Combining Model Railroading With Other Hobbies

September 25, 2006

It’s easy to get wrapped up in your model railroad and basically put on blinders to other hobbies – I know I’m guilty of this. I usually think something along the lines of “I don’t have enough time for my railroad, how can I possibly consider a new hobby?”
Well, every once in a while something [...]

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Building Model Railroad Scenery With Household Items – Part 1

September 6, 2006

Model railroads are more then just the trains, tracks and power supplies. They provide the enthusiast a way to study and recreate entire worlds and towns in miniature. Fulfilling this requires a variety of modeling skills and techniques or a large pocket book to purchase ready-made scale models and supplies, but many enthusiasts prefer [...]

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Going Beyond The 4×6 Layout

August 16, 2006

On a 4′ x 8′ table you can handle every layout possible on a 4′ by 6′ table, with plenty of other variations. There are also many interesting layouts that can’t possibly be managed on a 4′ x 6′.
Of these, one of the most popular is the Figure Eight, to which you can add a [...]

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How To Make A Simple Oval Layout More Interesting

July 28, 2006

Perhaps the oval, no matter how you extend or alter it, appears too fixed and static for you.
You can make a distorted oval, and place stations or other buildings at the curved portions so the curves will be meaningful.

No real railroad curves without a reason, and you can always make your layout more realistic by [...]

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Adding Switches & More To Your Oval Layout

July 7, 2006

Let’s see what you can do with an oval on a 4′ x 6′ board. The first step toward variety of train operation is a pair of switches. They usually come in pairs, a right-hand and a left-hand switch.
You can tell which is which by looking at one from the end that shows only two [...]

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Modifying Your Simple Model Railway

June 13, 2006

In the last post I talked about simple circle and oval layouts that would fit onto a 4×6 sheet of plywood.
These simple track layouts are easy to set up and relatively inexpensive, but they aren’t really very realistic. After all, with the exception of kids’ rides at the amusement park, how many trains have you [...]

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Planning & Designing Your Model Railroad

May 25, 2006

The layout is the heart of your railroad system. The arrangement of the tracks, switches, crossings, and uncouplers determines what you can do with your trains to make their operation a source of never-ending fascination.
You can make the rails curve, go straight ahead, lead into a siding, branch into an alternate route, tunnel through mountains, [...]

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