Model Railroader June 2021

Expert tips In this easy-to-follow how-to article, Cody Grivno, group technical editor, walks you through weathering techniques used when working with powdered pastels, demonstrating on an N-scale boxcar how to add rust, dust, and other realistic details that elevate your model. Product review Check out Model Railroader’s first-ever Rapid Review, of Rapido Trains’ new Montreal Locomotive Works M420 locomotive. Read all about the model’s special features and see how it fares on the tracks of the staff’s Milwaukee, Racine & Troy layout. Evaluating track plans Join host Gerry Leone in the third installment of the Back on Track series, as he tries to select the perfect track design for his custom-built layout space, all of which he created using computer-aided design software. To follow along with Gerry on his mission to build a new HO…

This month we visit a pair of layouts that prove reality may be overrated, at least when it comes to modeling prototype railroading. Mark Ballschmeider’s Ashland & Iron Mountain RR, our cover story, is a steam-era mining road set in the copper country of Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. His 241/2 x 39-foot On30 scale layout draws its inspiration from an actual narrow-gauge railroad, the Quincy & Torch Lake, one of several copper haulers that once served the mines surrounding Hancock, Michigan. Had Mark built a prototypical representation of the Q&TL, he would have ended up with a model of a six-mile line that did little more than move ore one way, then haul coal back to the mine’s boiler house using the same cars. Very cool, but also very dull after a few dozen…

Electro-Motive Division SD75M diesel locomotive. Athearn offers this Genesis series model decorated for BNSF Ry. (Heritage III and red-and-silver warbonnet schemes, three road numbers each); Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe (red-and-silver warbonnet, four numbers); Norfolk Southern (Thoroughbred scheme, three numbers); and Progress Rail (Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe warbonnet and BNSF Ry. Heritage II patchouts, two numbers each). Direct-current HO scale models with a 21-pin NEM connector sell for $229.98. Versions with a dual-mode SoundTraxx Tsunami2 sound decoder are priced at $319.98. Athearn Trains, 800-338-4639, athearn.com Atlas buys select MTH O scale tooling Atlas Model Railroad Co. has purchased a selection of tooling from MTH Electric Trains’ Premier O scale locomotive and rolling stock lines, as well the company’s RailKing accessory line. According to a release from Atlas, the company acquired molds for…

Finding grain bin details In the February issue of Model Railroader, you showed Pelle Søeborg’s modular layout [“A fresh start,” page 38 – Ed.]. The details on the grain bin are perfect. I’ve hauled grain both off the farms and for various grain elevators. I’ve been building a layout for my grandkids, and grain is part of it. I’d like to know where he was able to find these details. I’ve been looking and have been unable to find the truck loading chutes and dryer fans. Vernon A. Hintt Pelle Søeborg replies: “Most if not all the details on my grain facility are built from scratch. The only commercial parts I used are the corrugated grain bin sides. Even the roofs are built from scratch. I have sent a picture of the two low…

Why were so many hoppers parked in the middle of nowhere? Q Recently, while driving along a highway in the vicinity of Lindsay, Mont., I came across a long, continuous line of covered hoppers. The photograph I took hardly does it justice. These cars stretched on for the better part of 8 miles across the Montana prairie. I’d never seen such a thing before. From what I was able to discern on Google Maps, these cars sat on what seems like a very long siding, although I couldn’t identify any local industry that would service that many freight cars. Can you provide any insight? R.C. Lopez, Wilmette, Ill. A Those cars were likely in storage. During the harvest season on the prairie, railroads need thousands of covered hoppers to promptly handle the grain…

Sometimes the answer is right in front of your face. That was the case when we were looking for freight cars for Cargill Salt, one of the industries on the Jones Island section of our HO scale Milwaukee, Racine & Troy (MR&T) staff layout. The full-size industry receives Trinity 3,601-cubic-foot capacity two-bay covered hoppers. The aluminum-and-steel cars have distinct lines, but aren’t offered in HO. Because of deadline constraints, kitbashing wasn’t an option. We had to look elsewhere for cars for Cargill Salt. I searched various prototype freight car websites and noticed Interstate Commodities (INTX) has a sizable fleet of older three-bay covered hoppers, some of which are now used in salt service. One that caught my eye was INTX no. 47122. The ex-Illinois Central Gulf Pullman-Standard 4,740-cubic-footcapacity three-bay covered hopper…