Tips For Using Block Foam in Your Model Railroad Layout Scenery

Mountain Scenery

By Jim Hardwick One of the most often used items in model train scenery is Styrofoam. It is so light it doesn't add any weight to your setup, and that comes in handy when you move your layout around for display. The composition makes it very easy to whittle into any shape you want for rolling hills, mountains, cliffs, and all sorts of items that require bulking up. There are two drawbacks to Styrofoam. First, it doesn't hold up to certain chemicals and can dissolve under the right conditions. Don't even think about touching it with fire because it produces a deadly gas. The second … [Read more...]

Weathering Your Model Trains and Scenery

Weathered Boxcar

By Dan B Morgan Why should you weather your model trains and scenery? Whether you are just getting started with model trains, or you have been enjoying this hobby for a long time, there are many different things that you can do to make your model train layout look more realistic. You may have already spent a lot of time making sure that your models are to scale, but if you want your model railroad to look real, you have to avoid it looking too new! Having objects in your train set look too shiny or too new can be quite distracting. This is why you need to think about how to weather … [Read more...]

Blueline HO NYC S1b Niagara 4-8-4 Locomotive For Sale

HO Niagara 4-8-4 Locomotive

Model Train Tips contributor Chuck Shutz has an HO NYC S1b Niagara 4-8-4 locomotive for sale. He bought it online, set it on his awesome layout and found it was too large for his layout's radius. Now he’s offering this locomotive from Blueline for sale here for only $175, which I understand is a huge discount from the retail price. This brand new locomotive has DC sound and is DCC ready. If you are interested in purchasing this locomotive from Chuck or have questions, please use the contact form below and I will forward your message to Chuck. Once he has your contact information, … [Read more...]

Model Railroad Theme; Does Your Layout Have One?

Minneapolis

By Johan Bentley Model Railroad Theme A model railroad theme ties the trains, buildings and scenery together, telling the story of the train display and explaining its premise. A theme can range from historical to winter holiday, with everything else in between. A theme is truly a matter of individual preference and can be as simple or as elaborate as you want it to be, depending on how many resources you may have available to develop it. Establishing a theme is critical prior to constructing a model railroad display, as all trains and accessories depend on it. Whatever model … [Read more...]

Model Railroading Scenery Tips and Techniques by Martin Flynn

Dummy Locomotive

Martin Flynn, a Model Train Tips newsletter subscriber has contributed a number of model railroading scenery tips and techniques lately. I’ve posted them on the Scenery Techniques page, but I thought I’d highlight them here in case you haven’t been to that page recently. Martin has submitted tips and techniques for creating HO Steel I-Beams from garage sale signs, bridge guardrails and industry pipes from plastic strips, ballast from road construction gravel using a simple tool he picked up a dollar store. He also submitted a tip for creating powered dummy locomotives / compressor … [Read more...]

Model Railroad Scenery – How To Make Trees

Trees

Guest post by Dan B Morgan Trees are a great addition to any model railroad and the more you have the better it looks. However, if you had to go and buy these trees from a hobby shop it would cost you a lot of money. Here are 2 simple ways to make your own model railroad trees: 1) Find them in your back yard or go for a walk and find them. Small twigs have a similar structure to the branch structure of large trees. So, go for a walk and look for the twigs that look like trees. In an hour you will find enough twigs to create hundreds of trees. Look for the dried twigs as this will avoid … [Read more...]

Joao Rocha’s “River Beach” at ModelScala 2010 in Montijo, Portugal

River Beach module

Joao Rocha, a Model Train Tips subscriber and model railroading hobbyist in Portugal recently attended the annual model railroading show ModelScala 2010 in the city of Montijo near Lisbon, Portugal. “The train association APAC was invited to show Maquetren Moduls (brand name?). Near military airplanes and tank models the train layout represents small models of some Portuguese rail stations and some fictitious landscape like my small beach / river / sail boat module.” “You can see the emblematic 1400 orange diesel locomotive C.P. (Caminhos de ferro Porutugueses / portuguese rails) and … [Read more...]

The History Of Electric Toy Trains

LGB Garden Train

Not only do electric toy trains provide a lot of fun for the entire family, they have a history that is almost as rich as the one shared by the real railroads. The very first toy trains appeared on the market in the 1860's. These were simple designs that were made out of wood and metal. It is doubtful that the designers had any inkling of what their simple floor toys would evolve into. The Marklin Company saw a need for a set of standard gauges for toy trains in 1891. When they first implemented these standard gauges it was for the wind-up (also called clockwork) trains the Marklin … [Read more...]

Wondering Whether To Weather Your Model Railroad Trains?

weathered-boxcar-588x400

By Timothy McCarthy First of all, some of you may be reading this wondering what weathering model railroad trains is, so I'll start with an explanation. Weathering is basically the process of making something look old and used and is a technique applied to model railways to make them look more realistic. In the real world, nothing stays shiny and new for long. Trains will pick up dust and dirt as they travel around, paint will get scratched, metalwork rusts over time and so many model train builders will want to recreate these looks on their models. Of course, this isn't for … [Read more...]

Model Train Tips To Help Keep Your Dream Railway Right On Track

Coal train into the yard

By Timothy McCarthy If you search online you will be able to find all kinds of different hints and model train tips, from how to choose the right model train scale, to how to create realistic looking model train scenery. In this article I am going to bring some of the lesser known tips to your attention though. Now, in the introduction I mentioned model train scale and by typing those words into any search engine it's relatively simple to find tips as to how to determine model train scale and what the difference is between scale and model train gauges. However, do you know what … [Read more...]