How to add trackside details DCC WIRING FOR OUR SHELF LAYOUT Adding scenery to our shelf layout HO layout in 28 x 94 inches Easy freight car weathering How to install DCC on a small layout ENTER TO WIN A LIFETIME 10 TIPS HO scale WIN A LIFETIME ON KITBASHING Trackmobile SUBSCRIPTION! P. 18 SUBSCRIPTION! P. 34 New Aristo-Craft E8 tested New Athearn 4-8-4 tested New N scale 0-8-0 tested New HO Triplex with sound STRUCTURES – P. 42 New HO Aerotrain tested tested JanuaryDream 2008 it. • www.ModelRailroader.com Plan it. Build it. DreamFebruary 2008 it. •Plan www.ModelRailroader.com it. Build it. DreamMarch 2008 it. • www.ModelRailroader.com Plan it. Build it. DreamApril 2008 it. • www.ModelRailroader.com Plan it. Build it. DreamMay 2008 it. • www.ModelRailroader.com Plan it. Build it. DreamJune 2008 it. • www.ModelRailroader.com Plan it. Build it. 17 expert tips! How to How to build a Creative scenery brings model From coalfi elds How to compress New York different6 How to use details industries realistic shelf layout this layout to life SPECIAL! to tidewater a railroad scene via Tokyo How to build, Traditional techniques are the foundation The MR staff designs and constructs 4,000 trees, 6 towns, Two levels and changing seasons on a paint, and for more realism A Santa Fe depot, shops, yards, and weather of an up-to-date HO scale layout this mid-sized branch line and tinted tile grout super-realistic HO layout built in Japan wood kits operation modeled in a limited space Page 46 HOW TO HOW TO Use lights Add a highway crossing to create a step by step sunset glow Get better performance HOW TO Step by step: HOW TO from DCC locomotives Weather vehicles • Build a lift-out for more realism Coal trains dominate Make backdrops PLUS hill to reach Doug Kirkpatrick’s HOW TO Run a fan trip on your layout Virginia & Western inspired by fruit-crate hidden tracks layout. See page 58. • Tour a gritty Gary Hoover labels (no kidding!) Make N scale forests by the bucket The Empire Builder • Construct a simple Understated details Tap DCC bus lines HOW TO captures the essence Turn to page 46 to races across Scott A trio of F-units round a bring Pelle Søeborg’s of a 1950s California Step by step: Build an learn how to build this • Put a new drive train into an old brass locomotive Kremer’s HO scale steel mill layout bend on Hitomi Okuno’s and reliable helix HO layout to life. to light up buildings • Model a small-town grain elevator terminal in HO scale. See page 40 abandoned trackside schoolhouse wall-hugging layout • Add working ditch lights to a DCC diesel layout. See page 58 set in the 1920s NYC layout. See page 58 • Step by step: Model See page 48 • Paint backdrop clouds, hills, and trees step by step Add customized DCC sounds to a Bachmann steamer • Step by step: forced-perspective scenery Scale drawings of a rails embedded in a concrete lot PLUS • Add signal-detection resistors to car wheelsets SPECIAL PLUS shortline water tank PLUS Landmark layout: PLUS Landmark layout: N scale Cumberland Valley System • 7-in-1 HO track plan for a spare room Landmark layout: John Armstrong’s • Smart way to switch a freight yard the innovative Batavia club • Shelf layout of a Soo Line farm town Fighting winter on the Utah Belt • Landmark layout: John Olson’s Mescal Lines O scale Canandaigua Southern • Landmark layout: Tony Koester’s Allegheny Midland O scale narrow gauge track plan • Landmark layout: the traveling N scale Clinchfi eld January February March April May June HOW TO wire a DCC wye track STEP BY STEP: Plaster rocks Big-time railroading on a club layout BUILD A FOREST on a bluff, STEP BY STEP Get started in DCC: System guide & tips SPECIAL: Guide to choosing tank cars WIN HO scale OUR TRACK-PLAN streamliner Brawny Athearn Rapido’s all-new All-new MTH N scale Daylight tested CONTEST – PAGE 85 reviewed Track plan for a short line SD60M reviewed TurboTrain tested steamer tested DreamJuly 2008 it. • www.ModelRailroader.com Plan it. Build it. DreamAugust 2008 it. • www.ModelRailroader.com Plan it. Build it. SeptemberDream 2008 it. • www.ModelRailroader.comPlan it. Build it. OctoberDream 2008 it. • www.ModelRailroader.com Plan it. Build it. November 2008 • www.ModelRailroader.com DecemberDream 2008 it. • www.ModelRailroader.com Plan it. Build it. Build a great Learn about a layout Expand your layout SPECIAL TRACK SECTION Lessons from Visit the ultimate big on steam and scenery in just 4 weeks! How to model main lines, a fi nished layout mountain layout freight fleet Modular benchwork, super-detailed structures, and more Add a new industrial district to your railroad • How to model and operate sidings, and spurs Operations and more on this N scale railroad 5,500 square feet of trains, scenery, and operation huge fl atcar loads How to install DCC sound, page 64 PLUS 3 more track Landscape, ballast, 3 track plans plus programming tips, page 74 how-to projects Basics of DCC • Weather cars with for 1 sheet and a coal trestle programming paint washes Install a DCC for our layout project • Fast and easy of plywood Glenn Nilsen captures An HO scale Colorado Zephyr the essence of the sound decoder HOW TO follows a river valley on the tarp-covered Pennsylvania RR in the HOW TO Greeley Freight Station loads 1940s. See page 38 • Model a realistic milk train Museum layout. See page 62 Learn how MR staffer • Make a no-frills staging turntable • Model a realistic HOW TO David Popp expanded his N scale New Haven RR • late-winter scene layout. See page 38 Rebuild a scene • Make rocky HOW TO HOW TO after moving a layout • Use a sector plate river rapids to save track space Rebuild a steam HOW TO • Build an N scale step by step Build, brace, and locomotive into a structure with • Add a gas plant and factories prototypically operate • Scratchbuild Author Paul Dolkos After 18 years, to an industrial district • Build a Southwestern oversized fl atcar loads. favorite prototype odd corner angles shows you how to Daryl Kruse’s N scale depot from scratch Turn to page 38 a rural overpass model different types Rochelle Division layout is Make structure roofs look realistic • Kitbash an SD10 diesel of track. See page 38 PLUS complete. See page 42 PLUS • Model a pike-size passenger train • Add fl agmen to your freight operations PLUS • Operate your trains like the prototype STEP BY STEP: • Use switch lists to enhance operation PLUS Landmark layout: PLUS Model a modern grade crossing • LANDMARK LAYOUT: • Landmark layout: Allen McClelland’s Virginian & Ohio Frank Ellison’s pioneering Delta Lines • LANDMARK LAYOUT: The up-to-date Utah Belt LANDMARK LAYOUT: LANDMARK LAYOUT: George Sellios’ David Barrow’s innovative Cat Mountain & Santa Fe • N scale Western Maryland mountain track plan Realistic operations on a modular train-show layout • Modeling streetcars and interurbans Bob Hayden’s scenic Carrabasset & Dead River Ry. stunning Franklin & South Manchester • Backstage at New York’s best-known model railroad July August September October November December INDEX Volume 75 • January-December 2008 © 2007 and 2008 Kalmbach Publishing Co., 21027 Crossroads Circle, P.O. Box 1612, Waukesha, WI 53187-1612. No part of this volume may be reprinted without the specific permission of the publisher. Using the index: Most of the feature material has been indexed at least three ways – once by the title, again under More on our Web site the author’s last name, and finally by subject, usually falling under at least one of the MR subject categories. The 2005 through 2008 annual An asterisk (*) preceding an entry indicates a feature by its title. indices are available as pdfs at www.ModelRailroader.com. For MR subject categories: an index of articles in Model Rail- Biographical sketches Control and electrical Obituaries Track plans roader and other model and proto- Cartoons Cover photos Operation type railroad publications prior to Construction articles Layout descriptions Techniques 2006, visit index.mrmag.com. MR departments: DCC Corner Landmark Layouts Product Reviews Trackside Photos Editorials (From the Editor) News & Products Scenery Step by Step Trains of Thought Information Desk The Operators Step by Step Workshop *4 weeks to a bigger layout, Sep p38, Oct Italian Western, Jan p61 Nilsen, Glenn, Aug p45 a shelf, Jan p46, Feb p42, Mar p52, p48, Nov p56, Dec p72 Beistle, Rex Northwest Trainmasters Club, Apr p66 *17 tips to create authentic scenes, Dual control for Tortoise switch Aug p61 *Building and painting craftsman kits, Apr p48 motors, Jan p82 Rochester Model Railroad Club, Mar p46 Besougloff, Neil Sep p59 How to cast plaster rocks in place, Schoonenberg, John, Feb p74 A Aug p34 Thomason, Richard, May p73 C Abbott, George, Cartoon, Apr p99 See also Editorials Todd, Robert, Jul p60 Cartoons *A busy harbor in 9 x 11 feet, Jun p72 *Better structures, May p42; correction, Bourgerie, Richard Abbott, George, Apr p99 *Across the Alleghenies, Oct p58 Sep p20 Photo contest, Jan p66 Mateo, Matt, Aug p92, Nov p105 *Add 24-hour layout lighting, May p50 *Big on steam and scenery, Aug p39 Bradley, Richard Meyer, Dwain, Jul p91 *Adding signal detection to rolling stock, *Big-time railroading on a club layout, Photo contest, Jan p70 Seidita, Joe, Oct p91 Jun p56 Sep p52 Brandel, Josef *Catching the Hiawatha on the Chicago, *Adding working DCC ditch lights, Feb Biographical sketches Biography, Aug p52 Milwaukee & North Western, Feb p70 p66 Baker, Mike, Jul p69 Tips for modeling mountain Chambers, Bob *A New England road that keeps Battistella, Angelo, Jan p65 meadows, Aug p50 Photo contest, Jan p69 growing, Apr