Model Railroading Blog

Feb 24, Train Room and Lighting

Wed, 24 Feb 2010 13:52:20 GMT

Having a nice air conditioned, heated, finished train room with adequate lighting has greatly enhanced the pleasure and process of building my model railroad.

Feb 22, Building My Empire

Mon, 22 Feb 2010 13:03:45 GMT

Building My Empire is an article written to explain the step-by-step process that one of my visitors went through in building his railroad.

Feb 20, Big Meadow Railroad

Sat, 20 Feb 2010 17:54:32 GMT

The Big Meadow Railroad represents a fantastic way for model railroaders to share their hobby with other family members. It also exemplifies how you can make the most use of your existing space.

Feb 19, Model Railroad Concept

Fri, 19 Feb 2010 04:49:36 GMT

Developing a model railroad concept isn't always easy. You have to think about it for a while and it eventually grows on you. Here's how I put it together for my railroad.

Feb 19, S Scale Coming Alive!

Fri, 19 Feb 2010 03:01:59 GMT

The world of S scale has just expanded with a new website. S scale is what we "Baby Boomers" grew up on. I'm glad to see it's making a resurgence...

Feb 17, Plaster Disaster...

Wed, 17 Feb 2010 23:31:49 GMT

Site tip> I can't find anything with a date stamp on it so I'm not sure if I am posting on a site that hasn't been touched in the last 3 years or not.

Feb 16, My Layout

Tue, 16 Feb 2010 01:50:35 GMT

My layout represents an example of what you can do with the modeling techniques described on this site.

Feb 15, The Town of Pine Valley

Mon, 15 Feb 2010 18:14:55 GMT

Well this layout is 38 inches wide by 10 feet long consisting of O Gauge track and KLine buildings, with some RailKing products as well. I built this

Jan 24, Train simulator for Mac

Sun, 24 Jan 2010 03:11:22 GMT

A new train simulator for the Mac OSX operating system is now available!

Jan 24, Underpower Your Structure Bulbs!

Sun, 24 Jan 2010 00:47:58 GMT

Here's a "hot" tip from Dave: "Excellent site and great tips. I have been modeling for some time but still find there is something new all the time. A suggestion for you after reading your structure lighting. You say that the bulbs should be matched to the power supply. However, it is really better to under-power your bulbs. Such as 16V bulbs with a 12V PS. The bulbs will last a LOT longer and the light output resembles real lights, not those ultra-bright ones. Thanks for the neat web-site." [Thanks to YOU, Dave. It definitely makes sense to do this. I'm going to try it with my next structure-lighting project - GJW]

Dec 31, Contributions Welcome!

Thu, 31 Dec 2009 00:31:36 GMT

Would you like to be part of this blog? Send me your stories about model railroading. What works for you. What doesn't. Send me a picture with a paragraph or two about it. What's your railroad club up to these days? Tell us about a museum or train show you visited. We'd love to hear from you!

Dec 23, Track gauge

Wed, 23 Dec 2009 17:03:49 GMT

Ever wonder why the US Standard track gauge is 4 feet, 8 and 1/2 inches. Why such an odd number? Here's the scoop...

Dec 23, Happy Holidays!!

Wed, 23 Dec 2009 04:36:21 GMT

Christmas is a special time for us model railroaders. So many of us got started in this hobby because of a electric train set that we received on a certain Christmas morning when we were young. I'll never forget the excitement I felt when I got mine. We don't all start building layouts right then, but the fascination stays with us whenever we think about it. And eventually, when the time is right, we just have to get back into it - perhaps to recapture that old excitement. I'm not sure I understand it, but there's something about an electric train following a track and winding its way in and out of villages and coal mines and logging camps that brings us back to good times with warm memories of family and friends and fun. In these busy times, we often get wrapped up in the details and drudgery of day-to-day work and chores and things that we have to do. If we can spend a little time between life's many challenges to watch a model train going over bridges and through some tunnels, somehow it all seems worthwhile, and we can say, "Life is good!" And so, to all my fellow model railroaders and railfans, I hope you have many wonderful memories of prior Christmases, and I pray that this one will be as full of the same wonder and excitement as when you got your first train under the tree a few years ago. Merry Christmas and have a great New Year!

Dec 23, Video Tour of the San Diego Model Railroad Museum!

Wed, 23 Dec 2009 02:11:46 GMT

Hey Kids! Take a video tour of the San Diego Model Railroad Museum! It's a great way to learn more about model trains!

Nov 26, Happy Thanksgiving!!

Thu, 26 Nov 2009 18:11:43 GMT

On this day of days, I would like to offer a warm and heartfelt thanks to all the visitors and to all those who have sent emails over the past year. You are all at once the reason for the site and the reason for its success. Thank you very much!

Nov 13, DCC Decoder Installation

Fri, 13 Nov 2009 02:39:41 GMT

DCC decoder installation is relatively easy these days with many locomotives being sold as DCC ready. Here are a few tips for installation.

Nov 12, Classy Model Trains

Thu, 12 Nov 2009 02:53:48 GMT

Check out this blog containing lots of articles about trains of all scales, DCC, scenery, structures, garden railroading, locomotive reviews, etc. Easy to read, friendly style and very informative...

Oct 4, Zero-Emission Locomotive

Sun, 04 Oct 2009 22:28:50 GMT

Norfolk Southern has introduced the first switching locomotive that relies totally on rechargeable batteries. The 1500-horsepower engine, called the NS999, uses 1,080 12-volt batteries and can operate for 3 shifts before requiring a recharge.

Oct 4, Wiring a Solenoid Switch Machine

Sun, 04 Oct 2009 00:57:33 GMT

How to wire a solenoid switch (turnout) machine using a momentary SPDT toggle switch.

Sep 29, Rock Faces and Mountainsides

Tue, 29 Sep 2009 23:39:39 GMT

Tip From Vinayak at http://myrailroad.shutterfly.com... "Styrofoam with Sculptamold is very effective for modeling rock faces and mountainsides." It's true! The styrofoam can be purchased in sheets which are easy to cut, shape and stack. Then apply Sculptamold to the edges of the stacked styrofoam to make the rock wall or mountainside. Scuptamold is easy to work with and the results are very realistic. Thanks for your tip, Vineyak!

Jun 23, Railfanning

Tue, 23 Jun 2009 00:50:52 GMT

Check out the new photos sent in by Eduardo from Morocco!

Jun 15, O Scale Dioramas

Mon, 15 Jun 2009 02:34:27 GMT

Hi... Im not sure if my works qualify as a real model railroad. I am building structures, and not a real layout yet. Anyway, please do check my blog,

Jun 6, New Toolbar!

Sat, 06 Jun 2009 22:47:15 GMT

Check out the new BYMR Toolbar that you can add to your browser! It has a number of cool tools - a calculator, search bar, ToDo List, weather, radio and some of the best links to the BYMR site and Blog page. The best part of it is that it also has a message box where you can send me a quick message or question without having to go through email. I'm excited about it. Check it out!

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May 20, Train Camera for Your Model Trains

Wed, 20 May 2009 13:29:25 GMT

Using a Train Camera System to enhance your model railroad layout - a way to view your train layout from a different perspective.

May 14, Your Model Railroading Tips and Comments

Thu, 14 May 2009 01:34:10 GMT

Share your own model railroading tips and comments to help other model railroaders improve.

Apr 25, Bullfrog Snot

Sat, 25 Apr 2009 22:08:37 GMT

Have you tried any Bullfrog Snot on your locomotives yet? If you want better traction, this is just what you need! Bullfrog Snot is a liquid plastic (non-organic) product available from a manufacturer in California (Frogs Frills and Daffodils), which you can apply to the tread of your locomotive wheels. It dries 24 hours later to form a thin green tire for your wheels that will give you significantly better traction for your locomotive power on grades as well as better pulling power on flat runs. So now you can tell your wife that you are going to order some Bullfrog Snot off the Internet! After the shock has worn off, you can say that it's Snot what she thinks.

Mar 28, O Winston Link

Sat, 28 Mar 2009 15:57:16 GMT

Famous train photographs by O Winston Link inspire us to build great model railroad scenes.

Mar 14, Model Railroading Tips / Newsletter

Sat, 14 Mar 2009 14:57:59 GMT

Introducing a new email-based newsletter containing lots of model railroading tips and techniques to help you build and maintain your model railroad empire.

Mar 10, Helpers

Tue, 10 Mar 2009 00:15:30 GMT

In the latest issue of Model Railroader, Andy Sperandeo wrote a very informative one-page article on "Helper Operations", in which he talked about the various prototypical ways in which helper engines can be used to get your trains up steep grades. Double-heading is the simplest of these and of course involves adding an extra 1 or more engines at the front of the train to help pull the train up the grade. This is fine if the train is in a straight line, but if the grade involves going around a curve, you end up with a problem called "stringlining", where the cars in the middle are pulled back by the weight of the train and pulled forward by the engines and end up being forced off the track. In that case, you may need to use pusher engines at the rear or in the middle of the train to prevent this. Pushing against a caboose may be okay if it has a steel frame, but many do not prototypically and you don't want to put your crew in danger, so you may have to do some switching to get the caboose off then back on again after the climb is finished. You can also use a pusher with the coupler locked open, so that when the grade climb is finished the train simply pulls forward and the pusher falls back without requiring an uncoupling procedure. The pusher then goes back down the grade to return to its base. Check out the article for more details on p.114 of the April, 2009 issue of MR.

Feb 21, Narrow Gauge Model Railroads

Sat, 21 Feb 2009 22:56:58 GMT

Narrow gauge model railroading is becoming increasingly popular in the hobby. This page will give you some basic information about this gauge and why it's catching on.

Jan 12, Using Google Earth to Discover Prototype Track Plans

Mon, 12 Jan 2009 05:52:54 GMT

How to use Google Earth to find prototype track designs to use for your own model railroad track planning

Jan 7, Train Photos / Gallery

Wed, 07 Jan 2009 03:06:57 GMT

Gallery of prototypical and/or model train photos and model railroad layout photos

Jan 6, Model Train Supplies

Tue, 06 Jan 2009 14:13:31 GMT

Many of the model train supplies that you will need to build your model railroad can be found on this page.

Jan 4, Time for Sound

Sun, 04 Jan 2009 01:53:21 GMT

A great, very inventive article by John Thompson on how to use sound loops from old railroad clocks to add a variety of railroad sounds to your S scale trains.

Dec 26, Model Railroad Showcase

Fri, 26 Dec 2008 16:26:04 GMT

This is a chance for you to showcase YOUR model railroad with a whole webpage on the internet dedicated to your layout, diorama, structure-building, kitbashing or other projects.

Dec 23, Bobs Model Railroad Layout

Tue, 23 Dec 2008 05:09:27 GMT

Showcase of a model railroad layout with DCC and computer control, an operating signal system and automatically controlled reversing loops

Dec 22, Train Brain: Computerizing Your Layout

Mon, 22 Dec 2008 03:42:47 GMT

Using the Train Brain modules from CTI Electronics to achieve state-of-the-art computerized train, signal, turnout and lighting control.

Dec 16, "East Meets West"

Tue, 16 Dec 2008 00:19:02 GMT

I really enjoyed the article appearing in the January, '09 issue of Railroad Model Craftsman entitled "East Meets West - Modeling the Rio Grande Southern and East Broad Top", written by Linn Moedinger. The reason I liked it so much was that fact that Linn wanted to model 2 railroads that really weren't associated with each other in real life. But he liked both of them, and so he used his imagination to make up a story about an imaginary world where the Rockies were pushed up against the Alleghenys millions of years ago. In that world, these 2 railroads were therefore destined to meet. His fantastic layout attests to to the fact that they did meet (in his train room at least). He could have done it even without having to make up an excuse. In fact, I had to smile as I read, in his words, " I like the Rio Grande Southern and the East Broad Top and they needed to connect. End of story. It exists and I'm happy with it." I think that freedom to build whatever railroad you like including or not including a prototype or in this case putting 2 of them together whether they were together in real life or not is a fascinating, enjoyable and very creative aspect of this hobby. You shouldn't feel restricted by rules of real life (except maybe by things like gravity). Some people would have said, "But that didn't really happen". Well, neither did The Polar Express, but it still makes a good story. The bottom line is you really only have to please yourself. If you're happy with it and if you and your friends are having fun with it, you did the right thing!

Nov 22, Model Railroad Operations

Sat, 22 Nov 2008 15:37:56 GMT

If you are at all interested in model train operations, there is an excellent article in the latest issue of N-Scale Magazine called "Operations for a Newbie: a Veteran's Perspective" written by Larry Hickman and Greg Jones. This is Part 1 of a 2-part series and is written from the perspective of a real railroader, working a total of 41 years on four railroads including the Pennsylvania Railroad, Penn Central, Conrail and CSX. Larry is also an accomplished HO scale model railroader, so he is able to integrate both worlds with a rare expertise that really helps the rest of us modelers to know how things really worked and how to incorporate the prototype methods into our own layouts. I'm already looking forward to Part 2.

Nov 18, Common Electrical Switches Used in Model Railroading

Tue, 18 Nov 2008 03:00:00 GMT

A description and comparison of some of the more common electrical switches used in model railroad wiring.

Nov 16, Decorating Your Layout for the Holidays

Sun, 16 Nov 2008 16:47:48 GMT

"Modeling the Holiday Season" by Debie Baker-Snell is a nice article in the Dec., 2008 issue of Railroad Model Craftsman all about decorating your layout for the Holidays. Several holiday tips are outlined, including how to attach little wreaths (that you can buy from your local craft store) to the front of your engines or the backs of your cabooses. Another neat decoration is to use metallic yarn to wrap around some of your evergreens or around lampposts. You can also buy scale-sized holiday figure sets through the Walthers Catalog. You can add different-colored LEDs to an evergreen to make a Christmas tree that can be removed and replaced with a regular evergreen when the Season is over. Craft stores also have small decorative red bows that can be attached temporarily to street lamps. Small decorative signs or reindeer can be added to houses or buildings for roof decorations. Let your imagination be your guide. Show off your decorated layout to all your family and visitors to your home this season. This is something everyone would enjoy!

Oct 25, Train Layout Design Elements

Sat, 25 Oct 2008 23:02:36 GMT

How to use train layout design elements (LDE's) to develop your own model railroad trackplan

Oct 22, Modeling a Winter Scene

Wed, 22 Oct 2008 01:52:30 GMT

How to create a complete winter scene for your model railroad, including methods of making snow, ice and icicles.

Oct 18, Building your own model railroad website

Sat, 18 Oct 2008 17:45:47 GMT

If you're at all interested in building your own website or starting your own blog about model railroading, SiteSell now has a special going on. You can obtain the complete course, all the tools on how to find and use the right keywords, instructional videos, domain name, everything you need to develop a very successful website of your own for only $100. This entire website that you see here was created by me in my spare time (which isn't much) with the sole investment of $100 (The usual non-special price is $299). The site paid for itself within the first 8 weeks and traffic is growing more and more every week. There have been over 55,600 page views on this site since its inception in April, 2008. It's actually been fun to build and exciting to watch the reaction. If you belong to a railroad club, you could assign different articles to be written by various members of the club and have a complete site written and running in only a few months. Or if you want, SiteSell Services can build the whole thing for you according to your specifications. The other option is to have SiteSell provide you with a personal coach to help you. I elected to do it myself by taking the self-study course, although I'm sure it would have been easier with a personal coach. At any rate the decision is yours. If you've been thinking about it, now is the time while the rates are low. Let me know if you do. There's like a whole brotherhood of SBIers out there that are very friendly and help each other out every day in the forum. Click below to get to the SBI (Site Build It! by SiteSell) Homepage and read more...

Oct 18, Tip from a visitor on Scratchbuilding

Sat, 18 Oct 2008 00:11:19 GMT

In the Scratchbuilding page on this site, a method of making windows for a styrene wall is described. One of our readers sent in a comment which should make this a much easier process... "When cutting window openings in styrene, (For starters I would suggest .040 not .060) you can cut the lines for the outside of the window, and then cut an X from corner to corner. This allows the opening to be snapped out without having to glue the rest of the wall back together. Use a small file to clean up the opening. Much less work!" - Russ Venlos Thanks, Russ, for the great tip! I'll be anxious to try this soon.

Oct 11, Pokie Roads Layout Expansion Project

Sat, 11 Oct 2008 18:09:04 GMT

My new N Scale layout is currently under expansion. Pictures are now available to show (show off?) the progress. I'll post more updates as the process continues. Let me know if you have any comments...

Oct 11, Railroad Position System

Sat, 11 Oct 2008 16:38:06 GMT

An exciting new development in model railroad electronics is the RPS, or Railroad Position System. This is like GPS for your railroad! Requirements: ~ DCC control,
~ N-Scale or larger locomotive with decoder and open grill on top,
~ a PC or MAC computer,
~ JMRI (a freeware computer software program),
~ a transmitter in your locomotive,
~ 3-4 receivers mounted over your layout, and
~ line-of-site from your loco to receivers. (May not work for trains in large tunnels unless you put receivers in the tunnel) No complicated wiring is necessary. It can be used for location of trains (e.g, in a hidden staging yard), train identification, control of signals, turnouts, trains, sounds, lights and other automated actions. It can actually create a map of your layout by following the loco around the track. Starter set costs around $400 including base station, transmitter and 3 receivers. [Unfortunately, RPS is no longer in business apparently due to lack of sales in a sagging economy. If anyone else might be interested in picking up the business, the owner's email address can be found here... http://groups.yahoo.com/group/RPS-mrr/ -GJW (Nov.9, 2009)]

Oct 11, Building Your Model Railroad - A Comprehensive Guide

Sat, 11 Oct 2008 14:03:38 GMT

All the information, tools and techniques you need to design and build your own realistic, artistic and fully operational model railroad.

Sep 29, Traffic Signals for Your Model Railroad Layout

Mon, 29 Sep 2008 14:56:06 GMT

How to install traffic signals on your model railroad layout.

Sep 14, A New Model Railroad Layout!

Sun, 14 Sep 2008 23:56:25 GMT

Ideas, dreams and musings about building a new model railroad layout in addition to the main layout.