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Building a Paper Mill for the Apache Railway

I received a request from my friend Dave to build a paper mill for his new Apache Railway. He needed the mill for the town of Snowflake, Arizona, so I... View Content

Building a Power Plant for the Apache Paper Mill

My friend Dave needed a power plant to go with his new Apache paper mill that he was adding to his Apache Railway branch, so I offered to combine his... View Content

Model Railroading: Where to Begin

Most of us can remember our first experience with trains. It may have been a Lionel steam set under the Christmas tree or an afternoon trackside with your grandfather. For... View Content

Private Rail Trip: Part 1

For over a year my wife and I had planned a trip on a private railroad car for our anniversary, so we were especially excited to arrive at Washington's Union... View Content

Installing Approach Signals for an Interlocking Plant: Part 2

Editor’s note: This blog is part 2 of a series on installing signals for an interlocking plant. You can read part 1 of this series here. We decided to use... View Content

10-Minute Diesel Weathering

This is a new HO scale E-7 diesel. It's well detailed and runs well with sound, but it looks too toy-like to me. There are as many ways to weather... View Content

Cleaning Up an Old Model Railroad Scene

Perhaps you have a scene or series of scenes on your layout that have not aged well. They may be covered in dust or just generally need a little touch... View Content

A Visit to the Twin Cities Model Railroad Museum

I recently made an inspiring trip to the Twin Cities Model Railroad Museum in St. Paul, Minnesota, that I would like to tell you about. The Twin Cities Model Railroad... View Content

Installing Approach Signals for an Interlocking Plant: Part 1

On my model railroad of the Bluff City Southern there is a bottleneck, but it's a fun bottleneck. The five railroads that I model come together at this bottleneck. It's... View Content

An Overview of Glues for Model Railroading

I’m going to diverge a bit from my ongoing series of blogs to talk about something that’s vital to the pursuit of our hobby. Glue! We all seem to find... View Content

Basic Detailing for Model Railroads: A Day in the Southern Pacific

What about basic detailing? We’ve come a good distance in our blog series, so I think that we're ready for the really rewarding part! If you’ve read my series (find... View Content

Creative Ideas for Model Railroad Structures

Photo by Doug Hodgdon Model railroad structures are important in many ways, and by “structures” I’m including bridges and other man-made, primarily fixed elements that we include in our layouts.... View Content

Making Scale Trees from Hydrangea Blooms

The best material for modeling trees that look like trees is natural vegetation... nothing beats it. For years I've used various kinds of natural materials from the yard, my wife's... View Content

A New Way to Attend a Train Event

For some time now modelers have discussed the costs of going to model railroad conventions and meets. Often the cost has been too much for some people, but the Southeastern... View Content

Common Household Items You Can Use for Model Railroad Scenery

Model railroaders are reputedly among the most frugal (read: cheap) hobbyists around. Why spend good money for details when you can utilize some very common household items? In the old... View Content

Allen Keller Builds Circus Flatcars

With spring approaching, the management of the Keljan Circus realized they needed more flatcars to get ready for the new season of performances. In winter quarters the circus crew had... View Content

NMRA National Convention & Train Show 2016 Recap

Model Railroad Academy sent me to Indianapolis this year to take in the 2016 NMRA National Convention and Train Show July 8th through the 10th. My primary interest in attending... View Content

The Roots of My Modeling Passion

When I’m giving tours of my layout it seems that I get more questions about “how did you get started” in the hobby from NON-railroad guests than by actual enthusiasts.... View Content