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All - I have an old Gilbert New York Central Hudson 4-6-4 loco that I have owned since the 1960's when I was a kid. It is still a good runner, and with new rubber tires can haul anything. But it has seen better days. The front truck and cowcatcher, for example, are missing. I found what seemed...

All - I've had a rash of locomotive issues lately. One Athearn was repaired under warranty (they did nice quick service). An Atlas is in their repair shop in NJ now: $42. Two more Athearn locos are in need of service. One has a grinding noise, and the other I think is driving only one of the...

I have finally completed the as-built drawing of the layout, though it is still waiting on working up the turntable/roundhouse. The rest is pretty darned accurate - certainly good enough to begin documenting the wiring and placing the scenery. The whole thing is 6x10 ft. I tried to pack a lot...

Hey, All - As I work through the layout building process, I believe I have some unique approaches to building and modeling, and am considering writing an article for Model Railroader or some such magazine. What does it take to get an article published? Does one simply send in a finished...

Greetings, all. I've just completed phase I of my DC layout wiring, meaning that the blocks and turnouts are wired. (Not yet done is the turntable.) And I've got some trouble that I need help with... Walthers DCC-Friendly turnouts and how to wire them. I got these, since they are universally...

This is related to the nomenclature thread I started today: In real yards, do they use signs to indicate track names/numbers/IDs? What I'm looking for is some sort of example of a sign to show which track is which. Ya know, like at an airport, there are these white-on-black signs pointing the...

All - Do real railyards have a standard way of naming tracks in the yards? If so, I'd like to emulate it. What I mean is, say you have a ladder yard, with several tracks in a row. Do they call them track 1, 2, 3, 4, etc.? What if one of those branches? Is it 4a, or 4-1, or something like...

So, I work as an environmental engineer in real life, and deal a lot with radioactive waste issues. Once in awhile, there is something cool to see w.r.t railroads, as a lot of radioactive waste travels by rail. Here's a neat prototype pic of a naval nuclear reactor cask getting offloaded from a...

Folks - I am ready (I think) to install this turntable: Walthers Model Railroad Mall -- product information page for 933-2840 and the associated roundhouse: Walthers Model Railroad Mall -- product information page for 933-3041 Before I go for it, however, I want to check to see if anyone...

I saw this pic posted on another forum that I frequent, devoted to VW buses, one of my other hobbies. I've got tons of VW buses planned for my layout, and will have to convert one to model this prototype. What fun! Here's similar rig, though not a VW: Train - VW Bus

Greetings, all. The recent coupler thread got me thinking about the under-roadbed magnets used to uncouple cars in a yard. Well - I'm just about the finish the yard on my layout. One more round of "pull the track up and put it back down", this time adding the power leads. So this is the last...

I read in Andy Speradeo's book that if you intend to wire your layout with common rail (as I do) then one must exercise caution when using a dual power pack. Specifically, if the dual controls are run from the same transformer, then connecting them via common rail would short it out. Only if the...

Eureka! I've figured out a very neat way to install switch machines under multilayered foam board. I just got lucky on this one, since I had not planeed it this way, but it worked perfectly. Here's a quick pic: For full details, visit the web site in the sig! - John (very happy with how this...

I was just reading one of my trade rags, Civil Engineering magazine, and noticed an ad for some software for making highway signs - you know, the big green signs with distinctive lettering and all. I thought - hey, this could be useful for modelers! And they have a demo version, though it is...

Hey, all. I am now getting around to installing the switch machines, and seeing how they work with the turnouts. Right away, I can see a problem. Oh - and for background, these are the nice Walthers Shinohara code 83 Ni-Ag turnouts that look great. But they need work... Nearly all of them (I...

I was just at my "local" train store (about 50 miles from here) and saw a lovely Athearn release: our new New Mexico Rail Runner. Very nice. Has anyone seen a good on-line source for this?

I intend to use Tortoise switch machines with my Shinohara turnouts, and have a question about if there are reasons to hook the switch machine control wire to one place or another on the turnout. My turnouts typically look like this one: There are two holes for sticking the wire into, one...

Greetings, all. As I build my layout, I've been intending all along to go with DC, and perhaps change over to DCC at some point in the future. I have carefully selected the turnouts to be DCC-friendly, for example. But I have this wiring logic problem that I'm wrestling with: I have three...

Greetings! I am in need of a technique. Most of my track is laid upon a standard cork roadbed, which is about 5 mm in thickness. I have one lead out of the yard, however, that will go over to a separate area where there is a turntable surrounded by service tracks. The area around these radial...

Hey, everyone I've noticed that in my little fleet of vehicles for the HO layout very few of them have license plates. These could be easily added as decals. Would you suggest making my own decals (perhaps too much trouble?) or a source for acquiring some? Any ideas? Thy just look like...