanning on both my railroads. It was also featured in my scenery book How to Build and Detail Model Railroad Scenes, Vol. 1,…

We’re always looking for ways to make our model railroads look more realistic, and once we do, we’re going to want to share that with others. Often that means taking photographs. Effective lighting is an aspect of photography that can take lots of practice and experimentation, but natural light can be much more forgiving. While modeling outdoors isn’t necessarily the solution, building a layout or diorama that can be taken outside when the weather cooperates is one way to get the advantages of natural light and shadow. Duane Ericson is sharing a second layout with us, and like the first, featured in the April 2015 issue of Model Railroader, his excellent images make the most of natural light. With a trend toward smaller layouts, it’s possible to build something that can…

The HO scale General Electric (GE) P40DC diesel locomotive has returned to the Athearn product lineup. The Genesis-series model features a newly tooled body with cab mounted strobe lights, a red emergency light, and other prototype-specific details. Our review sample is decorated as Amtrak P40DC No. 813, part of the passenger carrier’s 800 through 843 series. The full-size unit was built in June 1993. In Amtrak terminology, the locomotive was classified a Dash 8-40BP. The passenger diesel was also known as an AMD-103 (Amtrak Monocoque Diesel — 103 mph) and P40. After a decade of service, the 813 was stored dead in June 2003. The four-axle passenger unit was retired in October 2019 and sold to Larry’s Truck & Electric, a McDonald, Ohio-based company that scraps, rebuilds, leases, and resells…

Price: $27.99 Manufacturer Produced by Accurail, available from Kalmbach Hobby Store KalmbachHobbyStore.com Era: 2015+ Comments: An HO scale Milwaukee, Racine & Troy buffer car is the latest addition to the Kalmbach Hobby Store. The injection-molded plastic kit, produced in the United States of America by Accurail Inc., uses the manufacturer’s 6500-series Pullman-Standard 4,750-cubic-foot capacity three-bay covered hopper tooling. The model was inspired by covered hoppers commonly found on unit ethanol and crude oil trains. On the prototype, buffer cars are placed between the locomotive(s) and tank cars and at the end of the train. The cars are loaded with inert material. The kit features a one-piece body with molded longitudinal running boards. The latitudinal boards and end extensions, cast as a single unit, are modeler installed. Other freestanding parts include…

Photographing outdoors can be both rewarding and humbling. When successful, nothing compares to the quality of natural light and the way it reacts to a well-crafted scene. Even Hollywood, with its lighting experts and almost unlimited budgets, can’t re-create the feel of sunlight in its studios. On the other hand, placing models next to the real thing can be humbling. Often what looks acceptable on the workbench looks toy-like when directly compared to a real structure or landscape. Based on mistakes I’ve made over the years, here are a few tips to help you the next time you photograph your models outdoors. • When planning your layout, leave a generous foreground between the edge of the layout and track. In O scale, I try to leave about a foot. Without…

It’s Monday, Oct. 19, 1953, in Ann Arbor, Mich. New York Central eastbound mail and express train X342 has just set out the express car the REA truck is unloading. Its 8:40 a.m. station stop completed, the 5400-series Hudson-powered train will pass under the Broadway Street bridge, resuming its Chicago-to-Detroit run. My wife, Brook, and I used Sanborn fire insurance maps, track maps, and period photos to create this scene on our HO scale Michigan Lines. Our prototype-based layout models the major rail lines radiating from Detroit to 20 Michigan cities that have a special meaning for us. Ann Arbor is one of them. It was my hometown, and Brook and I met there while attending the University of Michigan. The prototype photo came from the New York Central System Historical…

I suspect all of us let our minds wander away from focusing on the direct path to an objective now and then. What if this? What if that? Some of the world’s most important discoveries have been made by someone indulging in a bit of day-dreaming. Where model railroaders are concerned, we might wonder what we’d do if we had a million dollars to invest in our next model railroad or a gymnasium to put it in. Or we think about modeling in a different, sometimes larger, scale. I can’t help but think about modeling one of the Wabash branch lines that was home to their fleet of 2-6-0 Moguls in O fine scale (Proto:48), or maybe the queen of East Coast 3-footers, the East Tennessee & Western North Carolina…

Electro-Motive Division SD40-2 diesel locomotives. The latest run of six-axle special duty locomotives from ScaleTrains includes Soo Line; Burlington Northern (SD40-2B and SD40-2 body styles); Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific; Conrail; Electro-Motive Division (Illinois Central Gulf patch); Illinois Central Gulf; and Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe. This run includes new features such as light-emitting diode walkway, ground, and ditch lights as appropriate. Separately applied details include snowplows, uncoupling levers, and more as applicable. Directcurrent models are $199.99 and models with DCC and sound are priced at $299.99. Rivet Counter line. ScaleTrains, 844-987-2467, scaletrains.com HO scale locomotives • Montreal Locomotive Works CNR H-6d/g 4-6-0 steam locomotive. Canadian National. Sixteen road numbers available. Also available undecorated. Road-number-specific details including various coal or oil tender variations, wood or steel cab, manual or power…

A new run of HO scale Alco RS11 diesel locomotives is now available from Rapido Trains. The model features many newly tooled, railroad-specific details; illuminated number boxes, class lights, and control stand lights; and a new five-pole, skew-wound motor. Alco produced the RS11 from February 1956 until May 1961. During that time, it built 327 locomotives for railroads in the United States and 99 for lines in Mexico. The 1,800hp road switchers were fitted with a 12-cylinder 251B engine. The sample we received is decorated as Duluth, Winnipeg & Pacific No. 3600, part of the railroad’s 3600 through 3614 series. The unit was originally painted in parent Canadian National’s green-and-yellow scheme. It was later repainted in the 1962 black-and-orange scheme with large DW&P lettering on the long hood. Starting in…

Q I am looking for suggestions for industries for an Idaho model railroad in the 1940s. I’m working on building an HO scale 10 x 11-foot around-the-walls model railroad. I have decided to model a small town in rural Idaho along the Union Pacific in 1942. I am looking for a few plausible industries to include. I already have a team track and a small passenger station and have bent some of the facts to include coal service. I also have two small staging tracks. Do you have any suggestions that would make for lively operations while keeping the layout plausible within my constraints? Nate Simpson, Meridian, Idaho A Idaho, huh? I bet you can already guess my answer: potatoes. In 1940, Idaho provided the United States with two-thirds of its…

Duane Ericson is a historical archaeologist with the Bureau of Land Management’s Abandoned Mining Lands program. Though stationed out of Medford, Ore., he has recorded and preserved historic landscapes, mines, ghost towns, and architecture throughout the American West. He credits much of his early interest in history and railroads to Trains and Model Railroader during the 1970s. He has published two books on narrow gauge mining rail-roads and is currently writing a third on mining camp architecture. Duane has been married to his wife, Gretchen, for more than 20 years. Together, they have three children and three grandchildren.…

One advantage of garden railways is that they can be much bigger than could be accommodated in a home basement or attic. But a typical rectangular backyard can still get cramped if the trains are large scale. Oliver “Olli” Jöst of Cuxhaven, Germany, doesn’t have that problem. Oliver’s interest in model trains began in 1984, when at the age of 2, he was given a Faller O gauge toy train set. Two years later he got an HO scale set, then in 1995, an LGB large scale set. He was immediately bitten by the garden railway bug. He built a temporary railroad in his yard, then another in a separate lot next to his parents’ house. He was interested not in the trains of his native Germany, but American railroads.…

Send us your photos Trackside Photos is a showcase for the work of Model Railroader readers. Send your photos (digital images 5 megapixels or larger) to: Model Railroader, Trackside Photos, P.O. Box 1612, Waukesha, WI 53187-1612; or upload them to fileupload.kalmbach.com/contribute. For our photo submission guidelines, contact Senior Associate Editor Steven Otte at sotte@kalmbach.com.…