Tabla de contenidos para November 2024 en Model Railroader

Ride along on the last run of the HO Milwaukee, Racine & Troy In this salute to Model Railroader’s renowned MR&T, Trains.com cameras capture the final run over the entire 200-foot-plus mainline route. Enjoy this first-ever, on-track perspective video of the storied layout that thrilled MR staff members, Kalmbach Media employees, and countless eager visitors since the early 1990s. Scan the QR code above with a smartphone’s camera to watch this exciting perspective of the “Myrt.” La Mesa Model Railroad Club’s Tehachapi Subdivision Join Model Railroader Editor Eric White for a rare inside look at a world-class operating session over the gigantic HO scale public display highlighting Southern California’s famed Tehachapi Loop. Scan the QR code to the left to peer into a session that required more than 30 operators…

The 2024 National Train Show in August highlighted some of the hobby’s best innovation throughout three days in Long Beach, Calif. After watching multiple modular layouts operating outside of the showroom walls, one first encounters the PIKO America booth right inside the entry. PIKO showcased its new Krauss-Maffei ML-4000 diesel-hydraulic locomotive in 2023 and displayed the locomotive in a new Denver & Rio Grande Western scheme this year. After PIKO, the ScaleTrains tables had a plethora of models on display, including the recently announced Norfolk & Western Class J steam locomotive. At the beginning of the show on Friday, the company made new model announcements, including the General Electric AC44C6M diesel locomotive featured on page 10. Bachmann was also on hand to showcase new models, including 52-foot flatcars with wheel…

An International Car Co. (ICC) wide-cupola caboose is the latest model to join the ScaleTrains S-Helper Service product range. The model is based on tooling introduced by S-Helper Service in 1997. The sample we received is decorated as Reading Co. 94104, part of the railroad’s 94100 through 94109 NEa series built by ICC in August 1970. On April 1, 1976, Reading 94104 became Conrail 22135, part of the newly formed railroad’s 22130 through 22139 N-20 class. In June 1999 the caboose became part of the Norfolk Southern roster after Conrail’s assets were split between NS and CSX. The ScaleTrains wide-cupola caboose has an injection-molded plastic body with a separate cupola and underbody. Rooftop details included a see-through, etched-metal running board; wire corner grab irons on top of the cupola; a freestanding…

I’m a big fan of Central Valley Model Works switch kits and have used them exclusively on my modules in recent years. The kit consists of a tie block, a set of switch points, and various details. All that the modeler has to provide is the rail and spikes. I’m using these CVMW switch kits on my two and a half FREMO-US modules wherever I need a turnout. [Read more about Pelle’s FREMO-US project in the May 2024 and October 2022 issues of MR —Ed.] For these turnouts I’m using the CVMW tie section and Miller Engineering rail. However, I’m substituting a Details West frog for the CVMW frog, and chose not to use the included switchpoint castings, either. Instead, I have noticed that some of the track manufacturers have…

On behalf of the community of S (1:64) scale modelers, congratulations to Model Railroader magazine for 90 years of service to the model railroading hobby. It’s a milestone to be proud of! Railroad models in 1:64 scale first appeared at about the same time MR started publishing in 1934. Both Model Railroader and S scale are celebrating their 90 anniversary in 2024! In that year, Cleveland Model & Supply, a small company in Ohio, began producing locomotive models that were 3 ⁄4 the size of O scale, or 3⁄16" to the foot. They called them C-D scale for “Cleveland Designed.” Then in 1943, the National Model Railroad Association (NMRA) changed the nomenclature, and C-D scale became S scale. In 1960, the National Association of S Gaugers (NASG) was formed. Growth…

My wife, Bonnie, and I moved in 2019 to a retirement townhouse with a basement capable of holding a large model railroad. However, at 72, I decided to limit my ambitions, preferring to be able to finish a layout and enjoy it within two years. The new model railroad would feature the Pennsylvania RR, as my previous layouts have, since the Broad Way tracks ran near where I grew up. My desires for this latest miniature world were informed by the three designs I had previously built. (My third was featured in the May 2014 Model Railroader.) A large percentage of my fellow enthusiasts choose narrow layouts to maximize the length of mainline track. My layout features one track running through one locale. To prevent any shadows falling on my…

A Northern Pacific HO scale 50-foot XM double-door boxcar is the latest release from Moloco Trains. The model features car-number-specific details, Stanray R3-4 ends, and 8-rung ladders on the sides and ends. The Moloco model is based on full-size cars built at NP’s Brainerd, Minn., shops between 1956 and 1959. During the production run, 1,350 cars were constructed. The cars were primarily used for lumber and forest products. The plastic model has separate riveted sides and welded Stanray R3-4 ends that are attached to the underbody. The roof is a separate plastic casting with an etched-metal running board and wire corner grab irons. Three of the cars in the 1956-57 delivery scheme, including the 7035, are fitted with an Equipco 3750 handbrake and the same company’s brake wheel. A seethrough,…

I’ve always enjoyed signals and other lighting effects on model railroads. They add visual interest that draws visitors and operators into a scene, plus lights have a certain cool factor. Recently, I installed traffic lights to my HO scale San Francisco F Line traction layout. While surfing the internet, I found a company called WeHonest that supplies traffic lights and other model railroad lighting accessories. The company’s eBay store offers many styles of lights. When I began the project, I started looking carefully at typical intersections. Some have lights suspended from crossbeams attached to poles, others have them hanging from cross wires, and still others have lights on single masts at the corners of intersections. The variety WeHonest offers contributes to a more authentic look. Getting started The lights operate…

Camaraderie. Esprit d’ corps. Sharing a laugh. Fellowship. None of these terms have much to do with staging a model railroad or attending to the myriad small tasks that must be taken care of before the next operating session. Such chores are usually reserved to the builder of the railroad. At least, for decades, that’s what I thought. Then I read Dave Abeles’ interesting article about “Extending the fun” in July 2023 Model Railroader. A light went on. About the same time, one of my operating crew members, Jim Leighty, sent me an email suggesting that he come down for a day to help me prepare for my next op session. Jim has a trackcleaning train that’s awesome to see in operation, whereas I hate cleaning track. He also has a…

Motive Power Industries MP36PH-3C diesel locomotive. This new Atlas model is based on a modern four-axle passenger locomotive. The HO scale MP36PH-3C is decorated for Metra (including Milwaukee Road and Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific heritage schemes), Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority, Metrolink, and West Coast Express. The model has a die-cast metal underframe, metal knuckle couplers, and golden-white light-emitting diode headlights and ditch lights. The cab interior is detailed and features an overhead light. Separate, factory-applied details include handrails, windshield wipers, metal grab irons, m.u. hoses, trainline hoses, and uncoupling levers. Direct-current models with a speaker sell for $229.95. Versions with DCC and sound list for $349.95. Atlas Model Railroad Co., 908-678-0880, shop.atlasrr.com HO scale locomotives Alco 2-8-8-0 Bullmoose steam locomotive. Union Pacific in three schemes. One to three road numbers…

A Canadian National GP9RM is now available in HO scale from Rapido Trains. The four-axle diesel locomotive features a heavy die-cast metal frame, traction motor details on the gearbox, and prototype-specific details. From 1981 to 1994, CN rebuilt its fleet of General Motors Diesel Ltd. GP9 locomotives for various duties at its Pointe St. Charles shops in Montreal, Que. By the numbers, there were 81 road switchers (4000 and 4100 series, GR-418 class), 84 switchers (7000 series, GS-418 class), 81 yard switchers (7200 series, GY-418 class), and 64 yard booster units (200 series) that were used with the 7200-series engines. The sample we received is decorated as CN 4000. The prototype was built as CN 4568 in November 1957. It was rebuilt in September 1981 and renumbered 4000. Canadian National…

Passenger car placement in mixed trains Q Do the passenger cars in mixed trains go in front of the freight cars, or vice versa? Stanley Lachac A As is so often the case in questions about railroading, the answer is, it depends. As I wrote in my answer to Joe Mizell’s question in the February 2020 “Ask MR,” a mixed train is a local that has both freight and mail/passenger cars. They often ferry workers to and from their jobs at the end of a logging line or a long mine spur. You also see them on sleepy branch lines that don’t get enough traffic to warrant a separate passenger train, not even an occasional one. The fact that these trains are often the only ones that serve the branch…

My S scale Chicago, Indianapolis & Louisville (Monon) depicts the railroad’s Fourth Subdivision, a 100-mile single-track main line between Lafayette and Bloomington, Ind., during the late 1940s. To fans of the prototype, this was known as The Barriger Era, when Monon President John Barriger III was in the process of converting a tired old railroad in the throes of bankruptcy into his concept of super-railroading. This was the line’s most prosperous time. Why did I model the Monon? When I returned to the hobby in 1983 and began thinking about building a layout, I decided on prototype modeling because of my interests in history and period architecture. I did some research and discovered the Monon in the 1978 Kalmbach Publishing Co. book More Railroads You Can Model, edited by Mike…

Though I primarily model the Southern Pacific in S scale, I added a trio of Santa Fe Refrigerator Despatch (SFRD) reefers to my layout. Why? To bring back childhood memories. As a teen I remember riding my Schwinn Continental bicycle between rows of class RR-23 and RR-27 cars at Watson Yard near the Los Angeles harbor. I recall how illuminating all those yellow sides looked, and it left a lasting impression on me. There are no ready-to-run models of the SFRD cars available in S, so I turned to scratchbuilding. Using information from Santa Fe Railway Rolling Stock Reference Series, Volume Two: Refrigerator Cars (Santa Fe Modelers Organization Inc., 1994) as a guide, I built two RR-27 cars and one RR-23. With a variety of modeling techniques and products, I was…

Great Model Railroads 2025 is on newsstands now. This year’s special issue showcases nine fantastic model railroads in N, HO, S, and O scales. In its pages you’ll find dozens of helpful tips, tricks, and techniques to improve your layout, as well as detailed track plans and big, colorful photos. Pick up your copy at your local hobby store, call 877-246-4879, or order online from Shop.Trains.com. 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 email them to Senior Associate Editor Steven Otte at steven.otte@firecrown.com.…