How to clean and oil O gauge and large scale engines

Photo of track cleaning fluid and accessories on white background.

For better or worse, the wheels of O and large scale trains seem to attract more grease and grime than those of HO and N scale pieces. Perhaps it’s the size of the trains, perhaps the shape of the wheels, or perhaps it’s carbon that gets deposited during operation, but either way they get filthy […]

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Lillian “Curly” Lawrence and the history of live-steam locomotives

green and black model steam engine on track

Lillian “Curly” Lawrence and the history of live-steam locomotives Lillian “Curly” Lawrence was a British model engineer who lived from 1882 to 1967. He built his first live-steam locomotive at the age of 13 on a used treadle lathe. A curious and reclusive fellow, he wrote live-steam columns for British model-engineering magazines under the pen […]

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Ready to serve the nation

Here’s a variation on a familiar World War II theme, the diverse geographical backgrounds of men serving together in the armed forces. It comes to us in the form of some faded sheet music dedicated to the Military Railway Service. The rousing anthem “Railroaders Always” is of interest in its own right, but the cover […]

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