Appalachian & Ohio RR

Track plan at a glanceName: Appalachian & Ohio RRScale: O (1:48)Size: 28′-6″ x 56′-0″Theme: Appalachian coal haulerEra: 1969Style: linear walkaroundMainline run: 230 feetMinimum radius: 60″Minimum turnout: no. 6Maximum grade: 2.75 percentOriginally appeared in the May 2006 issue of Model Railroader.Click on the link to download a PDF of this track plan […]

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Bay Point & Diablo

Track plan at a glance Name: Bay Point & DiabloScale: On2.5 (1:48 proportion, 2.5-foot gauge)Size: 11 x 12 feetPrototype: Bay Point & Clayton RREra: Early 20th centuryStyle: around the wallsMainline run: 33.5 feetMinimum radius: 24″Minimum turnout: no. 5(main line), no. 4 (yard)Maximum grade: 5 percentOriginally appeared in the May 2005 issue of Model Railroader. Also […]

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Cascade County Narrow Gauge

Track plan at a glance Name: Cascade County Narrow GaugeScale: On3 (1:48)Size: 26′-0″ x 31′-3″Prototype: Nevada County Narrow GaugeEra: mid-1920s to early 1930sStyle: walkaroundMainline run: 175 feetMinimum radius: 36″Maximum grade: 3.3 percentOriginally appeared in the January 2006 issue of Model Railroader.Click on the link to download a PDF of this track plan […]

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Central New Mexico Ry.

Track plan at a glance Name: Central New Mexico Ry.Scale: O scale (1:48 proportion), narrow gauge (On3 and On2.5)Size: 11′-3″ x 17’2″Theme: narrow gauge miningEra: 1905Style: island with an open centerMainline run: 34 feetMinimum radius: 28″Minimum turnout: no. 6Maximum grade: 8 percent on the On2.5 tram lineOriginally appeared in the July 2006 issue of Model […]

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SMR Trains O gauge 4-4-0 steam locomotive

I’LL BET THAT MOST children of the baby boom spent at least a little time in their school library thumbing through books about the Civil War or the Wild West. As model train enthusiasts, we probably spent extra time gazing at black-and-white images of impossibly frail-looking steam power and rolling stock – those trains always […]

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SMR Trains O gauge frontier-era rolling stock

WHILE CREATING AN OPERATING scale model of a vintage locomotive is commendable, not too many of us will be happy just staring at it in a case. The folks at Schneider Model Railroading (SMR Trains) acknowledge the inner engineer of potential customers, and they’ve launched a line of scale-sized brass equipment that looks right at […]

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Lionel O gauge Disney cars

The names Lionel and Disney have a unique history. Modern toy production techniques have made the most of Walt Disney’s colorful animated characters like Mickey and Minnie Mouse and Daisy Duck. Q: I have a Lionel O gauge no. 18311 Disney electric-profile EP-5 locomotive. I would like to collect all the cars that go with […]

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Lionel American Flyer S gauge 4-8-4 Northern

IN REAL RAILROADING, the wheel arrangement that probably came closest to perfection, in terms of either freight or high-speed passenger service, was the 4-8-4 Northern. Indeed, Alco built the first 4-8-4 in 1927, and by the end of the steam era, 36 railroads operated 1,126 of these machines. A surprisingly high number of Northerns – […]

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Lionel O gauge Amtrak Superliner StationSounds Diner

NEARLY EVERY COLLECTOR and operator can appreciate the distinction between “wanting” and “needing.” As much as I wanted a Lionel no. 29168 Amtrak Superliner StationSounds diner when it was first cataloged in 2004, my wife’s car needed new brakes. A few years and countless other needs later, the wanting came to an end when I […]

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MTH Premier line O gauge 4-6-6-4 Challenger

TO ACCURATELY DESCRIBE the steam-era classic 4-6-6-4 Challenger, you’d have to use words right out of a luxury car ad: powerful, fast, sleek, and big. Conceived as a fast companion to the Union Pacific’s mighty 4-8-8-4 Big Boy, the Challenger was a heavy-hauling speed demon. Its success can be measured in numbers: 252 were built […]

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