The Tennessee Valley Railroad Museum in Chattanooga is the state’s official railroad museum although it’s run by volunteers and paid staff. It was started in 1960 and now has 3 miles of track. I and a number of train fans recently had a chance to spend the morning visiting. There are a number of vintage
Model Railroad Academy is excited to announce our newest contributor: Martin Tarnrot. Martin is a professional model railroader from Sweden and has been a railfan from a young age. We sat down with Martin to learn more about him and his model railroad journey! About Martin I was born in Stockholm, Sweden in 1970. My
What do you do when you have a railroad next to an unheated and semi-open staging yard? Well Dave Houseman solved the problem when he wanted to run trains from the regular layout room into an adjacent utility space that was sort of open to the elements, including bugs. Here at the Newport scene on
You may remember in the first two segments (part 1 & part 2) on the construction of the Oakland Block for my friend Dave’s Chicago, Denver & Pacific, I built the department store and the Metropolitan building from Bachmann. In this the final segment, you will learn about building the Trade Tower. Although, be aware
In part one on the new Oakland buildings blog I’ve been working on for my friend Dave, I built the Bachmann Department Store. I made an alley on the side, so we could build the next structure the Metropolitan Building next to it. But on the other side of the Metropolitan I will add the
My friend Dave Houseman asked me to build a block of buildings for his new Oakland scene on his Chicago, Denver and Pacific Railroad. We started with 3 Bachmann buildings. As is my custom I never like to create a structure as the designers intended. I always try to make some differences, otherwise Dave’s buildings
After building all my circus flatcars and wagons I needed some way for the performers and workers to travel. So I’m going to tell you about the construction of 2 passenger cars for my Keljan Circus. I began with 2 AHM 10-6 sleepers then painted them red with a silver roof. I added wire grab
The beautiful mountains and lakes of North Carolina were home for 3 days of model railroading fun for members of the National Model Railroad Association’s Southeastern Region during late May. The convention was held near the town of Waynesville, North Carolina, not far from Asheville. It was sponsored by the Carolina Mountain Division of the
One of the questions I get asked most when people see my layout or pictures of it is “How do you make the water look like it’s moving”? It’s really a simple process that anyone can do with the right equipment: paint and varnish. This scene is the Mississippi River between Memphis and Arkansas on
There are a number of schemes designed to move cars around a model railroad, but I prefer the time-tested 4 cycle waybill popularized by Doug Smith in the 1960s. I have used this system since we began operations on my Bluff City Southern in 1999 with great results. It’s just plain fun, and never the same.
