Build a 1950s O scale freight car from Athearn: One day a few months ago, I opened my email to find a message from David Popp of Trains.com. David asked if I would be interested in building an O scale freight car from Athearn. He indicated that the staff of Model Railroader’s sister publication, Classic […]
Q: I’m putting together some loads for flatbed and open gondola cars consisting of objects like pipe, wood, basically long straight pieces about half a car length in length. What would I use to model steel strapping to hold the loads together? I work in HO scale. — Rich Bond A: The easiest and best-looking solution […]
In model railroading there are times where you may need a power reversing switch. A couple of examples are when you’re installing switch motors or adding a reverse loop to a direct-current layout. In this article, I’ll walk you through the steps of wiring a DPDT power reversing switch. What is a DPDT switch? For […]
Did you ever look to your kitchen as source for free items to make your layout more visually appealing? With just a little paint and some imagination, items like pudding cups, freezer packaging rolls, and fast-food condiment containers can become stock tanks, flatcar loads, and much more! If you are looking for scale items, some […]
While I was walking through the National Train Show earlier this year in Grapevine, Texas, I noticed something – there were a lot of young people working for the various manufacturers present at the show. As a young person myself, this gave me great joy. With discussions about the longevity of the hobby occurring daily […]
Want to learn how to make some quick and easy flatcar loads for Christmastime? You don’t need an heirloom set or holiday-specific cars to make your own Christmas train. With a little imagination and a trip to your local arts and crafts store, you can find Christmas cargo that will turn almost any piece of […]
One of the most important decisions facing any model railroader is choosing an era to model. Choosing what railroad to model is arguably easier. You may choose to model the railroad that ran through your hometown when you were young and impressionable, or perhaps a railroad you often see today. But in either case, that […]
Have you thought about how to upgrade your tower lights? An engine facility doesn’t look complete without small details around the buildings, tracks, and equipment. One detail that isn’t difficult to add to this scene is yard lights. Most of these are “plug and play” details. Lionel’s option looks pretty much identical to how it […]
The simplicity of operating with a DC power pack like this MRC Tech7 is just one of several reasons to use DC block control on your model railroad. Though Digital Command Control may be the wave of the future, DC has its advantages and die-hard adherents. MRC photo Digital Command Control’s fervent fans to the […]
Have you ever been curious about how to calculate the speed of toy trains? Running trains over a layout, how can we know whether it’s moving at a realistic speed? Answering this question requires a bit of math. Speed, or velocity, is simply distance divided by time. In the United States, we are used to […]
Q: Way, way back in the 20th century, I think in the 1980s (though I’m probably wrong), Model Railroader ran an article about making your own coupler height gauges in the various scales, including TT scale. Can you advise which issue that was? None are available in TT today, and I could use a couple on […]
Q: Reading Jerry Dziedzic’s essay on “Turning waybills into dollar bills” (August 2023) made me realize that I don’t know anything about how prototype railroads handle the inspection and shopping of freight cars. Are cars sent in for inspection, paint, and maintenance at fixed times, or after a certain number of miles, or only when a […]
