Innehållsförteckning för June 2017 från Model Railroader

MORE REVIEWS & VIDEOS • Videos • News & Reviews • Community • Shop & more. Pacific Northwest Empire Gary Randall’s Oregon Middle Division is a freelanced N scale layout featuring the green forests and busy waterfronts of the Pacific Northwest. Read about Gary’s railroad on page 28, then click on the link under Online Extras at the MR home page to watch a video tour of trains running along the main line. Operating the Beer Line The June issue marks the end of our Beer Line series. Be sure to check out the video tour and track plan on the MR home page. In addition, Model Railroader Video Plus has produced a multi-part How-To Library series all about building and operating the Beer Line layout. As a special online…

It was a good idea once Well, I guess I’ll have to rethink my plans for a new layout addition! Neil makes a great point about realism in his March From the Editor column. To be honest, I picked these kits up years ago and never used them for the very reasons Neil and author Lance Mindheim mention. Mark Albert, Indianapolis, Ind. Finding a Ben-Hur boxcar After reading the articles on the Beer Line extension and the Ben-Hur Freezer Co. industry article in April, I thought you might get a kick out of this. I grew up in Foley, Minn. on the Great Northern’s Mora-Milaca-St. Cloud line. My grandfather had an appliance store and one year he partnered with another store in Pierz to sell a boxcar load of Ben-Hur…

ON THE WEB Model Railroader Video Plus subscribers can see this project at www.MRVideoPlus.com. Ben Lake’s mixer body is available at www.shapeways.com/shops/rvm What’s a model railroader to do if he or she can’t find a model of something needed for a project? Why, you build it, of course! I needed several 1940s cement mixers for 2017’s addition to our Beer Line project railroad. Early cement mixers are easily recognizable as such, and clearly different from any readily available HO scale cement mixer models. First of all, they’re much smaller. And the mixer is more cylindrical, rather than tapered like on a modern truck. I hoped to use one of Athearn’s Mack B cement trucks, but the B model didn’t come out until 1953, too late for our 1948 setting. I…

This is the final installment of our Beer Line series. The layout has three prototype-based industries on it, and modeling them offered a variety of challenges. With Tews Lime & Cement Co., I had a distinct advantage: access to someone who worked there. John H. Tews, a grandson of the two brothers who founded the company, is a model railroader who is deeply involved in the Milwaukee-area National Model Railroad Association division. John is also a buddy of retired Model Railroader senior editor Jim Hediger, so a call to Jim set up a meeting with John, and the project was off and running. I did a bit of research before meeting with John. My first source was the book The Milwaukee Road’s Beer Line, by Art Harnack (Milwaukee Road Historical…

Sir Roderick David Stewart is a Grammy Award-winning singer and one of the best-selling recording artists of all time. He’s also a New York Times bestselling author for his autobiography Rod. He tours extensively and is a headliner at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas. In 2017, his song “Maggie May” will enter the Grammy Hall of Fame. His Grand Street & Three Rivers RR has been the subject of three previous Model Railroader cover stories. Rod has eight children and is married to model and photographer Penny Lancaster.…

The Tortoise by Circuitron switch motor has been a staple in model railroading for many years. When mounted vertically, the motor stands 33⁄8" tall. But what if you have a lowprofile fascia or a multi-deck layout where every inch between levels counts? By mounting the Tortoise on its side, the switch motor’s profile slims down to 23⁄16". All you need to mount the motor on its side is .060" sheet styrene and .032" music wire, also called piano wire. The price per conversion is less than $1. Try this method of mounting your switch motors in areas where vertical space is a factor. I’m sure you’ll be satisfied with the results. Ron St. Laurent is a retired GeneralMotors program quality manager. He’s a member of the Lansing (Mich.) Model Railroad…

The Baltimore & Ohio wagontop hoppers are rounded up and heading out. These transition-era covered hoppers are now available from Spring Mills Depot. The B&O built a series of wagontop cars between the world wars. These homebuilt cars had at least two purposes: keep the shops busy during the Great Depression, and solve the problem of water infiltration on house cars. In addition to the class N-34 covered hoppers, the B&O also built cabooses and boxcars using similar construction techniques. The covered hoppers were built in two lots of 100. The first batch, numbered 630400 to 630499, were built in the railroad’s DuBois, Pa., shops in April 1940. The second batch, numbered 630300 to 630399, were built in B&O’s Keyser, W.Va., shops in June 1940. Records show most of the…

What makes a hopper “offset”? Q I have several coal hopper cars. On some of the boxes it states that this an “Offset-Side” car. I don’t see any difference in the cars. What am I missing? Paul Reagon, Camden, Ark. AHopper cars have vertical posts to provide structural strength to their sheet metal sides. On a hopper meant to haul dense material like ore, sand, or cement, these posts are usually visible on the outside of the car, as that’s the simplest way to build the car. These are called “exterior-post” hoppers. But cars that carry less dense materials like coal or wood chips are designed to maximize their carrying capacity, since exceeding the car’s rated weight isn’t likely to be a problem. To get all the volume possible out…

The layout at a glance Name: Grand Street & Three Rivers RR Scale: HO (1:87.1) Size: 23'-0" x 124'-4" Prototype: New York Central and Pennsylvania RR Locale: Pennsylvania Era: mid-1940s Style: walk-in Mainline run: 900 feet Minimum radius: 40" Minimum turnout: no. 6 Maximum grade: 3.5 percent Benchwork: box grid Height: 391⁄2" Roadbed: Homasote Track: code 70 flextrack Scenery: plywood table Backdrop: painted drywall Control: Digitrax Digital Command Control In the past two decades, Rod Stewart has recorded more than 50 songs, toured the world, been inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame (twice), been knighted by Queen Elizabeth II for his services to music and charity – and completed one remarkable model railroad. The 23 x 124-foot HO scale Grand Street & Three Rivers RR fills a…

Outcroppings are a prominent scenic feature in the part of Indiana that I model on my S scale Monon RR. When I started my layout, the available rock molds didn’t work well to re-create the Indiana landscape. These molds represented vertical surfaces, and I needed something appropriate for sloped terrain. Tree bark proved to be just the material I needed. Unlike rock molds, bark comes in an endless variety of shapes and convincingly models the top surfaces of rock. It can also be easily cut, shaped, and curved to fit the terrain. Although I model in S scale, the techniques demonstrated in this article would work equally well in larger and smaller scales. Follow along as I show you how I use tree bark to model limestone outcroppings. Basic landforms…

Second-generation diesel modelers looking for a heavy-duty six-axle road engine would do well to take a look at Athearn’s new Electro-Motive Division SD40. The model has prototype-specific details, wire grab irons, see-through fan grills, and other features usually found on higher-end models. This version is detailed specifically for the Southern Pacific; we reviewed a version detailed for the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy in the March 2016 Model Railroader. The Ready-To-Roll SD40 includes an RTR Sound Digital Command Control decoder made for Athearn by SoundTraxx. While it shares some features with that manufacturer’s other decoders, it’s not a Tsunami or Econami. History. When EMD came out with the SD40 in 1966, many railroads initially shied away from the 3,000-hp diesel in favor of the higher horsepower SD45. However, they soon warmed…

It’s going on four in the morning. Our train, Extra 4217 West, is safely tucked in the siding at Marcel on Southern Pacific’s famed Tehachapi line, with orders to meet Extra 6440 East there. Marcel is a blind siding, a station with no depot or other means of communication. Coffee steams as we settle in to wait. Let’s pass time reviewing some rules. Safe movement of trains over single track, timetable and train order (TT&TO) territory makes it necessary to clearly distinguish between regular trains and extras. Southern Pacific rules closely resemble the Standard Code, which defines a regular train as one authorized by a timetable schedule. An extra train is a train without a schedule that runs in addition to those shown in the timetable. Rule 19 requires a…

I was sitting by a pool. The pool was on deck 8 of a ship. The ship was in the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Argentina on its way to the Falkland Islands and then Antarctica. It was January 2017. So, in this rather remote location and venue, I was a little surprised when a gentleman walked up to me and asked, “Are you Tony?” One aspect of editing or writing for a model railroad magazine is an element of, shall we say, notoriety. Our photos show up in print or in video segments, so readers have little trouble recognizing us. But that’s usually in context – at a model railroad convention or train show, for example. Outside of such events, it’s unusual to be greeted by a stranger.…

MOBILE UPDATES Scan the code to access Model Railroader’s weekly News & Products updates from your mobile device. HO scale Modern commuter train set. This three-piece set includes an NJ Transit Bombardier Transportation ALP-45DP locomotive (direct-current model with eight-pin socket, 21-pin plug, and space for a speaker), a multi-level trailer, and a multi-level cab car. The trailer and cab car feature metal wheels, injectionmolded plastic seats, and light-emitting diode (LED) interior lighting. The cab car has directional LED headlights, ditch lights, and marker lights; provisions for a speaker; and a 21-pin plug for a Digital Command Control decoder. All of the HO scale models are equipped with Kadee couplers. The modern commuter train set sells for $354.85. Atlas Model Railroad Co., 908-687-0880, www.atlasrr.com HO scale locomotives • Electro-Motive Division F3A,…

Railroads haul all sorts of profitable things in freight cars. But they also carry people, and if one judges by what’s often seen, model railroads are money losers, running empty passenger trains. For decades, passenger car kits were sold empty, leaving hobbyists to install interiors and lighting from a variety of different sources. But what about passengers? It appears model railroads discourage them. It wasn’t always so. Model train manufacturers were selling large gauge passenger trains with riders as early as the mid-1880s. The French made fanciful passenger cars carrying fashionably dressed customers. Following suit, Germans Bing, Marklin, Lutz, Planck, and Rock & Graner offered well-equipped passenger cars with interior compartments ready to accept painted terra cotta or plaster figures comfortably impaled on spikes to keep them from falling from…

Gary Randall and I knew each other from Scale Rails, a train club in Fort Myers, Fla. [See Great Model Railroads 2017. – Ed.] When Gary approached me to help build and design his new layout, I knew it would be a great project. I’d worked with him on several club projects and was impressed with his attention to detail and modeling skills. When I went to Gary’s home to see the room where the layout would be built, we started talking about the footprint and type of layout, how wide the aisle should be, and more. We decided a walk-in, G-shaped layout with no duckunders would be the best solution. Gary and I came up with a list of things we thought should be included on his layout, including…

The LeTourneau Letro-Porter machine was designed to lift trailers and containers on and off flatcars. After reading an article on scratchbuilding one in the August 1985 Model Railroader, I was so impressed that I built one. Though the task was time consuming, the finished machine was a fantastic HO model that has been the talking point among visitors to my layout for many years. More than 30 years have passed since the article was first published. Though I still model the same period, I now favor branchline operations over mainline railroading. I didn’t really have space for a piggyback terminal. However, I didn’t want to confine the LeTourneau to a display cabinet. To justify keeping the machine on the layout, I converted it to an HO log stacker. My log-grasping…

Small switchers, such as this Plymouth ML-8 modeled by Walthers, toiled away for decades at various trackside industries and railroad shops. The Walthers- Mainline model captures the look of its prototype “critter” and features impressive power for such a diminutive locomotive. The model is available in directcurrent (DC) or Digital Command Control (DCC) versions. We tested the DCC version that features a SoundTraxx motor decoder (non-sound) with CurrentKeeper technology. Prototype. Under the name J.D. Fate Co., the first locomotive rolled out of the plant at Plymouth, Ohio, in 1910. The company that eventually became the Plymouth Locomotive Works built more than 7,500 industrial locomotives for customers worldwide until the company was sold in 1997. Although Plymouth designed some heavier locomotives, most of those sold weighed 25 tons or less. Like…

Price: $26.99 Manufacturer Woodland Scenics P.O. Box 98 Linn Creek, MO 65052 woodlandscenics.com Comments: A shack or shed is a common trackside feature in both urban and rural settings. Woodland Scenics makes it easy to add one of these simple structures to a model railroad with Built & Ready sheds and shacks in its Landmark Structure series. While this review focuses on the HO scale structure, the firm also makes N and O scale versions. The sheds are offered in three versions. The work shed (pictured) is the largest of the three, with a 111⁄16" square footprint. The other two versions, a tin shack and a wood shack, take up even less space. The models are made of plastic with well-defined molded detail. The siding on the work shed has…