Tabla de contenidos para February 2026 en Model Railroader

Compact options to a basement-filling monster Are you itching to get started on a new model railroad project but you don’t know how to make it fit into your living space and life? Check out Compact Track Plans: 5 recommendations for cramped spaces on Trains.com. Staff writer Lucas Iverson has gathered five examples from our Track Plan Database of layouts that will let you enjoy your hobby without having to give up too much space in your home. And be sure to check out the Track Plan Database for more options! Revisiting a model railroad icon Bruce Chubb’s Sunset Valley Oregon System is the result of years in the hobby and an expansion with the construction of a new home. Bruce is well-known among layout signaling experts for his C/MRI (Computer/Model Railroad…

Athearn has released a new run of Electro-Motive Division FP45 diesel locomotives in its HO scale Genesis line. The six-axle units feature injection-molded plastic and die-cast metal construction, prototype-specific details, and McHenry plastic scale couplers. Electro-Motive Division produced the FP45 in 1967 and 1968. During that time, 14 units were built, nine for the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe (Nos. 100 through 108) and five for the Milwaukee Road (Nos. 1 through 5). The six-axle diesels, rated at 3,600 horsepower, were equipped with a 20 cylinder, 645E3 engine and steam generator equipment toward the rear of the cowl body. Our review sample is decorated as Milwaukee Road No. 4. The full-size unit was built in December 1968 and delivered in the yellow-and-gray passenger scheme. When the diesel was reassigned to freight…

Q I have several On30 locomotives with Digital Command Control (DCC), but was recently gifted a passenger set that has a direct-current (DC) locomotive. If some DCC locomotives are sitting on the track, can I use a DC transformer to operate the DC engine on the same track without damaging the DCC locomotives? What would happen to the DC locomotive if it’s still on the track when I use the DCC controller? Joe Mizell A First, let’s tackle the DC locomotive question. Direct-current locomotives, when placed on a DCC-powered track, will hum or sing in a high pitch due to the high frequency of the DCC track power. With some DCC systems, such as Digitrax, you can operate one DC locomotive using a process referred to as zero bit stretching by…

Scituate’s Brushy Hill caused the Marshfield & Old Colony RR to make a sharp right turn toward the harbor, but the obstacle ultimately proved to be a blessing in disguise. Unlike the solid granite base of the Third and Fourth Cliffs, Brushy was a large sand dune formed by the wind and the sea centuries ago. The aggregate proved to be of a suitable grade for construction and beach reclamation, so the Scituate Sand and Gravel Co. was formed to harvest these resources. The M&OC was very happy to construct a long spur to the quarry to gain its seasonal traffic. In typical fashion the quarry shut down in autumn for the winter, resuming operation when the frost had left the ground in the spring. Sandpits are found all over…

Surely, many who have completed a model train layout stood back to view their creation. Admiring it, followed by thoughts of “If I only had a little more room I could have …” The rare opportunity for a little more room came my way when our youngest son moved and vacated two rooms in our house. An office was in a room adjacent to the layout room in the basement. I took the opportunity to relocate the office upstairs, opening up a nice sized area for an expansion of the B&O Ridgley Division. [Dale’s Ridgley Division was featured in the March 2017 issue of Model Railroader. — Ed.] Plans for the new space There were three things I wanted to accomplish by adding on to the previous layout. First, get…

I envy newcomers to our hobby, as they have so many exciting options to choose from. But I’d hate to be a rank beginner again because — well, I’d have so many options to choose from. That path is littered with rabbit holes that can cost us valuable time and money — and enthusiasm — when they don’t turn out as expected. MR’s annual Model Railroad Planning, which comes out in January each year, was conceived to help the beginner navigate through those shoals and to prompt the more experienced modeler to investigate new ways of thinking about layout research, planning, and design as she or he upgrades an existing railroad or contemplates a new one following a relocation, for example. But during the decades I’ve been editing MRP, I…

The third run of Trinity 5,660-cubic-foot capacity pressure differential (PD) covered hoppers has been released by Atlas Model Railroad Co. The modern freight car, based on former BLMA tooling, features freestanding details, screw-mounted trucks with 36" chemically blackened metal wheelsets, and body-mounted couplers. The 5660 PD covered hopper was introduced in 1999 by Thrall Car Manufacturing Co. The design became part of the Trinity Industries (now TrinityRail) portfolio in 2001 when the Dallas, Texas-based company purchased Thrall. The car is still in production today. Approximately 4,000 covered hoppers have been built to this design. Free-flowing products, such as flour, are transported in pressure differential covered hoppers. Sales literature from TrinityRail indicates that the discharge lines can be customized (aluminum, carbon, or stainless steel) to suit the commodity being transported. The…

Taking a cut In your recent magazine an article stated when modeling the Appalachians a cut was a good scenic thing to do [“Scenic hints for Appalachian layouts, February 2025]. I did exactly that several years ago and it makes for a nice scene. Here the eastbound Phoebe Snow is going through the Devil’s Hole cut before reaching Cresco while a freight heading west has just passed the station on the Delaware, Lackawanna & Western RR. Jef Fagen via email DIY DCC — Nay or yay? An interesting editorial decision. From a reader interest view, I’d give it a 10. From a reader usefulness view, I’d give it a 1. In choosing a DCC system, my thought is that the big question is what do people you know have? And for…

The journey that led Eric Lalonde to model the Union Pacific Geneva Subdivision in HO scale is a bit different than what you normally read about here. He got started in the hobby when he was 10. Eric’s dad built a standard 4 x 8-foot layout. Though his dad lost interest in the model railroad, Eric’s curiosity remained. He scratchbuilt a bridge, turntable, roundhouse, and water tower. Using resources he had available, including fish tank rocks and real dirt, Eric also tried his hand at scenery. Nothing was to scale, so close enough was good enough. Over time, Eric got out of the hobby. However, he continued researching and building models in various scales. Eric returned to model railroading in 1998. Over his four decades in the hobby, he’s built five…

Once part of the Central of Georgia main line between Chattanooga, Tenn., and Savannah, Ga., the Norfolk Southern Cedartown District is now a stub-ended branch line running 90 miles between Silver Creek and Senoia, Ga. In the modern era, Carrollton is as close as anywhere gets to a hotspot on this line. Home to a small yard, a handful of industries, and a pair of locals (as well as being the turn point for a third), there is a strong likelihood of finding classic EMDs hard at work somewhere in town. Such was the case on Sunday, June 12, 2016. Local G87 is seen working the yard in Carrollton shortly after sunrise. They’ll pick up the center-beam bulkhead flatcar to their left before heading south to Newnan and Senoia to work…

Send us your photos Trackside Photos is a showcase for the work of Model Railroader readers. Send your photos (digital images 5 megapixels or larger) on a flash drive to: Model Railroader, Trackside Photos, 18650 W. Corporate Dr., Suite 103, Brookfield, WI 53045; or email them to us at editor@modelrailroader.com.…

HO scale Electro-Motive Division SD9 diesel locomotive. ScaleTrains offers this Rivet Counter line model decorated for Conrail and Norfolk Southern. Features on the HO scale SD9 include a detailed cab interior with separate floor, rear walls, seats, and early control stand; directional, light-emitting-diode headlights; and prototype-specific details. The model has a minimum radius of 18" and a recommended radius of 22". Direct-current models with a 21-pin connector sell for $214.99. Models with an ESU LokSound V5 sound decoder are priced at $324.99. ScaleTrains, 844-987-2467, scaletrains.com Atlas Model Railroad Co. announced in late November the acquisition of “substantially all assets” of Micro-Trains Line Co., a manufacturer of N and Z scale model trains and couplers based in Talent, Ore. As part of the agreement, Atlas assumes ownership of Micro-Trains’ molds, tooling, and associated…

An American Car & Foundry 40-foot wood refrigerator car is the fourth model to join the ScaleTrains S-Helper Service lineup. The model, based on a prototype from the 1920s, features plastic construction; factory-installed and painted wire grab irons; and sprung, diecast metal trucks. The review sample we received is decorated as Santa Fe Refrigerator Department (SFRD) No. 23949, part of the 23451 through 23950 series built in 1927 by ACF. The full-size car was part of the RR-5 class. In addition to the 500 cars built by ACF, the class included 400 cars built by Pullman and numbered 23951 through 24350. Refrigerator cars from the RR-5 class were rebuilt in 1950 and 1951 and reassigned to the RR-49 (11432 through 11931) and RR-50 (11932 through 12421) classes. Among the upgrades…

Several of the structures in the town of Daneburg on my former HO scale Union Pacific Daneburg Subdivision layout [See the May 2017 Model Railroader. — Ed.] were scratchbuilt. Each time I worked on a building, I took the opportunity to try different materials. For the Daneburg Quick Stop I combined laserboard, a resin-impregnated kraft paper, with styrene and injection-molded plastic parts. The model is based on the Quick Stop in Blairstown, Iowa. It’s not an exact replica of the prototype structure, but it’s close. I made my version wider than the full-size building to fit the space I had available. I also didn’t model the building in full, but only the front and sides as the back wall was against the backdrop. I purchased the laser-engraved brick wall sheets from…

When railroads were constructed in the United States in the mid-19th century, steam locomotives were the primary type of motive power used. Most steam loco-motives weren’t designed to operate in reverse at high speeds, and often needed to be turned around at terminals. Rail-roads built wye tracks or turntables to turn the locomotives. Early turntables of the 1800s were constructed using wooden beams and were just long enough to accommodate the locomotives of their time. As locomotives became larger, the early turntables were replaced with longer steel bridges. During the steam era, there were hundreds of turntables in use on North American railroads. When railroads were dieselized in the 1950s, turntables were still in use at major engine terminals and some still remain today. My prototype-based HO scale layout is…

With our increasingly mobile society, building railroads that can move with you has become more important than ever for the modeler. Don’t get me wrong, permanent layouts still have their place, particularly when building very large railroads that need to attach to walls for support. However, for the average hobbyist, the best return on investment is a model railroad that can travel with you, particularly in the event of a job relocation or downsizing after retirement. We learned that lesson again all too well when moving offices recently forced us to dismantle our former Milwaukee, Racine & Troy HO scale club layout. Parts of the MR&T had been bolted to the floor and walls, and the entire layout was electrically hard-wired to the building — mobility was far from the…