BANISH BAD TRACK with STAY-ALIVES P. 60

BANISH BAD TRACK WITH STAY-ALIVES p. 60

New Atlas AEM-7 reviewed p. 62

July 2018 www.ModelRailroader.com

Little big layout An expansion for a triple-deck railroad p. 42 Traction action: A San Francisco treat in 5 x 8 feet p. 32

PLUS

Convert a stockcar for grain service p. 28 BONUS 85 Vol.

ONLINE • An Atlantic Coast Line track plan p. 56 7 Issue CONTENT Cannonball! Build a 1950s semi-tractor p. 38 CODE PG. 4 Detail a hopper car with an open hatch p. 50

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2019 HO-N-Z Reference Book – Fall 2018 Now there are two easy ways to access your number one modeling tool, using the all-new digital or print versions of Walthers 2019 Model Railroad Reference Book. 913-219P Print Edition $17.98 913-219D NEW Digital Edition $9.98 913-219C Print & Digital Edition $19.98

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In This Issue Online Content Code: MRR1807 JULY 2018 www.ModelRailroader.com/code Enter this code at: Volume 85, Number 7 to gain access to web-exclusive content 62

BANISH BAD TRACK WITH STAY-ALIVES Features In every issue 60 p. 60 New Atlas AEM-7 reviewed p. 62

July 2018 www.ModelRailroader.com 6 Model Railroader Video Plus MODEL RAILROADING IS FUN! Check out the latest videos 42 Little big layout An expansion for a Mike Tricker’s p. 42 triple-deck railroad Paquettin Division has three levels in 32 Traction action: a 16 x 16 room! See 8 On the Web A San Francisco page 42 treat in 5 x 8 The latest features on our website feet p. 32

10 From the Editor There’s always a shiny thing 28

56 PLUS Convert a stockcar for grain service p. 28 12 News & Products An Atlantic Coast Line track plan p. 56 38 Cannonball! Build a 1950s semi-tractor p. 38 Detail a hopper car with an open hatch p. 50 32 The streetcars of San Francisco Hobby industry news 50 A colorful cadre of vintage trolleys serves On the cover: A Pennsylvania on this HO scale modern-era traction layout 22 Ask MR MRVP RR commuter train crosses by Harvey Simon How were oil-burning Haven Inlet on Mike Tricker’s steam engines refueled? 16 x 16-foot HO layout. Mike Tricker photo 26 N Scale Insight How do you keep prices low? Volume!

38 How to model a 1950s semi-tractor Extra detailing enhances a Sylvan HO scale Next issue GMC Cannonball resin kit 28 Step by Step MRVP by Mont Switzer How to model an emergency grain car • Online bonus ModelRailroader.com In August, M.R. Snell 60 DCC Corner shares a quick trick for 42 Expanding a triple-deck layout Keep locomotives running with a stay alive patchouts, associate The updated HO scale Baltimore & Ohio editor Cody Grivno offers Paquettin Division features a new switch- tips for building die-cast ing district metal models, we visit a by Mike Tricker New York Central coal • Online bonus ModelRailroader.com mining and steel industry layout, and more! 50 Model a hopper with an open hatch 62 Product Reviews MREXTRA This simple detail change makes rolling Bachmann HO scale bay-window caboose, MREXTRA stock look more realistic HO scale AEM-7 by Atlas, Iowa Scaled Engi- www.ModelRailroader.com by M.R. Snell neering ProtoThrottle, and more subscriber extra

54 Visually extending the layout 69 On Operation MRVP A simple method to improve photos taken An elephant in the room Video on at the edge of a model railroad www.MRVideoPlus.com by Douglas Kirkpatrick 70 Trackside Photos

Model Railroader (USPS 529-810, ISSN 56 Modeling the ACL’s Palmetto Sub 81 Index of Advertisers 0026-7341) is published monthly by Kalmbach Media Co., 21027 Crossroads Circle, P.O. Box This room-sized HO scale track plan and Cartoon 1612, Waukesha, WI 53187-1612. Periodicals handles passenger and freight trafﬁc in the postage paid at Waukesha, Wis., and additional ofﬁces. POSTMASTER: Please send address late 1950s 82 Trains of Thought changes to Model Railroader, P.O. Box 62320, Tampa, FL 33662-2320. Printed in USA. Canada by Christian Javier There’s plenty to do on a milk run Publication Mail Agreement # 40010760. Atlas HO Modern Commuter Trains are Now Available!

Visit your local hobby shop and pick up your very own Atlas’ HO Modern Commuter Train. Featuring NJ TRANSIT ALP-45DP locomotives, cab cars and multilevel passenger trailers, this sharp-looking train is the follow-up run to Atlas’ inaugural Modern Commuter Train release. There are several different ways to purchase these models, from standalone releases to a set of locomotive and cars that will give you an instant consist in one fell swoop. For more information visit www.atlasrr.com.

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/-Ê " Ê,," Ê "]Ê °ÊUÊÎÇnÊÀiViÊÛi°]ÊÃ`i]Ê ÊäÇÓäxÊUÊÜÜÜ°>Ì>ÃÀÀ°V Video Plus Conducted by Kent Johnson

Link. Look. Learn more! When this month’s Step by Step freight car modeling feature concludes in print, the story continues on Model FREE Railroader Video Plus! Visit VIDEO MRVideoPlus.com to ind more than 25 how-to videos in the Cody’s Workshop series, all aimed to help MRVP subscribers master the same skills Cody Grivno uses.

Click to see these and other helpful videos on MRVP:

Cody Grivno demonstrates the steps for making plastic look like wood. MRVideoPlus.com/WRK26

Dana Kawala previews a unique wireless DCC utility throttle. MRVideoPlus.com/MPRIA

Hal, Tony, and Dana gather at Eric White shares tips for model- the table to talk technology. MRVideoPlus.com/RND30 ing a 1940s-era cement truck. MRVideoPlus.com/SBSTruck1

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With your subscription to MRVP, you’ll have access to If a photo is worth 1,000 On MRVP, there’s even exclusive HD videos covering all aspects of model words, then the MRVP content aimed to carry you railroading. You’ll enjoy: library, containing more away this summer! Through than 1,000 videos, is nothing exclusive railfan series like • Behind-the-scenes access to MR staff and projects short of a treasure Taking Care of • Authoritative advice from notable contributors trove. With Business and • Layout visits, interactive track plans, trackside online access Drew’s adventures, and more! to such a Trackside wide array of Adventures, Sign up at MRVideoPlus.com/27deal content, you’ll ﬁnd you’ll have insider game- MRVideoPlus.com/DTA39 access to changing real railroading! techniques, cost-saving tips, So whether you want to Charlie Conway, and more at the ready, 24/7, improve your modeling or Taking Care of Business from any Internet-enabled be inspired to model, MR computer or smart device. Video Plus has it all!

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NEW BENCHWORK HO & N PO Box 100 Call or visit us online for SCALE Washington Island, WI 54246 your application today! 920-847-2264 717.687.8623 410-889-0010 www.sieversbenchwork.com www.tcamembers.org Visit our website to see these and more kits from CMR www.custommodelrailroads.com July 2018 7 MORE • Videos On the Web • News & Reviews Conducted by Dana Kawala REVIEWS • Community & VIDEOS • Shop & more.

COVER STORY ONLINE EXTRA

More from the triple-deck Paquettin Division Don’t miss Mike Tricker’s HO scale Paquettin Division on page 42. It’s truly amazing how much operations-oriented railroading he packed into a compact space. For a look at just how much Mike has enhanced his railroad, check out his June 2013 article. It’s available as a free download under Online Extras at www.ModelRailroader.com.

TRACK PLAN DATABASE USER VIDEOS E-NEWSLETTER

Freight Passenger station station Wye tail behind low backdrop

Causeway Trestle

Swing gate Seaboard (2 tracks) Join our online Palmetto Atlantic Coast Line’s Air Line Causeway Palmetto Subdivision crossing HO scale (1:87.1) Layout size: 13-0" x 20-0" feet Scale of plan: 3/8" = 1'-0", 12" grid Wood pile Illustration by Roen Kelly community trestle Tampa (staging)

Big Manatee Backdrop River

Bascule lift bridge Team tracks Register for free

Station Produce Building materials Wood pile Fuel oil Sarasota Limestone warehouse dealer dealer receiver Model trestle on the Railroader home Fertilizer Station Trailer ramp Bradenton dealer Seaboard Air Line crossing page to take Team track Causeway advantage of all Find more track plans online in the ModelRailroader.com Track Plan Database. the online extras Share layout tours posted each New track plans month. Members and projects of our online MREXTRA every month! community also There’s a lot of great work being get access to the Each month track plans featured done by your fellow modelers, MR forums as in the magazine are added to the including Model Railroader author well as a weekly exclusive ModelRailroader.com Bruce Kingsley’s kitbashed HO scale e-newsletter with Track Plan Database. Visitors can Aerotrain shown above. Click on links to bonus search for new layout ideas by scale, User Videos under the Videos tab articles, videos size, style, or keyword. Subscribers on the MR home page to tour more new product can also download a printable PDF layouts or share videos of your announcements, copy of any plan. model railroad. and more!

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July 2018 9 From the Editor By Hal Miller

There will always be shiny things I use the term “shiny to come home with me and frequently on a Union Paciic thing” a lot, meaning some- take their place on my bud- local. Finally, for some rea- thing that pops up, looks ding empire. son, I came home from a neat, and distracts you from train show with a pair of N your conversation, point A little more than a decade scale Delaware & Hudson you’re trying to make, or goal. later, I was out of college, GP38s. Shiny things all. Model railroading has working my irst “real” job, been full of shiny things for and got the itch to model After working at a few jobs me. When I was 10, my dad again. I had some of my HO that helped me learn a lot helped me build a layout – scale stuf, and in the interim more about how railroads really just a piece of plywood my brother had an interest in worked, and exposed me to a covered with sawdust-grass N scale that had come and lot of pictures and history of mat for my HO scale train set gone. While home one week- many prototypes, a plan and oval of track. end I boxed all of his stuf coalesced for a layout. Now, about halfway Trips to local stores and mine up and took it back I considered the lessons through my layout, I still see revealed lots of shiny things. to where I lived. learned from my previous shiny things – other railroads A high-hood Norfolk & hus began my second ventures. My ingers and dex- and track plans. Most I enter- Western diesel locomotive collection of random model terity weren’t well-suited for tain in my head and dismiss. that I thought looked very railroad items. I acquired an detailing in HO scale, much I’m glad I gave into some smart and businesslike undecorated HO GP30 that less N. So O scale would be of the earlier ones, though. because it was black with I worked at detailing and the way to go. It’s hard to pick a path you white lettering. A kit for a painting for the Atchison, Mainline O scale takes up want to go down without shortline fuel tank on stilts. A Topeka & Santa Fe. hen a lot of room that I didn’t exploring at least a few you modernish Exxon gas station. I bought an Electro-Motive have, so I’d have to build don’t. hey all teach you a A Rico station kit. Piers to Division SW7 with thoughts something small, maybe a little something. make that igure-8 of track of modeling the local short switching layout. And the that looped over itself. line. A bay-window caboose I prototype modeled should None of them really went wanted to convert to look like have some character as well together and yet they all had the Missouri Paciic one I saw as some history.

Contributing to Model Railroader

We welcome contributions from readers, including articles, photographs, and drawings. For more information on submitting material, call us at 262-796-8776 and ask for an MR staff member or e-mail us at [email protected]. Model Railroader assumes no responsibility for the safe return of unsolicited material. We assume unsolicited material is intended for publication by Kalmbach Media unless otherwise noted. We assume letters, questions, news Model railroading is fun! releases, and club news items are contributed gratis.

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6DWXUGD\ 'X3DJH&RXQW\ 6DWXUGD\ 6XQGD\ )DLUJURXQGV 6XQGD\ DPSP DPSP DPSP &RXQW\)DUP 0DQFKHVWHU July 21-22 Monroeville, PA Shop for books, DVDs, downloads, :KHDWRQ,/ Monroeville July 14-15 /DUJHVW0RQWKO\ Convention Center gear and other products related Pomona, CA August 4-5 Oaks, PA to your favorite hobby. Fairplex 7UDLQ6KRZLQWKH86 Greater Philadelphia Expo Center July 28-29 June 3 August 12 August 11-12 Edison, NJ Visit Belleville, IL New Jersey Expo Center Belle Clair Fairgrounds September 9 October 14 August 18-19 Chantilly, VA KalmbachHobbyStore.com Dulles Expo Center P27901

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July 2018 11 News & Products

HO scale

Electro-Motive Division E8A diesel locomotives. Walthers (two road numbers) are $229.98; A-A sets (two differently offers these Pennsylvania RR class EP-22 units for use with the numbered sets) sell for $399.98. A units with a dual-mode 1960s Broadway Limited. The HO scale Proto-series models SoundTraxx Tsunami sound decoder are priced at $329.98; have a train-phone antenna, de-skirted fuel tanks, Leslie S3J A-A sets list for $598.98. Wm. K. Walthers Inc., 414-527-0770, air horn, and nose-mounted grab irons. Direct-current A units www.walthers.com

HO scale locomotives $139.98; with dual-mode Econami sound (high short hood in as-delivered and decoder, $199.98. February 2019. Ready- retro schemes, three numbers each). • Electro-Motive Division SD40-2 die- to-Roll. Athearn Trains, 800-338-4639, Phase I: Delaware & Hudson and sel locomotive. Norfolk Southern www.athearn.com Delaware-Lackawanna (Lehigh Valley (Maersk Sealand, Operation Lifesaver, heritage scheme), one number each. and horsehead silhouette, one road num- New numbers. Phase I: Lehigh & ber each), Rock Island (red and yellow Hudson River (two numbers) and Lehigh with italic lettering, four numbers), and Valley (three numbers). Phase II: Lehigh Union Paciic (Desert Victory, one num- & Hudson River (one number) and ber). Vinyl m.u. hoses, bi-directional • Alco C-420 diesel locomotive. New Monon (three numbers). Re-issue. Phase light-emitting-diode headlights, and paint schemes. Phase II: Ohio Central I: Delaware-Lackawanna no. 405. positionable cab windows. Direct- (one road number), Delaware & Hudson Undecorated models also available current model with 21-pin NEM Digital (Lehigh & Hudson River patchout, one (phase I with low short hood, phase II Command Control decoder plug, number), and Long Island Rail Road with high and low short hoods). Prototype-speciic details and golden white light-emitting-diode headlights. International Toy Train Expo Direct-current model, $169.95; with dual-mode ESU LokSound Select sound decoder, $279.95. Fourth quarter 2018. Kalmbach Media, publisher of Model Railroader, Trains, Garden Railways, Master Line. Atlas Model Railroad Co., Classic Trains, and Classic Toy Trains, is proud to be the ofﬁcial media sponsor 908-687-0880, www.atlasrr.com of the International Toy Train Expo, which will be held July 7-8 at the Chippewa Valley Expo Center (5150 Old Mill Plaza) in Eau Claire, Wis. Show hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. The two-day show will feature vintage toy trains, operating layouts, vendors, and railroad clubs. Admission is $5, children 17 and under are free. Discount tickets ($2.50) can be purchased at participating Menards stores or online at www.menards.com/trains. For more information, visit www.internationaltoytrainexpo.org. • Southern Paciﬁc class AC-4 and AC-5 Cab-Forward steam

12 www.ModelRailroader.com MOBILE UPDATES Conducted by Cody Grivno Scan the code to access Model Railroader’s weekly News & Products updates from your mobile device.

locomotives. Black boiler in two road conditional announcements and will not numbers, Daylight scheme in one number be produced unless suicient quantities In Memoriam (AC-4 only), and gray boiler with are ordered. Also available undecorated “Southern Paciic Lines” lettering on ten- (ATSF, Conrail, Seaboard System/CSX, John Flann, 1930-2018 der in one number. Also available painted SOU/NS, and SP body styles). Railroad- black with black boiler (AC-4) or gray speciic details, detailed cab interior, and John Flann, a noted British and boiler (AC-5) but unlettered. Dual-mode metal side handrails with plastic stan- North American model rail- Paragon3 sound decoder featuring Rolling chions. Direct-current model, $229.95; roader, died in March. hunder, plastic and die-cast metal con- with dual-mode ESU LokSound A native of England, John was struction, and smoke unit. $499.99. Select sound decoder, $339.95. Early an award-winning modeler and Broadway Limited Imports, 386-673-8900, 2019. Rapido Trains, 905-474-3314, author. When he retired in 1990, www.broadway-limited.com www.rapidotrains.com he emigrated to the United States with his wife, Jeanne, to be closer to their sons, Christopher and Nicholas, and their families. John’s HO Clark Fork RR • Electro-Motive Division was featured in SD90/43MAC diesel locomotive. New Great Model paint scheme: San Luis & Rio Grande Railroads 2000. (Iowa Paciic Holdings scheme). One His byline • General Electric B36-7 diesel loco- road number. Factory-assembled model also appeared motive. Pre-production samples shown. with painted safety railings. $330. Kobo in three issues Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe; British Custom line. Kato USA Inc., 847-781- of Model Columbia Ry. (red, white, and blue 9574, www.katousa.com Railroad “lightning stripe”); Conrail (as delivered, • Electro-Motive Division SD9 diesel Planning. CSX patched numbers, and Norfolk locomotive. Chicago, Burlington & Southern patched numbers); CSX Quincy (Chinese Red); Elgin, Joliet & (blue, yellow, and gray); Minnesota Eastern (orange); Milwaukee Road current and dual-mode ESU LokSound Commercial; Seaboard System (as deliv- (orange and black with “he Milwaukee Select sound decoder). Railroad-speciic ered); Southern Ry. (tuxedo scheme); Road” herald); Nickel Plate Road (as- details, light-emitting-diode headlights, Southern Paciic (as delivered); and delivered black-and-yellow scheme); and and die-cast metal underframe. Direct- TransKentucky Transportation. British Southern Paciic (“black widow” and current model, $199.98; with dual-mode Columbia Ry., Minnesota Commercial, scarlet and gray schemes). Four road ESU LokSound Select sound decoder, and TransKentucky road names are numbers per scheme (two each in direct $299.98. March 2019. WalthersProto.

July 2018 13 News & Products

also available undecorated (three body O scale styles). Separately applied brake detail, 100-ton roller-bearing trucks, and Accumate couplers. $46.95 (undecorated, $39.95). Master Line. Atlas Model Railroad Co., 908-687-0880, www.atlasrr.com • Pullman-Standard 60-foot PS-1 boxcar. New paint schemes: Chicago Great Western (“Lucky Strike” herald in one road number), Grand Trunk Western (Boxcar Red and Blue schemes), Illinois Central Gulf (ive numbers), and Rock Island. New road numbers: Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe (“Super Shock Control” lettering); Baltimore & Ohio (“Cushioned Underframe” lettering and capitol dome herald); Chesapeake & Ohio (“Cushioned Underframe” lettering and “C&O for Progress” herald); Milwaukee Road (billboard lettering); Southern Ry. (“Southern Serves the South” slogan); and Old weathered barn. This factory-painted and weathered Woodland Scenics Union Paciic (yellow). Six numbers per structure features a ﬁeldstone foundation, shake-shingle roof, and weather scheme unless noted; also available vane atop slatted cupola. The barn ($169.99) also includes light-emitting-diode undecorated. Metal wheels and Kadee lights (compatible with Just Plug Lighting System) and a printed interior. couplers. $42.95. October/November 2018. Woodland Scenics, 573-346-5555, www.woodlandscenics.com InterMountain Railway Co., 800-472- 2530, www.intermountain-railway.com

Wm. K. Walthers Inc., 414-527-0770, and Accumate couplers. Accurail, 630- www.walthers.com 365-6400, www.accurail.com • 50-foot single-sheathed boxcar. HO scale freight cars Des Moines & Central Iowa, Illinois Central, Milwaukee Road, Southern Paciic, St. Johnsbury & Lamoille County, and Texas Southeastern RR. hree road numbers per scheme. • Assorted freight cars. Gem Separately applied running board, 33" Automatic Gas Co. American Car & machined metal RP-25 contour wheels, Foundry 11,000-gallon insulated tank and body-mounted McHenry scale cou- car (two road numbers), $44.95. plers. $29.98. February 2019. Ready-to- Seaboard Coast Line Pullman-Standard Roll. Athearn Trains, 800-338-4639, 50-foot PS-1 boxcar, $38.95. Factory- www.athearn.com painted and assembled models with two- piece self-centering trucks and scale couplers. Kadee Quality Products Co., 541-826-3883, www.kadee.com • Assorted freight car kits. Chicago & • 60-foot high-cube Plate F boxcar. Eastern Illinois, Illinois Terminal, and Arkansas-Oklahoma (reporting marks Missouri Paciic Pullman-Standard only), BNSF Ry. (post-2005 scheme), 4,750-cubic-foot-capacity three-bay cov- • 17,600-gallon corn syrup tank cars. Canadian National (“wet noodle” herald ered hoppers ($19.98 each; three-pack, New paint schemes: Archer Daniels with website and DWC reporting $58.98). Delaware, Lackawanna & Midland (molecule logo), Cargill Foods marks), Canadian Paciic Ry. (Golden Western 36-foot double-sheathed boxcar (“Corn sweeteners” lettering), and Beaver herald), CSX, and TTX (new and with steel ends and straight underframe, General American Transportation. old TTX heralds). hree road numbers $17.98. Monon 40-foot boxcar, $17.98. New road numbers: Minnesota Corn per scheme; also available undecorated. Nickel Plate Road 36-foot Fowler single- Processors Bulk Products Division Separately applied latch bars, 100-ton sheathed boxcar, $17.98. Wheeling & Lake (SYRX reporting marks), NJ Transit roller-bearing trucks with 36" turned- Erie United States Railroad Admin- (“Non potable water only” lettering in metal wheelsets, and Proto-Max cou- istration two-bay hopper (single car, two numbers), and Union Tank Car Co. plers. $27.98. Walthers Mainline. $16.98; three-pack, $49.98). Injection- (“Corn Products” lettering). Four Wm. K. Walthers Inc., 414-527-0770, molded plastic kits with plastic wheelsets numbers per scheme unless noted; www.walthers.com

14 www.ModelRailroader.com Showcase

❶ ❷

❹ ❸ ❺

❶ American Car & information and useful travel metal semi-scale Type E couplers. Micro-Trains Line Foundry Hart ballast cars. tips for your next European couplers and directional Co., www.micro-trains.com Atlas offers these HO Master rail adventure. The 416- light-emitting-diode Line models decorated for page book is priced at headlights. ScaleTrains.com ❺ 53-foot Singamas Chicago, Burlington & $24.99. Kalmbach Books, Inc., www.scaletrains.com corrugated intermodal Quincy. A three-pack has a KalmbachHobbyStore.com container. New schemes on manufacturer’s suggested ❹ 70-foot heavyweight this Walthers SceneMaster retail price of $104.95. ❸ Union Paciﬁc Steam baggage car. Micro-Trains line HO scale model ($12.98) Atlas Model Railroad Co., Excursion pre-2006 water offers this N scale model are EMP, APL Logistics, www.atlasrr.com tender set. These HO scale decorated for Chicago, Axsun, CSX Intermodal, Rivert Counter line models Burlington & Quincy. The Dart, and XPO Logistics. ❷ Brian Solomon’s Railway (two-pack, $134.99) have model ($29.95) has plastic Wm. K. Walthers Inc., Guide to Europe. Get inside body-mounted die-cast wheels and Magne-Matic www.walthers.com From first train set to railroad empire...

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July 2018 15 News & Products

HO scale

Greenbrier (Gunderson) 5,188-cubic-foot-capacity three- HO scale Rivet Counter line covered hopper is offered in bay covered hopper. ScaleTrains.com offers this modern-era four body styles with two hatch types and factory-applied freight car decorated for BNSF Ry., Arkansas-Oklahoma Ry., grab irons. The car retails for $39.99. ScaleTrains.com Inc., and Union Paciﬁc in multiple road numbers per scheme. The 844-987-2467, www.scaletrains.com

• Wm. K. Walthers Inc., 414-527-0770, www.walthers.com • RailCrew switch machines and remote uncouplers. Switch machine • Walmart Supercenter. Low-relief features three switch stand styles with • Southern Paciﬁc class B-50-15 milled styrene and laser-cut acrylic kit rotating targets, single-pole double- single-sheathed boxcar with steel with street sign. Parking lot base not throw auxiliary contacts to power frogs sheathing. One-piece cast-resin body, included. Measures 35" x 5" x 33⁄8". and signals, and momentary 12V DC Murphy radial roof, AB brakes, Hi-Tech $99.95. Summit USA, 337-436-8481, power. Measures 11 ⁄8" x 1". RailCrew Models vinyl air hoses, Yarmouth www.summit-customcuts.com On-Of Remote Uncoupler features etched-bronze corner steps and Carmer • Company houses. Injection-molded momentary 12V DC power and light- uncoupling levers, and proprietary plastic kit with detailed front and back emitting diode between and below the decals covering all freight versions of porches, tar paper roof, and clear rails. Compatible with all major brands of the car. Kit without trucks or couplers, window glazing. Each house measures magnetic couplers. Measures 13⁄4" x 7⁄8". $45; with Tahoe Model Works no. 109 67⁄16" x 213⁄16" x 33⁄4". Two-pack, $39.98. $19.95 each; six-pack, $109.95; and trucks and code 110 wheels or Tahoe Cornerstone Series. Wm. K. Walthers 12-pack, $209.95. Rapido Trains, 905-474- Model Works no. 209 trucks with Inc., 414-527-0770, www.walthers.com 3314, www.rapidotrains.com semi-scale wheels, $51 each. Wester- ield Models LLC, 303-658-9343, N scale locomotives www.westerieldmodels.com HO scale details and accessories HO scale passenger cars

• Amtrak Superliner cars. Coach, diner, sleeper, and transition sleeper ($90). All cars in phase 6 paint scheme. • Alco C-420 diesel locomotive. New Factory-installed details; tinted, lush- paint schemes. Phase I: Delaware & itting window glazing; and free-rolling • 1950s farm tractors. Green and red. Hudson and Delaware-Lackawanna trucks with rotating bearing caps. $87 Factory-assembled models. Two-pack, (Lehigh Valley heritage scheme), one each unless noted. Kato USA Inc., 847- $14.98. Scene Master line. Wm. K. road number each. Phase II: Delaware & 781-9500, www.katousa.com Walthers Inc., 414-527-0770, Hudson (Lehigh & Hudson River www.walthers.com patchout, one number), Long Island Rail HO scale structures • Detail kit for Alco PA and PB diesel Road (high short hood in as-delivered locomotives. For WalthersMainline and retro schemes, three numbers each), • Silo in Luçon. Low-relief laser-cut models. Includes two pilot grab irons for and Ohio Central (one number each). cardboard kit. Based on prototype in PA, two right rear grab irons for PA or New numbers. Phase I: Lehigh & Luçon area of Vendee, France. Measures PB, two let rear grab irons for PA or PB, Hudson River (two numbers) and Lehigh 10.43" x 3.74" x 9.64". $83.16. Price may and eight Alco-style lit rings. Formed Valley (three numbers). Phase II: Lehigh vary based on exchange rate. Minifer, stainless steel wire. Completes one & Hudson River (one number) and www.minifer.fr/en PA or PB. $9.98. WalthersMainline. Monon (three numbers). Re-issue. Phase

16 www.ModelRailroader.com I: Delaware-Lackawanna no. 405. Command Control decoder (sold sepa- undecorated. Die-cast metal and plastic Undecorated models also available rately). Direct-current model, $120; with construction, etched-metal walkways, (phase I with low short hood, phase II Digital Command Control motor and BLMA 70-ton American Steel with high and low short hoods). decoder, $170. Kato USA Inc., 847-781- Foundries Ride-Control trucks with Prototype-speciic details, painted safety 9500, www.katousa.com metal wheels. Can be used with 40-, 45-, rails, and Scale Speed motor with dual 48-, and 53-foot intermodal containers. lywheels. Direct-current model, $139.95; N scale freight cars hree-unit set, $119.95 (undecorated, with ESU LokSound Digital Command $99.95); ive-unit set, $199.95 (undeco- Control sound decoder, $249.95. • American Car & Foundry 4,600- rated, $164.95). hird quarter 2018. Atlas Fourth quarter 2018. Master Line. cubic-foot-capacity three-bay Center Model Railroad Co., 908-687-0880, Atlas Model Railroad Co., 908-687-0880, Flow covered hopper. New paint www.atlasrr.com www.atlasrr.com schemes: Burlington Northern (single cars in 1991 scheme, three-pack in original scheme); BNSF Ry. (Mineral Red with circle-cross herald); Chicago, Burlington & Quincy (gray with “Burlington” lettering and Burlington • Electro-Motive Division SD70MAC Route herald); Pennsylvania RR (gray • CSX 70-foot Husky Stack well car. diesel locomotive. BNSF Ry. (post-2005 with black keystone herald); and Union Two road numbers. Plastic and die-cast herald) and Alaska RR. Two road num- Paciic (gray with billboard lettering). metal construction with plastic wheel- bers per scheme. Directional headlights, Single car, $29.98; three-pack, $84.98. sets and Magne-Matic couplers. $29.90. illuminated number boxes, all-wheel February 2019. AthearnN. Athearn Micro-Trains Line Co., 541-535-1755, electrical pickup, blackened metal Trains, 800-338-4639, www.athearn.com www.micro-trains.com wheels, Kato couplers, and walkway- • TTX 53-foot three- and ﬁve-unit • Thrall 52'-6" gondola. Denver & Rio mounted illuminated ditch lights. articulated spine cars. hree-unit set in Grande Western (orange or black with Direct-current models accept Train six road numbers, ive-unit set in four Flying Grande lettering and “he Control Systems K1D4 Digital numbers; both sets also available Action Road” slogan), Missouri Paciic

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July 2018 17 News & Products

Pennsylvania RR class FF1 heavy-duty alternating-current Brunswick Green (1918 to 1930), and photo gray (1917). The mainline locomotive. This limited-edition brass model is direct-current model ($2,250) features directional headlights available from Eisenbahn Canada. The HO scale model is and marker lights and two Swiss-made Escap ball-bearing can offered painted Brunswick Green and Tuscan (1930 to 1940), motors. Eisenbahn Canada, www.eisenbahncanada.com

(buzzsaw herald), Union Paciic Union Paciic (“We Can Handle It” slo- numbers), and Southern Ry. (Roman let- (Missouri Paciic reporting marks or yel- gan); and Vermont Ry. Two trailer num- tering). Two numbers per scheme unless low with “Cushioned Load” lettering), bers per scheme. Injection-molded plas- noted, also available undecorated. and Rock Island (Oxide Red with speed tic with vinyl tires and separately applied Removable coal load, lat or arched ends lettering and blue with “he Rock” let- mudlaps. $21.98. February 2019. as appropriate, and die-cast metal tering). Six road numbers per scheme. AthearnN. Athearn Trains, 800-338- trucks. $64.95 (undecorated, $55.95). Die-cast metal underframe, 100-ton 4639, www.athearn.com hird quarter 2018. Trainman line. Atlas trucks with Fox Valley Models metal • Flexi-Van trailers. Chicago, Bur- O, 908-687-0880, www.atlasrr.com wheels, and body-mounted couplers. lington & Quincy; Illinois Central $28.95. Fourth quarter 2018. Trainworx, (orange and brown with “Mainline of O scale details and accessories 970-874-9747, www.train-worx.com Mid-America” slogan or green diamond herald); New York Central (four ver- • 45-foot intermodal container. N scale passenger cars sions); Milwaukee Road (four versions); Cronos, Evergreen, Lykes, and Maersk. and Southern Ry. (“Containerized Six container numbers per scheme; Freight Rail-Highway Service” lettering). also available undecorated. Injection- hree trailer numbers per scheme. molded plastic with positionable doors. Injection-molded plastic models. $29.95 (undecorated, $19.95); eight- $21.95. Trainworx, 970-874-9747, pack (two numbers from each scheme), www.train-worx.com $239.60. Atlas O, 908-687-0880, • 70-foot heavyweight baggage- www.atlasrr.com mail car. New paint scheme: Norfolk & O scale freight cars Western. Injection-molded plastic model S scale passenger equipment with plastic wheelsets, clear window glazing, and Magne-Matic couplers. • American Car & Foundry steel $32.90. Micro-Trains Line Co., 541-535- welded-side express refrigerator cars. 1755, www.micro-trains.com Atlantic Coast Line (as-built purple and • 70-ton nine-panel three-bay hop- aluminum with yellow stripes and white N scale details and accessories per. New paint schemes: Alaska RR lettering) and Railway Express Agency (billboard lettering) and Canadian (as-built dark green and aluminum with • Fruehauf 40-foot Z-van trailer. National (“wet noodle” herald). New red stripes and Dulux Gold lettering, Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe; Burlington road numbers: Chesapeake & Ohio mid-1950s dark green repaint with Northern; Clinchield (“TraileRail (“C&O for Progress” herald, four num- Dulux Gold lettering, and modernized Service” lettering); Rock Island (“Rock bers), Norfolk & Western (large N&W), 1962 car with Apple Green paint and Island Lines Trailer Service” lettering); Peabody Coal Co. (yellow, four white speed lettering). Factory-painted

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July 2018 19 News & Products

HO scale

Assorted freight cars. New HO scale freight car kits from Line 40-foot plug-door boxcar, $17.98. Dubuque Packing Accurail include a St. Louis-San Francisco Pullman-Standard 40-foot plug-door refrigerator car, $18.98. Great Northern 4,750-cubic-foot-capacity three-bay covered hopper, $19.98. 50-foot combination-door welded-side boxcar, $17.98. The BNSF Ry. American Car & Foundry 4,600-cubic-foot-capacity injection-molded plastic kits include plastic wheelsets and three-bay Center Flow covered hopper, $18.98. Atlantic Coast Accumate couples. Accurail, 630-365-6400, www.accurail.com and lettered brass models. $429. Seven road numbers (single car, two- up to four light-emitting diodes per River Raisin Models, 248-366-9621, pack, and four-pack). Etched-metal run- light), $8.99. Sequence lighting hub (add www.riverraisinmodels.com ning boards, positionable doors, black- up to four Just Plug lights that automati- ened metal wheels, and AutoLatch cally turn on and of in sequence), Z scale locomotives couplers. American Z Line, 614-764- $24.99. Splicer plugs (customize wire 1703, www.americanzline.com connections for any length), $3.99. Woodland Scenics, 573-346-5555, Electronics/controls www.woodlandscenics.com Books

• Budd Rail Diesel Car. New paint • Rail America Vol. 1, Rail Canada scheme: Jersey Central Lines. Two road Vol. 1, and Rail Canada Vol. 5. Updated numbers. Directional light-emitting- hardcover books. Rail America Vol. 1 diode headlights, separately applied (Canadian National North America’s single-chime air horns, and AutoLatch diesel locomotive leet) and Rail Canada couplers. American Z Line, 614-764- Vol. 5 (Canadian Budd Rail Diesel Cars 1703, www.americanzline.com and BC Rail’s diesel and electric locomo- • Just Plug Lighting System accesso- tive leet) feature color diesel painting Z scale freight cars ries. Battery case (provides power with- diagrams and updated prototype photos out electrical access), $5.99. Extension (many in color). Rail Canada Vol. 1 cable kit (use with extension wire to cre- (Canadian National’s diesel leet up to ate custom lengths of Just Plug cables), 1988) now has color drawings produced $6.99. Extension wire (50-foot rolls of with computer-aided drating and color-coded wire for proper connection design and CorelDraw. Rail America Vol. with linker plugs and Splicer plugs), 1, $65.42; Rail Canada Vol. 5, $67.79; and $8.99. Linker plugs (use to plug in Rail Canada Vol. 1, $70.16 plus shipping. remotely located street and wall- Prices subject to change based on • 40-foot single-sheathed boxcar. mount lights), $8.99. Port sharing exchange rate. LPD Publishing Ltd., 250- New paint scheme: Pennsylvania RR. device (use with a Light Hub to add 766-0699, www.lpdpublishing.com

20 www.ModelRailroader.com P33158 • And more! Taking Care• of Business Let’s Make aScene• the Off Rails • • Ask MRVP including: action in our exclusive videos and series View tips and tricks and see real railroading building a layout. you how to have success (and fun!) while menu of bite-sized segments that show coffee grande, we’ll serve you up aregular For less than the cost of avalue meal or to “lunch and learn.” eat, break or while you’re grabbing abite to If you have 10 minutes during acoffee Lunch and Learn Get with Started Video MR Plus for Just aYear! $27 MR Video Plus MRVideoPlus.com/27join with MRVP is the perfect way Ask MR

Q I’m an HO scale modeler running direct-current locomotives. I’m not changing to Digital Command Control. Is there any way to add sound to a diesel or steam direct-current locomotive? I could just play a recording of train sounds while the trains go around the layout, but I’d rather have something more realistic. Bill Cahal, Surprise, Ariz.

A Sure there is, Bill. Install a dual-mode DCC sound decoder in your locomotive. Dual-mode decoders (which most decoders made these days are) work both on DCC and direct-current layouts. hough you won’t have access to as many sound efects and options as a DCC operator, you will enjoy automatic sounds on DC, such as hearing the prime mover (or steam chufs) ramp up and down according to the engine’s speed. Some sound decoders let you trigger other sounds with a conventional DC power pack, such as sounding a grade crossing whistle when the direction switch is quickly toggled. And adding a DC sound controller like MRC’s Tech 6 will give The middle standpipe in this photo is a fueling stand that used to serve oil- you access to more of your sound decod- burning steam locomotives in Union Pacific’s yard in Cheyenne, Wyo. The far er’s features without converting your lay- standpipe is a water column. David P. Morgan Memorial Library collection out to DCC. Another option is the Kato Sound Box, which is a stand-alone sound sys- How were oil-burning steamers refueled? tem that uses a built-in speaker to play appropriate train sounds from a sound We’ve looked everywhere online but can’t find any photos of oil card. Check out our review in the June Q fueling facilities (tanks, filling pipes, etc.) for oil-burning steam 2015 Model Railroader. locomotives. We would appreciate your help. Thank you. Juan José Rodriguez, Lanesville, Ind. Q Any ideas on how to extend the life of a bottle of glue once you open it? We would be glad to help. While Eastern roads had access to cheap David Bushee, Holliston, Mass. A and plentiful Appalachian coal, Western roads like the Union Pacific, Southern Pacific, and Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe often turned to oil to A Always keep bottles securely capped fuel their steam locomotives. You might have better luck inquiring with when not in use. Store them upright, at the historical and modeling societies of the above railroads, at www.uphs. room temperature, in a dark cabinet. org, www.sphts.org, and www.sfrhms.org. I found the photo above in our Cyanoacrylate adhesive (CA) needs to be David P. Morgan Memorial Library’s file of UP photos. protected from moisture. And don’t use The fuel filler shown in that photo has a pivoting connection just above one brush or applicator for multiple the base that allows the spout to swivel. The elbow joint is also flexible, kinds of adhesives. letting the engine’s fireman pull the nozzle down into the tender’s fuel hese are basics you probably already hatch before turning the wheel to start the flow. The lever-like extensions knew, but all you can really do is delay off the back of the nozzle are linked to a heavy metal ring around the the inevit able. Once a glue (or paint, or standpipe that acts as a counterweight to the nozzle. When fueling was solvent) container is opened, you’ve finished, the pipe would be swung back over the adjacent funnel-topped started a ticking clock. I’ve even had CA catch pipe to reclaim any drips. go bad in an unopened bottle. he ulti- Tichy Train Group and Durango Press make oil (and water) columns in mate answer is simply to build enough HO scale; Showcase Miniatures’ Century Foundry line offers them in HO models that you use the glue up before it and N scale. As for the oil tanks, those weren’t anything unique to the goes bad. railroads. Any model oil tank appropriate to the era you’re modeling would be correct for your engine terminal. Send questions and tips to associate editor Steven Otte at [email protected].

22 www.ModelRailroader.com For more questions and answers, MORE watch the video series “Ask MRVP” at By Steve Otte Q&A www.ModelRailroaderVideoPlus.com.

Q I’ve recently moved to Montana and the driveshats or wheel centers they sur- haven’t had a chance to set up the new round. And even mild heat can do per- layout, as the planned location is manent damage to plastics, causing unﬁnished. The room is insulated, but them to sag and warp, even if securely as of yet it has neither heat nor air packed away in boxes. So it’s a good idea conditioning. Can I safely store my to protect railroad models from tem- trains in there? I have dozens of perature extremes in either direction. locomotives and hundreds of cars, not Of the top of my head, I would esti- top-of-the-line stuff, but I can ill afford mate that a temperature range of 40 to replace it. Will extreme cold or heat to 80 degrees F is safest for your cause damage? What temperature model railroad. Basically, if you’re range can they safely withstand? uncomfortable, so are your trains. Dean Sipe, Laurel, Mont. Q I’ve bought some used freight cars A I don’t think anyone has tested the and want to change out their plastic If you want to replace your plastic lower limit of railroad models’ thermal wheelsets for metal ones. What size do wheelsets with metal ones, be sure you tolerance, but I would worry more about I use, 33" or 36"? When for both sizes? buy the same diameter wheels as the heat than cold. A non-climate- controlled Clarus Nelson, Hansen, Idaho originals. Jim Forbes photo room can’t get colder than its surround- ings, but it can easily get much hotter A You should use the size wheels that Replacement wheelsets come in those under the summer sun. your car originally came equipped with. two sizes because full-size train cars use A locomotive might perform poorly if It’s important because the wheel diame- both size wheels. In the old days, 33" its metal frames, gears, and axles con- ter will afect how high your cars ride, wheels were commonly used on freight tracted in the cold, and lubrication which afects how high the couplers sit cars and 36" on passenger cars, because might thicken. Parts like gears and above the rail. So make sure to igure out the larger wheels gave a smoother ride driver tires could loosen or split if they what size wheels the car came with over rail gaps such as on turnout frogs. expand or shrink at diferent rates than before you buy replacements. hese days, heavier-capacity freight cars

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July 2018 23 Ask MR

Q I’m looking to model a railroad As for how to translate that informa- READER TIP based on the Pennsylvania RR’s tion into a track plan, I can recommend Schuylkill Branch, which ran through no source more highly than John Store your decoder wire Spring City, Pa. I’m having a hard time Armstrong’s Track Planning for Realistic ﬁnding information about it – pictures Operation: ird Edition (Kalmbach I use sewing machine bobbins to of industries, the track, the canal. I’ve Books), available from Kalmbach at keep my 30AWG decoder wire tried to ﬁnd maps without too much www.kalmbachhobbystore.com. organized. These bobbins, available luck. I found a blog that talks about the My inal recommendation would be at sewing or crafts stores, are used railroad and how it served the to join the Pennsylvania RR Technical & in the compartment under the nee- industries, but the author is also Historical Society (www.prrths.com). dle in sewing machines. They’re looking for information. Do you have Any research you might want to do, made of steel and look like mini any ideas on how to get information they’ve probably already done. Good cable spools. Each one holds about and get a plan started? luck on your project! 10 feet of 30AWG wire. They have Mark Zimmerman, Spring City, Pa. holes in the sides to tuck in the end Q In a recent MR video, a building was of the wire so it doesn’t unroll in A Luckily, the Pennsy is one of the shown in the background named Kelly storage, as well as a center hole best-documented and most thoroughly Appliance. I need a building like that. that could be used to hang on a researched railroads in history. Look for Can you give me some info on it? pegboard organizer. – Jim Jimenez, a copy of Pennsylvania Railroad in the Lynn Finch, Port Crane, N.Y. Alma, Colo. Schuylkill River Valley by Ben jamin L. Bernhart. It’s out of print, but you may A Kelly Appliance Co. was kitbashed ind a copy at Amazon.com, eBay, train from a pair of Walthers machine shop also use 36" wheels, though there are shows, hobby shops, antique book deal- kits (item no. 933-2902). It was built as some specialty cars (like multi-unit ers, or your local library. he book has part of our Bay Junction project layout intermodal well cars) that use two sizes hundreds of photos of Schuylkill Branch and described in our April 2011 issue. If of wheels on the same car, or even 28" stations, bridges, facilities, and trains, as you don’t have that issue in your stash, wheels on some trucks. well as some track diagrams and maps. call Customer Service at 877-246-4879.

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24 www.ModelRailroader.com P32932 Model Railroader, April 1950 Order today at ModelRailroader.com/Archive Great Fun Fun Great Generation After Generation YESTERDAY than eight decades of decades than eight more from tips expert and projects, how-to stories, oflayout thousands to be! You’ll access can railroading model instant enjoy fun how discover Add the All-Time Digital Archive will inform and inspire you for hours on end! on you hours for inspire and inform will Archive Digital All-Time the areendless. possibilities —the alayout bookmark atip,or for search details, inon Zoom Model Railroader • TODAY ’s All-Time Digital Archive to your subscription and and subscription toyour Archive ’s Digital All-Time Model Railroader Whether you’re a Baby Boomer or Generation Z, Z, Generation or Boomer you’re aBaby Whether • TOMORROW —

. Less than $3 per Month! per $3 than Less N Scale Insight By Jim Kelly

How do you keep prices low? Volume! set in the mid-1980s. I was the products they draw avail- iguring I’d have to scratch- able to the general public. build the model and wasn’t I was able to buy this tower, looking forward to it, as manufactured with data sup- I’ve got plenty of other proj- plied by Chris Kilroy of SP ects to keep me busy. Stuf in N Scale, for $80.19 First I’d need some plans. plus $4 shipping. Some of my Finding those shouldn’t be friends thought that was a tough. he SP is an extremely lot to pay for an N scale water well-documented railroad. tank. Ater all, good plastic I was hoping I might even water tank kits are available Piping detail ind a kit, and much to my for considerably less, but the surprise found something whole point is that this is not Details include the piping to way better, a ready-built model just a water tank. It’s the spe- carry the water to the – paint it and I’d be done. he ciic water tank I wanted. trackside water column or to photo shows the out-of-the- Some modelers may won- the town of Tehachapi. box model from Shapeways der why the model has no (www.shapeways.com), a 3-D spout, but that’s because the printing service. prototype didn’t. Water stored in the tank was delivered via Jim didn’t need a water tank. A whole new way. his is a underground piping to water He needed this water tank, 3-D printed model, that is to columns beside the track. and Shapeways came to the say, a model that was printed rescue. Bill Zuback photos by a machine that lays down An opportunity for N scale. thin layer upon thin layer of N scale prototype-speciic In the heart of Tehachapi, plastic as a nozzle sweeps structures are hard to come Calif., near the Union Paciic’s back and forth, following by, just because of market double-track main line, stands instructions from a computer- size. Modelers in HO out- a steam-era Southern Paciic aided drawing (CAD) pro- number those in N by about 65,000-gallon water tank. It gram. hink of a laser ink ive to one. Not only do com- See-through detail such as was brought to the town from printer that keeps going back mercial manufacturers make the joists supporting the tank another location on the rail- and forth over the paper more HO prototypical ofer- are possible in one piece with road ater a major earthquake instead of moving on. ings, but more individuals, 3-D printing. destroyed its predecessor on Shapeways is a company small manufacturers, and the April 21, 1952. Without it, that serves as a facilitator railroad historical societies of its N scale equivalent. Tehacahapi had a big problem, between the person who oten help ill the gaps. his doesn’t necessarily as the tank dou- provides the Looking over the mean that it will cost eight bled as the town’s drawings and the Shapeways online catalog times as much, as walls water supply. end product. pages, I’m surprised to see and other components can Ater the SP Associate editor how many N scale models are be proportionately thinner. stopped running Eric White ofered, especially for locomo- Still, I’d guess that an HO steam, the rail- explained all tive body shells, rolling stock, model would cost ive or six road donated the about it in his and vehicles. I don’t see that times as much as the same tank to the town, freight house much in prototype structures, model in N. and today it THE COMPANY article in the Sep- but it seems to me that oppor- It seems to me then that stands in Railroad PRICES ITS tember 2015 tunities are ripe for getting structures like this water Park, an unchar- OFFERINGS BY Model Railroader. more models that are exactly tower, signal towers, coaling acteristic patch of THE VOLUME OF What is won- what we want. stations, sanding towers, and green grass and THE MATERIAL drous about this N scale’s small size gives it other small structures can be large trees in this USED TO MAKE for someone like an advantage in 3-D printed produced at viable prices for high desert moun- THEM, WHICH me, who has no models. he company prices those of us who like our mod- MEANS THAT tain town. OUR SMALL desire to learn its oferings by the volume of els on the smaller side. his water tank 1:160 MODELS CAD, nor perhaps the material used to make And modelers who have is of special inter- ARE GOING TO even the smarts, is them, which means that our the CAD skills and moxie can est to me because BE RELATIVELY that Shapeways small 1:160 models are going make enough money to pay a model of it INEXPENSIVE. provides a mar- to be relatively inexpensive. for their own model and per- belongs on my – JIM ketplace for those he same object in HO has haps buy another thing or two N scale railroad, who wish to make nearly eight times the volume down at the hobby shop.

26 www.ModelRailroader.com CATALOG & WEBSITE DIRECTORY

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Car shortages in the 1970s led Bur- lington Northern to press stockcars into grain service. Cody Grivno shares how he turned this HO Central Valley stockcar into a grain hauler. Bill Zuback photos

How to model an emergency grain car Backdating the focus of my ends, and sometimes the HO scale modeling to the doors. he cars were then Burlington Northern (BN) in assigned to those elevators. the 1970s has opened some hough elevators did most interesting opportunities. of the conversions, BN modi- One of them is modeling ied some stockcars at its stockcars from predecessor shops in Brainerd and roads Northern Paciic; St. Cloud, Minn. Chicago, Burlington & Because the conversions The new plywood attached from the inside stands out against Quincy; and Great Northern, were most oten handled the weather-beaten slats on Northern Paciﬁc stockcar modiied for grain service. locally, there were variations no. 83034. Bill Bedell photo, Bob Wazniak collection Starting in 1973, BN cre- between cars. I’ve seen photos ated a 2-for-1 program where of cars with plastic ilm elevators could ship two between the plywood and the WATCH THIS ON MRVP stockcars (or in some cases car sides to keep the wood modiied 40-foot ice refrigera- dry. he assignment signs tor cars) for the price of one were attached to the car covered hopper. he cars were sides, doors, or data boards. in captive service, meaning If you model the BN they could only run on BN in the upper Midwest dur- rails. Destinations for the ing the mid- to late 1970s, a converted stockcars included few modiied stockcars Duluth, Minn.; Grand Forks hauling grain will add vari- N.D.; Minneapolis; and ety to your freight trains. Superior, Wis. Watch Cody Grivno demonstrate how he In most cases, it was up to I’d like to thank Dan weathered the roof and sides of the stockcar the elevators to make the con- Holbrook and William Phalen on “Cody’s Workshop.” MRVP subscribers versions, attaching plywood for providing prototype infor- can view the video at MRVideoPlus.com. on the interior to the sides, mation for this article.

28 www.ModelRailroader.com By Cody Grivno

STEP 1 MAKING PLASTIC LOOK LIKE WOOD

I started by partially assembling the Dirty Hemp, Lifecolor no. UA 754 Dark Umber Hemp, Lifecolor no. UA 752 Central Valley stockcar kit (no. 1001). First, I attached the letterboards and data boards to the sides with liquid plastic cement. Then I secured the sides and ends to the roof. Once the glue had dried, I spray- painted the car with Rust-Oleum Painter’s Touch 2X Flat Gray Primer (no. 249088). The biggest trick on this model was Oxide Red, Model Master no. 4882 Randomly drybrush making the plastic slats look like Oxide Red on boards wood. The solution came from an unlikely source, Lifecolor’s Hemp, Ropes, and Tarps acrylic paint set no. CS28, available from Walthers. I applied full-strength Dirty Hemp (UA 754) to individual slats with a Microbrush. Then I dipped the brush in water and moved it with the grain over the wet paint. This thinned the I airbrushed the model with Model lower right photo. Drybrushing is paint, allowing some of the Primer Master Oxide Red Flat (no. 4882). the process of dipping a brush in Gray to show through. There are a lot of nooks and crannies paint and wiping off all but a trace I let the thinned Dirty Hemp dry on this car. Make sure you rotate it amount before touching the brush to and then applied Dark Umber Hemp while airbrushing to get even cover- the model. (UA 752) using the same techniques. age on the exterior posts, under the As you can see in the lower right With the weathering completed, letterboards, around the data boards, photo, I didn’t drybrush every single I masked the wood parts of the and on the door stop brackets. slat. Instead, I referred to a variety of sides and ends (yes, this was as Next, I drybrushed the slats and prototype photos to see how NP time consuming as you think). Then end boards Oxide Red, as seen in the stockcars weathered.

STEP 2 GOING UP TOP

Light Ghost Gray, Model Master no. 4762 Corner grab irons, Detail Associates no. 6205

Drybrush Light Ghost Gray with 1⁄4"-wide paintbrush

I masked the sides and ends and air- pany’s Oiled Earth (no. 76.521). roof. The wash toned down the gray brushed the roof Model Master Light I then added a Gray wash (no. 76.516) and gave the roof a dusty look. Ghost Gray (no. 4762). I used gray to act as a control coat. The washes I painted the running boards and instead of a metallic color because it blended together well, creating a real- laterals Rust-Oleum Painter’s Touch 2X provided a nice base for the subse- istic, variegated, rusty metal look. Flat Primer Gray and weathered them quent weathering. I let the washes dry for about an with thinned Lifecolor Dirty Hemp. I weathered the roof using a multi- hour before using a 1⁄4"-wide brush to The laterals have drill starter points step process. First, I applied Vallejo drybrush Light Ghost Gray over the for the eyebolt, but none for the legs. Dark Rust Model Wash (no. 76.507) washes. I started at the center of the I used a no. 80 bit in a pin vise to clear with a paintbrush. I let the wash dry roof and pulled toward the edges. the eyebolt hole. I trimmed the legs to until there were no damp spots visible, I then applied Vallejo European .030" tall and secured them with cya- and then brushed on the same com- Dust Model Wash (no. 76.523) to the noacrylate adhesive (CA).

July 2018 29 Step by Step

STEP 3 TRUCKS, COUPLERS, AND WEIGHT

Railroad Tie Flat black enamel paint Rusty Brown, Brown, Model mixed with grimy black Monroe Models Weights, Woodland Scenics no. P378 Master no. 4885 weathering powders no. 110-975

Oiled Earth, Dark Rubber, Vallejo Model Vallejo Panzer Wash no. 76.521 Aces no. 306

Waste build-up on Silver paint marker bottom of journal box

The Central Valley kit does not the look of caked-on oil and grease stand out against the otherwise flat include trucks or couplers. I used found on the wheel faces of cars with finish on the sideframes. Tahoe Model Works Dalman 50-ton solid-bearing trucks. I painted the I used Kadee no. 148 whisker cou- two-level trucks with lateral-motion backs and axles Model Master Dark plers on the stockcar. After spraying detail (no. 102). After removing the Earth (no. 2054). the couplers with Testor’s Dullcote, metal wheelsets and putting in plastic After the Flat Red Primer had I applied Monroe Models Rusty Brown wheelsets to mask the axle sockets, dried, I applied Vallejo Oiled Earth Scenery Solutions wash (no. 110-975). I spray-painted the trucks with Rust- Model Wash to the sideframes. Then I weighed the model with the Oleum Painter’s Touch 2X Flat Red I painted the springs Model Master trucks and couplers installed, and it Primer (no. 249086). Railroad Tie Brown (no. 4885). was 1.9 ounces too light based on I used a cotton swab dipped in 70 The waste packed in the journals National Model Railroad Association percent isopropyl alcohol to clean the would build up on the bottom of the Recommended Practice 20.1. To metal wheels included with the Tahoe boxes. To capture that look, I brushed add the necessary weight, I used Model Works trucks. Then I painted the flat black enamel mixed with Woodland Scenics adjustable stick-on the wheel faces with a mixture of flat grimy black weathering powders weights (no. P738). The weights are black enamel paint and grimy black under each journal box. Then I applied designed for Pinewood Derby cars but weathering powders. This simulates clear satin to those areas so they’d work well for freight cars.

STEP 4 DECALS, WEATHERING, AND DETAILS

Decals, NPRHA no. N3204

22" grab irons, Detail Associates 3⁄8" length of no. 6423 .010" x .156" styrene strip

Lettering, 18" grab irons, Microscale set Westerﬁeld no. 60-1325 no. 1198

I airbrushed the stockcar with Model setting solution. Then I applied a final state near the Canadian border. Both Master Clear Gloss (no. 4638). Then coat of clear gloss to seal the decals. cars had white rectangular signs let- I decaled the car with set no. N3204 After the clear gloss had dried, tered HANSBORO N DAK on the doors. from the Northern Pacific Ry. I drybrushed over the decals on the I re-created the signs with a 3 ⁄8" Historical Society Company Store. wood portions of the car with Dirty piece of .010" x .156" styrene strip. I used Microscale Micro-Sol and Micro- Hemp, Dark Umber Hemp, and Oxide After painting it white and applying Set when applying the decals. Red. As you can see in the prototype a gloss finish, I lettered the sign Once I was satisfied with the photo, the road number on the end of with decals from Microscale set appearance of the decals (no trapped the car is almost worn off. no. 60-1325. I attached the sign with air bubbles), I wiped the surface of the Northern Pacific no. 82655 and medium-viscosity CA. Plastic cement model with a damp cotton swab 82616 were both assigned to the grain would melt the thin styrene. dipped in distilled water. This removes elevator in Hansboro, N.D., a small I weathered the lower portion of any residue from the decals and the town in the north central part of the the stockcar with thinned Railroad Tie

30 www.ModelRailroader.com STEP 4 DECALS, WEATHERING, AND DETAILS (CONT’D)

Door guide, .020" Weather sill phosphor bronze wire 1⁄32" basswood

ACI placard, Tangent Scale Models no. 200

Brown. I put in enough paint to cover The full-size NP no. 82655 had an glue (no. PT-56). I used the glue for the bottom of a 1 ounce paint jar and Automatic Car Identification (ACI) this application because it’s flexible filled the rest with 70 percent isopro- placard to the left of the door. and dries clear. pyl alcohol. The weathering toned I added that detail using ACI placards I then put the shell on the under- down the bright white lettering on from Tangent Scale Models (no. 200). body and put NP no. 82655 into ser- the sills; I drybrushed the data boards. I secured the painted brass part with vice. The modified NP stockcar stands The road name and road number medium viscosity CA. out next to 40-foot boxcars and were fairly clean in prototype photos, Finally, I added 1⁄32" basswood to large-capacity covered hoppers, so I didn’t weather those areas. the car’s interior to simulate plywood but all three car types played the With the weathering complete, (a manila file folder would also work). same role on the Burlington Northern I applied Model Master Clear Flat After sealing the basswood with in the mid and late 1970s – moving (no. 4636) to the entire model. This Testor’s Dullcote, I attached it to the grain from small towns to mills and gave the car a uniform, flat finish. model with Pacer Formula 560 canopy export elevators.

July 2018 31 THE STREETCARS OF SAN FRANCISCO A colorful cadre of vintage trolleys serves this HO scale modern-era traction layout

By Harvey Simon Photos by the author ❷ A New Orleans streetcar rounds the corner past the Twin Peaks bar, headed toward the Castro Theatre. Harvey printed the pride ﬂags from digital photos he took. The prototype F Line runs refurbished vintage streetcars in regular service.

The Twin Peaks bar, right, which shares its name with an area park, is adjacent to Orphan Andy’s and Castro Tattoo, just as it is on the layout.

Agency, or Muni (www.sfmta.com), of everything wired correctly – not to men- which the F Line trolleys are an integral tion trying to it the components into part. his line takes passengers between such a small space – the car runs quietly the Castro District and Fisherman’s and smoothly around the layout. I’m Wharf. Vintage Presidents Conference planning on adding another Milan car Committee (PCC) cars and other street- in a diferent paint scheme, but this time cars, brought in and refurbished from cit- with sound. I hope I don’t go batty try- ies around the world, provide the service. ing to squeeze a speaker inside the car. Bowser Manufacturing Co. Inc., with My layout is tucked into a corner in a a big assist from George Huckaby of guest bedroom and occupies less than 35 CustomTraxx (www.customtraxx.com), square feet. he track plan is simple – an introduced a line of HO scale streetcars out-and-back oval, like the prototype. in the same livery as their full-size F Line I enjoy small layouts, as they enable ❶ A scratchbuilt Milan streetcar passes counterparts, and that provided me with me to get into the little details that make the Castro Theatre on Market Street in the needed spark to begin a new layout. a big diference in the overall look. San Francisco on Harvey Simon’s HO hese cars are my irst equipment Besides, having just retired, I’d like to scale F Line traction layout. Harvey used with Digital Command Control (DCC), inish the layout while I’m still around to photos of the neighborhood to build and the efects are great. he sounds and enjoy it. he Castro section of my layout, accurate models of the buildings there. lighting add so much to the overall the subject of this article, has a footprint enjoyment of watching the trolleys move of about 8 square feet. he uninished It had been more than 15 years since around the layout. sections will eventually include down- I actively worked on a new layout. Ater My roster includes two PCCs, Boston town San Francisco and Fisherman’s completing the Boston MTA (the subject Elevated Ry. no. 1059 and Brooklyn, Wharf. he actual F Line is about a of a six-part series that appeared in Model Board of Transportation of the City of 12-mile round trip, so a small layout can Railroader from October 1999 through New York no. 1053; car 952, a model of still look right. March 2000) and a cofee table layout the New Orleans-style streetcar, also by I used many of the techniques and (proiled in the September 2001 MR), Bowser; and a Milan (Italy) style street- materials I described in the Boston lay- I inally got the inspiration to try some- car I scratchbuilt using parts obtained out series. Fortunately, HO scale Orr thing new when my son and daughter-in- from several suppliers. girder rail is still available from Custom law moved to San Francisco. he yellow-and-white Milan car is my Traxx, which I used exclusively on the San Francisco is the home of a sophis- irst attempt at installing lights and a new layout. And although my hands ticated rapid transit system, the San decoder. hough it was a bit stressful aren’t as steady as they used to be, Francisco Municipal Transportation working with the small parts and getting I was able to erect and solder a web of

July 2018 33 The prototype kiosk, above, offers plenty of information for riders, many of whom are tourists. Note the toilet on the right side.

❸ A passenger, left, checks the F Line transit map at the CASTRO stop on Harvey’s layout, left. The prototype is labeled SAN FRANCISCO, but Harvey couldn’t ﬁt all the letters, so he opted for CASTRO instead. overhead wire that reliably provides 2 x 4s for the legs, I used 2 x 2s and the kit by adding the large center win- power to the cars. stained them. Also, whereas the Boston dow and two smaller windows of the layout was trimmed with 1 ⁄8" hardboard prototype. I cut the openings with a What’s new this time and had an unsightly cloth skirt to hide Dremel scroll saw. his is a wonderful junk under the layout, here I chose 1 ⁄4" tool I highly recommend adding to your With this layout I wanted to try new medium-density iberboard (MDF) for workshop, especially if you’re doing things. In looking back, I wasn’t happy the fascia with nothing stored under the much kitbashing or scratchbuilding. with the roads and sidewalks of the layout. I also countersunk the screws and I couldn’t have made these changes (or Boston layout. he sidewalk curbs (1⁄4" illed the holes with putty before paint- for that matter shaped the styrene side- plywood) were too high, and I didn’t have ing so it would have a cleaner look. walks) without this saw. markings on the roads. For the new lay- I believe these little upgrades make for he parts for the large arched window out, I used styrene at the correct thickness a better appearance. are Grandt Line no. 5010 roundhouse (.080") for the sidewalks and also scribed windows cut and trimmed to it. Sharp- in the sidewalk and curb sections. Structures eyed readers may also note how I elimi- Additionally, I added markings to the nated a couple of the Art Deco columns streets. With the amount of modeled he biggest change in my approach for from the kit’s front to better replicate the space devoted to the roads, including the F Line layout is with the structures. look of the prototype. I didn’t mess with markings adds a nice efect that contrib- he actual buildings in or near the Castro the intricate stone work of the full-sized utes to the overall realism. One more District are colorful and distinctive, building, but did apply patching plaster comment on the roads – they’re wider relecting the vibrancy of the area. Here over the bricks of the kit walls to repre- than my old layout’s streets and crowned I went for more realism, as I’m trying to sent stucco. in the middle, and look better as a result replicate the structures as best as I can Matching the colors closely helps (See “A crowning touch” on page 37). without losing my sanity in the process. convey the realism of the structure. Another diference on this layout are he layout’s Castro area features kit- One other small detail that helped is the line poles. he Boston layout had bashed and scratchbuilt structures using the two movie posters on either side plain 1⁄8" brass poles, which looked a little common materials and techniques. of the entrance. I found two posters of oversized. Here, I used three-part tele- Although it was a bit painful, I began to ilms that ran at the Castro and resized scoping poles, which are thinner at the repurpose the buildings from the Boston them using my computer. Note also top and accordingly look more realistic. layout using walls from Magnuson kits the pride lags on a few of the line Jason’s Brass Poles (www.jasonsbrass that have been out of production for poles, which, like the prototype, add poles.com) supplied them, and the service many years. I also, inally, learned to use color to the scene. was terriic. he company made the an airbrush. Mixing custom colors to he Chevron station is a Summit F Line poles to my speciications and match the prototypes and then applying USA (www.summit-customcuts.com) couldn’t have been more accommodating. them with this tool is fun and rewarding. Exxon kit. I worked with Summit on Aside from the structures, the last he two large buildings that irmly getting the Chevron letters I needed for signiicant diference between the two set the layout’s location and era are the the model. Summit also worked with layouts is the benchwork. It’s more Castro heatre and Chevron station. me on the gas pumps, as Exxon gas reined on the F Line layout. Since it he theater is a Magnuson Art Deco pumps at a Chevron station just wouldn’t resides in a bedroom, I wanted to make kit I was able to ind on eBay. I com- cut it. For a small fee Summit did the sure it looked presentable. Instead of pletely changed the look of the front of work I needed.

34 www.ModelRailroader.com Bank of Bank of Buena Vista Orphan Andy’s Castro Twin Peaks America the West Realty restaurant Tattoo bar

Market Street Wild Card

Castro Theatre US Bank

Downtown San Francisco Market Street

San Francisco’s Construction 5 Fitness 2 Grooves 1 Extra Mile F Line SF gym record store site 6 It’s Tops coffee shop Chevron Future Completed Castro Street

F Line traction 4 Castro District 3 HO scale (1:87.1) Castro stop Layout size: 5'-0"x 8'-0" Scale of plan: 7⁄8" = 1'-0", 24" grid Numbered arrows indicate photo locations Fisherman’s Wharf Illustration by Roen Kelly Find more plans online in the ModelRailroader.com Track Plan Database.

The layout at a glance

Name: F Line traction Scale: HO (1:87.1) Size: 5 x 8 feet Prototype: San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency’s F Line Locale: San Francisco, between Castro District and Fisherman’s Wharf Era: modern Style: modified walk-in Mainline run: 40 feet Minimum radius: 61⁄4" Minimum turnout: single point, equivalent to no. 2 Maximum grade: none ❹ This overall view of the layout shows how much modeling can be packed into Benchwork: open grid about 30 square feet in a spare bedroom. Note the TransAmerica Pyramid office Height: 37" tower on the backdrop behind the planned downtown San Francisco scene. Roadbed: 1⁄2" plywood covered by 1⁄2" Homasote he area across from the gas station space, so I labeled it Castro instead. he Track: Orr girder rail, crossings, and where folks board the trolley for a trip to stop also helps ill a large corner on the turnouts Fisherman’s Wharf is a favorite scene. layout that would’ve looked odd if there Scenery: patching plaster roads and his stop was another opportunity to was nothing there. he stop, tree, street- styrene sidewalks take the prototype and bring it onto the light, and people waiting for the trolley to Backdrop: commercial backdrop and layout. he obvious diference, aside swing by create an interesting custom-printed photographs from its location, is the Castro lettering. vignette. You’ll notice on the theater and Control: Model Rectifier Corp. Prodigy he actual lettering indicates San gas station, and other buildings on the Express DCC powering live overhead Francisco, but I didn’t have enough layout, how the storefront signage makes

July 2018 35 The prototypes are around the corner from Market Street, but Harvey thought the interesting architecture helped convey the ﬂavor of the neighborhood.

❺ Continuing down Market Street are Buena Vista Realty, Bank of the West, and a construction site. The building housing the bank with apartments above is scratchbuilt. Buena Vista Realty is a modiﬁed DPM Stone Bakery kit. all the diference in the believability of he technique is simple. I dipped the of the record, and then the surrounding the models. he Castro heatre isn’t the resin wall (I don’t know if other materi- record can be cut with the punch. Castro heatre without that wonderful als will work) into almost boiling water I inished the windows by cementing marquee and vertical blade sign. for about 30 seconds. he material sot- the records to clear acetate, then covering To get these signs I irst took photos ened, allowing me to curve the wall to that with another layer of acetate, and of the prototypes with my iPhone, then my desired bend. gluing the inished windows in place. It’s worked with a graphic designer who did here are two small buildings across the irst time I’ve ever created double- the rest using Photoshop or other illus- from the theater – the WildCard greet- pane windows on a model railroad. trator tools. Without his help, the building card shop and US Bank. Again, these he cofee shop adjacent to Grooves is ings simply wouldn’t look the same. Here closely resemble the prototypes. hey like the prototype. I used the DPM again, by building a smaller layout, I was weren’t diicult to make – perhaps a 12300 Stone Bakery as the basis for the able to put my resources toward elements couple of evenings each. Also across structure. his kit comes with ire escape that matter most in conveying both time from the theater and bar, on the other detail, but instead of applying it to the and place. side, are the Grooves record shop, the It’s back of the building as instructed, Other buildings, adjacent to the Tops cofee shop, and Fitness SF. I added it to the front to better match the Castro heatre just as they are in real Grooves is a vinyl record store, and prototype. he arrangement of Grooves life, are the Twin Peaks Bar, Castro for this building I used the Woodland and It’s Tops on the layout is reversed Tattoo, and Orphan Andy’s, a small res- Scenics DPM Landmark Structures from the prototype. taurant. he bar features a curved front (formerly Design Preservation One last point on these two buildings created using the same hot water tech- Miniatures) no. 30162 20th Century is that I moved them closer to the heart nique I described in the October 1992 Window storefront modular set. Above of the Castro District on the layout. issue of MR. the storefront windows I added styrene Grooves is just the type of building that trim in the transom windows to better looks right at home in the center of the match the prototype. Castro District, so instead of its proto- Meet Harvey Simon I also added the prototypical Spanish type location somewhat away from the tile roof. his type of roof is popular in Castro, I decided it deserved its street- Harvey retired from California, and luckily for me, Plastruct corner location across from the theater. his full-time career ofers Spanish tile rooing in HO scale. he next building is Fitness SF, which in December 2015 and What sets this building apart are the again closely resembles the prototype. is a part-time instruc- records in the windows, giving the I used styrene sheet, scribed to create the tor at Appalachian building a colorful appearance. I made stone block efect. I took some license by State University in them with the help of a Micro-Mark hole adding the large circular Fitness SF signs Boone, N.C. punch tool. in the two storefront windows on either Harvey and his wife, I irst applied color to paper with dif- side of the front door. I also added a Lisa, have two grown children, a ferent Sharpie markers, then added a lit- Preiser table and chairs set in front of the grandchild (with a second on the tle white dot to represent the record label building, as the actual building has a way) and Lucy, their ﬁfth miniature using the tip of a toothpick, and inally spot for folks to enjoy their lattes or poodle. This is Harvey’s 11th article cut the records out using the punch kit. smoothies ater a workout. in Model Railroader. his isn’t hard, as the white label dot can Heading down Market Street are be eyeballed easily enough as the center Buena Vista Realty, Bank of the West,

36 www.ModelRailroader.com A crowning touch

After I’ve finished laying all the track, I take a piece of .080" strip styrene, a little less than the rail height, and cement that to the Homasote layout surface to form the outer boundary of the street. This then creates the “form” for the street itself. I trowel this area with patching plaster (several passes are necessary, as you don’t want to use too much plaster initially). Once everything hardens, I sand the surface smooth. I take care not to damage the track in the center. The sanding sometimes takes longer than I expect it will, similar to taping dry- wall if you’re inexperienced. Then I paint the shaped surface. ❻ The It’s Tops coffee shop and Since the Orr girder rail is sol- Grooves record store are made from dered to copper-clad ties and is a modified Woodland Scenics DPM kits little higher than the plastic strip and modules. The records in the I used at the curb, a natural crown Grooves windows were punched out of is formed. I cement the sidewalk on colored paper. The Spanish tile roofing top of the styrene and then fill any is from Plastruct. gaps between the sidewalk and street with plaster. – Harvey Simon The records in the window, Spanish tile roofing, and distinctive sign were elements that drew Harvey to the and a building under construction. For Grooves record store. Buena Vista Realty, like the cofee shop, I used the DPM Stone Bakery, but with although it’s a bit cheesy, the fence but that’s OK. I’m having a ball taking more signiicant modiications. became the prototypical element. my time and not making too many com- I cut the bay window in half horizon- he last building, so far, is the Bank promises along the way. My plan is to tally and glued the top half next to the of America building. It’s the irst to be inish Market Street as it moves through bottom half. I cut the sides of the build- built for the downtown section of the the downtown area. Here I’ll continue ing to create a level wall to support the layout, and it, too, relects the prototype. with the tall buildings typical of the San peaked roof, which is scratchbuilt from I built the model using Evergreen sty- Francisco downtown shopping and styrene. his kitbash really disguises the rene. he windows took the most time, inancial district. original structure, and it’s gratifying to but with the help of a simple jig, con- Once downtown San Francisco is in- be able to use the same kit to achieve two struction moved along at a reasonable ished, I’ll then move to Fisherman’s diferent outcomes. Buena Vista Realty is clip. I used 60 grit sandpaper for the Wharf, where the F Line cars turn actually on Noe Street, but because of its stone panels on the model. I was pleased around to begin their journey back to proximity to Market Street (and its adja- to be able to add this technique to my the Castro neighborhood. here are cency to Bank of the West) I moved it bag of tricks for modeling prototypical many colorful spots here to model – onto Market Street. elements. he entrance sign and ATMs, chowder restaurants and touristy joints he architecture of the prototype were both created by the same graphic – which are quite diferent than those Bank of the West is distinctive, so I took artist who did the rest of the signs. in the Castro District. My plan is to in- a stab at including it on the layout. he I didn’t weather the buildings nearly ish the layout with a waterfront scene at colorful windows are its identifying fea- as much as I did the Boston structures. Fisherman’s Wharf. ture. Although it took awhile to build the I added a light India ink wash, and some I consider myself so fortunate to be structure from styrene, I’m happy with light chalk weathering here and there, able to continue to enjoy our wonderful the overall look. but that’s the extent of it. In looking back hobby as I approach my seventh decade. he next structure is the building at the Boston layout, I think I was a little And I’m delighted to be able to share under construction. Nothing special heavy-handed with weathering. my new layout with you. So far, it’s here; it’s found a home on my last three been a blast. And the next time you’re layouts. But note how the fence around The future in San Francisco, hop aboard one of the building site is papered with Trinity those vintage F Line trolleys and enjoy Real Estate signs. I found these signs on At the rate I’m going it’ll be another the sights. I guarantee you’ll have a an actual Market Street building site, so three years before the layout is complete, great time.

July 2018 37 How to model a 1950s semi-tractor

A McLean Trucking Co. GMC Cannonball semi-tractor stands in the foreground of Mont Switzer’s HO layout. Learn about the details Mont added to better match his 1950s prototype (inset). Prototype photo Fred Gruin Jr. Collection

Extra detailing enhances a Sylvan HO scale GMC Cannonball resin kit

By Mont Switzer • Photos by the author

When it came time to add vehicles to most prominent carrier along that route purple shade or lighten to an orangish my 1950s-era HO scale Monon RR, was the McLean Trucking Co., based in hue. Although I used a Caboose Red, any acquiring models of General Motors Winston-Salem, N.C. similar shade would work for a McLean Corp. cab-over-engine (COE) semi- McLean was known for its sleeper- truck. Since I used now-discontinued tractors topped the list. Sylvan Scale team operation, where a lead driver Floquil paint, the online materials list Models sells an accurate cast-resin kit of would be paired with a junior co-driver. includes currently available equivalent a GMC COE “Cannonball” single-(drive) he trucks were equipped with sleeper colors in Testor’s Model Master line. axle tractor. With a few extra details, cabs that had a bunk compartment Readers will note from the photos paint, and custom decals, I built the where the of-duty driver could rest. that I painted all the parts prior to Sylvan kit to match a common 1950s I didn’t use the exhaust stack provided assembly. In hindsight I think it may be trucking company prototype. with the kit. McLean trucks in the 1950s easier to do some of the painting and had lower-mounted exhaust systems decaling ater assembly. Cannonball similar to those on automobiles. I also From the tires up, I’ll describe the key didn’t use the included mud laps. Trac- techniques that I used to build and detail he GMC snub-nose tractors proved tors weren’t required to use them when this 1950s semi tractor. popular with carriers across North hauling a trailer. America. he shorter tractors could pull e owner of an Indiana-based truck- long trailers and still meet overall truck Some notes on paint ing company, Mont Switzer is a frequent length restrictions imposed in the 1950s. contributor to Model Railroader. heir nickname came from a 1950s Ater using a hobby knife and iles to SERIES MODELING & PAINTING SERIES TV show called “Cannonball” that fol- remove lash from the resin parts, I BUILDING VEHICLES lowed the adventures of truck driver washed them in warm, soapy water to for Model Railroads Mike Malone and his co-driver, Jerry, as remove any letover mold release. I also Find more projects in they hauled cargo in their GMC semi. airbrushed the parts with gray primer. this new book from he snub-nose trucks were also a With constant exposure to the ele- the Kalmbach common sight along U.S. Highway 40 in ments, paint colors could vary widely. Hobby Store! eastern Indiana. During the 1950s, the Red paint could darken to an almost Jeff Wilson

38 www.ModelRailroader.com Wheels, rims, and tires

Sylvan makes this kit with either disc or spoke wheels. I used the latter for this project, since the McLean tractors of my modeled era had cast-metal Gray spoke wheels painted red. The tires rims were mounted on separate metal rims painted gray. These rims were then attached to the ends of the spokes. On the Sylvan model, each rim and wheel is represented by a single casting. I first painted the castings red. After the paint dried completely, I painted the Front wheels get one tire each Rear wheels get two tires each outer edges of the rims with a silver Sharpie permanent marker, which looks close enough to the prototype’s gray rims. diameter. After removing the tires from The drive (rear) axle ends are cast to The tires provided with the kit are the bolt, I installed them onto the resemble brake drums, which also made of vinyl with realistic tread detail. wheel/rim castings from the back. The provide mounting points for the However, these parts have a lot of flash tires were still somewhat inconsistent in wheels. The resin axle ends are a weak that needs to be removed. The tires are appearance, so I placed the best-looking point, and can easily break off. also not uniform in size. pair on the front steering wheel axles I reinforced each rear axle end by first To deal with these issues, I followed and the worst looking pair on the drilling a hole into the end of the axle the recommendation included with the inside of the dual-wheel drive axles. using a no. 75 bit and a pin vise. Then kit instructions. I screwed all the tires Following the kit’s instructions, I dipped one end of a short length of onto a 21⁄2" long 1⁄4" bolt, then secured I attached the drive shaft to the rear .015" wire into cyanoacrylate adhesive the bolt into the chuck of my electric end, then mounted the wheels to the (CA) and inserted the wire into the drill. While using the drill to turn the axles. Sylvan has cleverly cast the hole. After test fitting the wheel, bolt, I held a coarse fingernail file to steering axle ends so that the front I trimmed any excess wire and mounted the surface of the tires until all the flash wheels can be mounted at an angle to the wheel with CA. I then repeated the was gone and the tires were uniform in model the truck as if it were turning. process for the other drive axle end.

Frame Paint removed for cab installation Deck plate Angled rear frame rails

The model has a one-piece frame that includes the fuel tanks, fifth wheel plate, and pedestals. Truck manufacturers and fleet owners in the era I model often angled the rear frame rails, which made it easier for a tractor to slide under a trailer. I modeled this detail by trimming the rear frame rails, leaving 2 scale feet behind the fifth-wheel Rear of frame removed plate. I then tapered the top of each rail to 4 scale inches tall at the ends. Following the prototype, I painted I attached this etched-metal part to the to travel through all of the states where the frame red. Note that I scraped the tops of the resin frame rails with CA. McLean operated. paint off of the front frame rails where To better match the McLean trucks I cut two scale 4" squares of black the cab would be installed for a in my prototype photos. I made a larger decal film to model openings for the stronger adhesive bond. bumper by laminating an 8 scale foot towing adapters and two scale 4" x 6" Most prototype trucking companies long and 12 scale inch wide strip of rectangles to model the footholds. installed a deck plate to the frame .010" styrene to the stock bumper Both of these details are easily seen in behind the tractor’s cab, providing a molded as part of the frame. prototype photos. safe place for the driver to stand while After painting the bumper red, Once the decals dried, I applied he connected air hoses. The deck plate I applied several era-appropriate Micro Testor’s Dullcote to seal them and add a on my model is a scale 3-foot section of Scale license plate decals to it. Back in more weathered appearance. These see-through running board that I had the 1950s, several license plates were details are shown in the photo of the leftover from a freight car project. required for the semi-tractor and trailer finished model on the previous page.

July 2018 39 Top painted black away from the casting. I used CA to Fifth wheel secure the longer leg of the handle to the underside of the fifth wheel. The fifth wheel is the flexible yet solid When it’s not coupled to a trailer, point of attachment for a semi-trailer the V-shaped rear of the fifth wheel on a semi-tractor. The trailer’s fifth pin .008" wire falls to frame level. Those modeling the couples to the fifth wheel slot. tractor without a trailer should make The fifth wheel is a separate part in Bottom painted red sure to position the fifth wheel on the the Sylvan kit. After painting the frame so that its rear is lower than its bottom of the fifth wheel red, I painted so the bottom of the U is 6 scale inches front. Those planning to add a trailer the top with Engine Black paint to wide. Next I trimmed the legs of the U should make sure the fifth wheel is simulate grease. I also added the fifth so one leg was 1 scale foot long and the level so it will be flat against the pin release handle that allows the other was 2 scale feet long. trailer’s upper coupler. tractor to uncouple from the trailer. The I drilled a no. 78 hole in the side To install the fifth wheel, I added a lever could be mounted on either side, of the fifth-wheel casting just ahead of drop of thick CA on each of the fifth but most operators installed the lever the pivot point. After applying a drop wheel pedestals located on the truck on the left (driver’s) side. of CA to the shorter leg of the handle, frame. This slow-curing CA gave me To make the pin release handle, I inserted it into the hole until the enough working time to adjust the I bent a length of .008" wire into a “U” bottom of the handle was 6 scale inches fifth wheel to the proper angle.

model. I painted the driver using flesh Co-driver Steering wheel Cab interior tone and dark blue for his shirt and cap. Driver The kit also includes a steering The Sylvan model includes two wheel and a length of wire for the Gear shift lever interior castings. The smaller casting is steering column. I drilled a no. 75 hole, the bunk and the larger casting with added a drop of CA, and then inserted seats is the cab interior. I carefully the steering column. After painting the removed all flash and test fit both steering wheel white, I slid it over the parts, making sure they slid into the cab column. I made sure the top of the without binding. If the parts are tight, steering wheel would be visible sand or file as needed. It’s important through the cab windshield. After that the parts go all the way into the Steering column securing the steering wheel with CA, cab for a proper fit on the frame. I trimmed off the excess wire. After washing the interior parts in I used this excess wire to model the warm soapy water and letting them dry Once the first coat of paint dried, gear-shift lever. On snub-nose tractors thoroughly, I airbrushed them with I brush-painted the bottom of the the gear shift should be mounted even Floquil gray primer. During the time casting and the floor black. I also with the driver in the center console period I model, the GMC cab interiors painted the seats in a dark brown color. between the seats. were painted a turquoise color. The driver casting included with the Since I was modeling a McLean I airbrushed both the sleeper and cab model doesn’t have any legs, which Trucking Co. sleeper team, I added a interiors with Floquil New York Central makes him easy to position on the seat. Bachmann seated figure to represent Jade Green as a close-enough match. This won’t be noticeable in the finished the co-driver.

Molded top them until I’d already installed short Running lights Sleeper cab sleeper vent windshield wipers from A-Line. After drilling no. 78 mounting holes above A-Line Added The cab, sleeper berth, snub nose, and windshield sleeper the windshield, I secured each wiper fenders are a single casting. wipers vent with a drop of CA. The McLean trucks had grills painted The cab casting has an air vent white. On the model I found it difficult Grill molded on top of the sleeper and one to paint the grill neatly with a brush. Door on each side of the cab. McLean sleeper Instead, I used a single-edge razor handle cabs had additional vents on each side blade to scrape away the red paint from of the sleeper compartment. I modeled the grill, revealing the white resin Headlights each additional vent cover by cutting underneath. Then I colored the head- .070" x .150" rectangles from .010" lights, clearance lights, and door styrene. I rounded the corners of each handles with my silver Sharpie marker. Before air conditioning, most drivers rectangle with a file, then attached I used separate pieces of the included kept the window open when it wasn’t them with CA. I made sure each vent clear window glazing to fit each side of cold. I used clear parts cement to attach was .050" from the drip strip around the windshield, rear window, passenger the glazing. the top of the sleeper compartment. side and vent windows, and driver vent, The kit includes etched-metal This left enough room for decaling the but not the driver’s side window. windshield wipers, but I didn’t notice tractor’s unit numbers.

40 www.ModelRailroader.com Unit number West Coast mirrors [Chartpak no longer sells these dots, Decals, turn but an internet search for “map dots” Turn signals will provide a list of similar products. – signals, and Ed.] I attached the dots with CA. mirrors To install the turn signals, I drilled a no. 72 hole on the top of each fender and inserted the turn signals. Making I purchased the McLean Trucking Co. sure that the orange and red lenses Operating HO scale decals from Ken Goudy Decals. numbers were oriented correctly, I applied CA [The firm is no longer in business, but from underneath the cab to each decals for McLean Trucking Co. and eyebolt shaft. Once the CA dried, other fallen flags are available online I trimmed the excess material. Herald from Graphics on Demand at store. Excess to be trimmed flush McLean was also one of the first graphicsdemand.com. – Ed.] Decals are trucking companies to use “West also provided for the large McLean Coast” mirrors on its trucks. Legend has diamond herald and lettering found on McLean was an early adopter of it that these large mirrors got their the firm’s semi-trailers. electric turn signals. Mounted at the nickname after an eastbound driver I followed prototype photos to top and outermost point of each tractor commented that the mirrors were so position the decals on the cab. In fender, these signals could be seen from big he could see the West Coast. addition to the red diamond herald on the front and rear of the tractor. Whether its true or not, the mirrors the doors and unit numbers under the I made the turn signals from Tichy were a vast improvement over the small sleeper vents, there are three lines of Train Group HO scale eyebolts that rearview mirrors common on semis at operating authority numbers applied to I painted black. The turn signal lenses the time. After installing the mirrors both sides below the sleeper side doors. are made from Chartpak self-adhesive on the cab, I matched the McLean After applying the decals, I sealed them dots, no. 834 orange dots on the front prototype by painting the mirror fronts with a light spray of Testor’s Dullcote. and no. 853 red dots to the rear. and supports white.

wouldn’t be visible from most viewing Chartpak dots Black Taillights angles on the layout. styrene panel I made the taillight panel by cutting I couldn’t ﬁnd prototype photos of the a scale 18 x 20 inch rectangle from Cannonball’s taillights, so I made an Evergreen .010" black styrene sheet. educated representation. Taillights Then I cemented two red Chartpak were required when a tractor was dots on the panel to model the taillight “bobtailing,” or running without a lenses. Next I used CA to secure the trailer, at night. Since my semi-tractor taillight panel to the front of the rear would be hauling a trailer, the taillights frame crossmember. Weathering

Seams darkened with no 2 pencil I weathered my Cannonball to have an in-service but well-maintained look. In addition to sealing the decals, the Testor’s Dullcote applied in earlier steps helped tone down the shine of the fresh red paint. [Be sure to avoid getting Dullcote or any matte ﬁnish on clear window glazing to avoid frosting its surface. – Ed.] I rubbed the tip of a sharp no. 2 pencil along the molded detail on the cab and fuel tanks. These are places where dirt would naturally accumulate. Black paint wash This step also adds deﬁnition to molded details such as the door, hood, and vent seams. nozzle from the tank during refueling. By law, leaf springs weren’t painted On the prototype, as the sun I brushed a black paint wash down the to make it easier to spot fatigue cracks. warmed the interiors of the fuel tanks, sides of the tanks to simulate fuel spills. These parts should be dark brown to the fuel would expand and seep out of I also used a black paint wash to model old surface rust. Although I used vented fuel caps. A careless trucker may represent dribbles of gear lube on the Floquil Railroad Brown, any dark brown also dribble fuel when removing a rear-end differential. or rust shade would be appropriate.

Check out Mont’s materials list for this project by clicking on the link under Online Extras at www.ModelRailroader.com. July 2018 41 EXPAND a triple-deck layout

Plenty of research and careful planning went into illing my modest 16'-6" square garage train room with a triple deck HO scale layout that features two helixes and a partial mushroom design. My Baltimore & Ohio The updated HO scale Baltimore & Paquettin Division may be familiar to some readers, as it irst appeared in the June 2013 Model Railroader. From Ohio Paquettin Division features a that story, the layout may have appeared nearly complete, but with our great hobby there’s always something to new switching district learn. And with any model railroad, there’s always room for improvement. he name Paquettin refers to an imaginary river that By Mike Tricker • Photos by the author runs from the Appalachian Mountains to the New Jersey

42 www.ModelRailroader.com ❶ A Baltimore & Ohio class EM-1 2-8-8-4 departs Port Trenton on the HO scale Paquettin Division with a hotshot manifest freight in tow. Mike Tricker modiﬁed his layout to better suit timetable-and- ING train-order operation.

The original design

When I irst began work on my layout, I only planned for and built two decks. he upper Appalachian level and waterfront, which is also the setting of my freelanced the Port Trenton level beneath it were connected with a track plan. My layout is inspired by the Baltimore & Ohio 30" radius helix. RR, the Pennsylvania RR, and the Reading Co. I model Using car cards and four-turn waybills, cars were clas- the 1950s, so I can plausibly run both steam and diesel- siied at the large yard in Port Trenton and dispatched to electric locomotives. their destinations. he main line could handle 15- to When I irst designed my model railroad, I’d made a 20-car freight trains as well as long passenger consists. list of requirements that included no restrictions to the Traic lowed into Port Trenton from B&O and PRR stag- size of equipment that could run on the main line. his ing and interchange tracks, as well as westbound and east- meant a 30" minimum curve radius and no sharper than bound freights. I could easily operate the layout alone or no. 6 turnouts. As I started hosting more and more oper- with one or two friends. ating sessions on the layout, I realized that I wanted to Apart from the coal mine, freight house, and team add more operating potential, which meant more switch- track at Harmond, this original plan had no industries to ing opportunities. I needed to ind room for more rail- be switched. To resolve this, I added a new lower deck, the served industries. joint B&O/PRR Bay End Subdivision. By relaxing some of my original requirements, I was To connect the lower deck with the middle deck, able to meet those goals and make my layout even better. I abandoned my original 30" minimum radius

July 2018 43 Upper level requirement and built a 22" radius helix below the original helix. For the lower helix benchwork, I used medium-density iberboard (MDF) to form a continu- 86" ously rising shape. I installed Hornby 22"-radius curved sectional track to Martin’s Bend avoid kinks in the rails. I also added more yard tracks to Port 83" Company Trenton so that trains could be classiied housing 86" there prior to being dispatched down to Paquettin River A Bay End. he town of Petersport on the lower level has enough rail-served indus- New River 8 Mining Co. tries to warrant its own switcher, usually a B&O 0-6-0. here’s also an interchange 86" track in Petersport and a Reading inter- 6 change near the helix. A Reading 0-6-0 Freight Camelback usually works the latter. house he Bay End Subdivision was shown Harmond Weston, Janesville, in my 2013 track plan, but was still Newton largely under construction. he scenery (west staging) has now been completed, and this line has been integrated into the operat- Depot ing scheme. HO scale (1:87.1) Room size: 16'-6"x 16'-6 " Adding Upton Scale of plan: 1⁄4" = 1'-0", 12" grid Illustration by Jay Smith Find more plans online in the ModelRailroader.com Track Plan Database. Ater my 2013 story was published, I decided the layout needed even more industries. I found some room on the middle level, as shown in the updated Middle level track plan on the let. Imperial Food Products Grain elevator Golden Valley Canning Water tank Ater successfully testing an HO scale Fairbanks-Morse H-16-44 four-axle

541⁄2" diesel locomotive and a few cars on an 18"-radius curve, I built an industrial district named Upton around three sides of the raised upper level access platform. Following the “mushroom” concept, 1 B&O Caboose 45Tenements crews work Upton from outside the plat- main east track 54" form, so they don’t interfere with crews Highway Roundhouse bridge Port Trenton Backdrop working the upper level. Building Coal dealer Helix up Easton flats (east he Upton Turn consists of the afore- staging) mentioned FM switcher, four freight Passenger cars, and a caboose. Initially I set up the Helix trains Roberts Industries down train to head west out of Port Trenton to Printers Main follow the new line along the outside of Upton Siding the original helix to Upton. he town East features a coal dealer, team track, and Chip & Dale New crossover yard space for other yet-unnamed industries. Manufactures and crossing lead A wye allows the locomotive to be B&O main 54" turned for the trip back to Port Trenton. west Float bridge At this point I’m still inalizing the 53" Team track Eckingham Car Wells staging industries and scenery. My operators float Inks & B&O/PRR don’t seem to mind, as the Upton Turn is Paints interchange PRR west a favorite job during operating sessions. he Upton Turn job became so popu- 571⁄2" Lift-up section lar with my operators that I added a 54" Bially Midtown Harmond Turn that also runs out of Port & Bloom Retaining wall Trenton. his train consists of 10 cars, die-casting 54" including empty coal hoppers that are exchanged for loads at the coal mine on Armstrong & McClelland Warehouse Building flats the upper level. A B&O class E-27 2-8-0 leads the train, but since there’s no turn- table or wye at Harmond, the steam

44 www.ModelRailroader.com Lower level The layout at a glance

Name: B&O Paquettin Division 36" Scale: HO (1:87.1) 3 Size: 16'-6" x 16'-6" Freight Petersport K. Millat Inc. Mike’s Diner house Prototype: inspired by Baltimore & Ohio Acme Tank Locale: Appalachia to New Jersey B Highway Step up Style: partial mushroom bridge Era: early to mid-1950s 37" Mainline run: 78 feet (excluding helix) Tunnel Minimum radius: 18", 15"(waterfront) provides scenic break Reading 37" Minimum turnout: no. 6 (main), no. 4 between staging Petersport and Raised platform (26") (waterfront) Heston Maximum grade: 2 percent (main) Bay End Benchwork: L-girder and open-grid 36" Highway bridge staging Height: 36" to 86" Roadbed: Woodland Scenics Track-Bed Swing bridge 7 Track: Peco code 83 Lighthouse Cover B&O/PRR/Reading Scenery: Plaster cloth over cardboard 2 interchange Backdrop: painted tempered hardboard Heston and MDF Control: Digitrax Digital Command Control Swing bridge Lift out section Haven Inlet Reading staging locomotive must run tender-irst on the return trip. Making the connection

A big disadvantage of the layout as it appeared in 2013 was that it wasn’t possible to run a train from Bay End staging on the lower level to Weston, Newton, and Janesville staging on the upper level without reversing the train at Port Trenton. Relaxing my minimum radius requirement brought about a solution. I connected the top of the lower helix to one of the east staging tracks with a 15" radius curve. I also had to add a diamond crossing over the B&O main and another crossover. Despite the tight curve, all my locomotives, even A-B-A diesel consists, can negotiate this connection. Although the junction is a bit complex, trains could now continuously run from Bay End all the way to west staging. his also allowed the Upton Turn to depart eastbound out of Port Trenton, which is the arrangement shown in the updated track plan. Because the new curve is at the entrance to the layout, I made it a lit-up ❷ A Pennsylvania RR FP7 leads varnish over the swing bridge at Haven Inlet on the section. When it’s in the raised position, layout’s lower level. This train was inspired by a photo of passenger service on the the section is 6'-3" above the ground and jointly owned PRR/Central RR of New Jersey New York & Long Branch. easy for my operators to walk under without ducking. Paquettin Division. Ater reading However, we quickly realized that in articles about this type of operation, order to add operating interest, it was TTTO operation I thought it would be appropriate for essential to develop a timetable with my layout’s 1950s era. scheduled trains. All the layout modiications made Initially we ran the railroad using For the timetable to work, the layout it easier to implement timetable-and- only train orders, with every train run- needed more passing sidings so inferior train-order (TTTO) operation on the ning as an extra (non-scheduled) train. trains could more easily clear the main

July 2018 45 ❸ At Petersport on the lower level, a United States Railroad Administration 0-6-0 spots a boxcar at Reliable Warehouse & Storage. The industries on the lower level made it possible for Mike to add local freights to his operating scheme. for superior trains. In addition to the diesel pulling three coaches on the New passing sidings at Harmond and Port York & Long Branch, we now run a Trenton, I added two more at the bottom Heston-to-Bay End PRR passenger train. of the lower helix at Heston and at his train consists of two 85-foot Easton (east staging). coaches. We may also add a baggage car. To add variety to the possible destina- A PRR class K4s 4-6-2 leads the train tions, west staging has become the towns outbound, while a PRR EMD FP7 brings of Weston, Newton, and Janesville. For it back to Heston. example, a local Janesville freight will Once we got used to the passenger pick up cars bound only for that loca- traic, we scheduled two second-class tion, which usually results in some extra manifest freights between Weston and switching moves. Easton, one running westbound and the other eastbound. he two trains meet at Scheduled trains Port Trenton. Some smart switching by both train crews, as well as the Port he irst scheduled trains we ran were Trenton switcher crew under the direc- irst-class passenger trains. he stub- tion of the yardmaster, is required to ended B&O east staging yard can now ensure the trains depart on time. accommodate two passenger consists, including locomotive. First-class passen- Operating in real time ger trains usually consist of six 85-foot 11 ⁄2 hours to travel from Bay End to cars hauled either by B&O 4-8-2 My operators and I found no need for Weston. Since it runs as an extra, the Mountain steam locomotives or Electro- fast clocks. Instead, we operate in real local will oten have to wait at all four Motive Division diesels. hese trains run time. Each session lasts about 21 ⁄2 hours, passing sidings to clear the main for between Eckingham and Easton staging and it takes about three operating superior, scheduled trains. tracks via Port Trenton. he Port sessions for us to run through all Trenton yardmaster must frequently the trains. Running trains check the timetable before moving cars Travel times between stations may be along the main between the north and only a few minutes, but crews of sched- We use two-man crews for operating south yards. Adding to the mix, a B&O uled trains must never run faster than sessions. One person is the engineer, local – made up of Railway Post Oice the timetable. Crews of inferior trains responsible for running the locomotive, cars, a baggage car, and a coach led by a must judge whether or not they can pro- and the other is the conductor, responsi- United States Railway Administration ceed to their destination and clear the ble for handling paperwork and deciding light 4-6-2 Paciic – runs daily from main 5 minutes before the arrival of a switching moves. Weston to Easton and back. scheduled superior train. When they pass each station, all train Inspired by a photo of a Tuscan-and- he timetable has helped lengthen crews verbally “OS” [his term comes gold-pinstriped Pennsylvania RR EMD operations. A local freight can take up to from old railroad telegraph shorthand

46 www.ModelRailroader.com ❹ Electro-Motive Division E units speed a passenger train through Port Trenton. After his operators got used to running with these scheduled ﬁrst-class trains, Mike added other trains to the timetable, including manifest freight trafﬁc.

❺ One of the most popular jobs on the railroad, the Upton Turn arrives in Port Trenton. Led by a Fairbanks- Morse H-16-44 diesel, this local freight works the recently added Upton industrial district.

July 2018 47 ❻ A B&O local passenger train departs Harmond on the upper level bound for Weston. With a USRA 4-6-2 Paciﬁc on point, the train consists of a Railway Post Ofﬁce, baggage car, and coach.

❼ Interchanges provide a lot of trafﬁc ﬂow on the Paquettin Division. At Heston on the lower level, an 0-6-0 Camelback works the Reading interchange. turnouts to make switching moves. hey must also make sure turnouts are for “On Sheet.” – Ed.] the dispatcher especially given the short travel times returned to the non-diverging (normal) with their train number and the time. between stations. A quick inspection of a position once the work is complete. he he dispatcher then notes this informa- station box lets train crews dispatcher doubles as the tow- tion on the train sheet, which helps him keep track of where the erman, as he controls the issue train orders as needed. scheduled trains are. MORE ON B&O/PRR interlockings at In addition to the “OS,” crews of Currently we run all the THE WEB Port Trenton and Midtown. scheduled trains must register that scheduled trains on time, but Read Mike’s original story about they’ve passed a station by illing out and we plan to introduce some his B&O Paquettin More to come Division from the placing a card in a fascia-mounted box. delays to create more work for June 2013 issue. For example, the card would read some- the dispatcher and keep the Click on the link at By holding regular operat- thing like “Train 100 by Harmond.” extra crews on their toes. ModelRailroader.com ing sessions we’re building up Although diferent than prototype prac- Extra crews double as a cadre of experienced crews. tice, we ind this technique useful, switchmen, as they align I issue a rule book and

48 www.ModelRailroader.com ❽ Appalachian scenery and coal mining are the focus of the layout’s upper level. Trenton, and Heston. Phase one of this Here, a B&O class EL-3a 2-8-8-0 hauls project will be installing fascia-mounted Meet Mike Tricker coal hoppers along the Paquettin River. lights to indicate to crews when they must stop to pick up their orders. timetable, compiled by one of our regu- My operators and I still enjoy the Mike Tricker began modeling lars, Keith Webb, to each operator. attributes of the Paquettin Division’s North American prototypes after he dispatcher works in a corner of original design, including running long spotting an HO the layout room. Eventually, we plan to mainline freight and passenger trains scale B&O E6 in a set up the dispatcher in a remote location and the intense classiication work at hobby shop. A where he can dictate train orders to a Port Trenton Yard. he modiied plan retired chemist station agent via some sort of wireless has now added locals, industrial switch- and research man- system. he station agent will then issue ing, and TTTO operation to the mix. ager, Mike lives the orders to the crews. Adjusting my design requirements to just west of Another future project is installing meet my evolving goals has made my London, England. train order signals at Harmond, Port model railroad better than ever.

July 2018 49 A trough hatch left open on a prototype covered hopper (inset) that author M.R. Snell photographed while railfanning gave him the idea to model an open hatch on a model covered hopper. The unique detail makes the car a focus of attention on his HO scale layout.

This simple detail change makes in shadow. All I could see was a Next I studied how the hatch small, dark opening. hat hadn’t was formed both on the prototype rolling stock look more realistic prevented this car from capturing and on prospective models, with an my imagination. I realized I could eye toward easier modeling. I chose easily replicate it in miniature to a Roundhouse (now Athearn) grain By M.R. Snell • Photos by the author create the same efect, bringing hopper, as it had a lip forming the viewer interest to either a unit train trough on the car roof and a single or a single random car. separate casting for the hatches. ❶ hough most modelers would agree that an While it might have been easier eye-level model railroad provides the most From car to kit to modify a kit car, the modern- realistic viewing angle for our trains, the day prevalence of ready-to-run T truth is our work is most oten viewed To begin my project, I studied (RTR) cars need not stand in the from above. Weathering the roofs of our the photos I’d taken from the way of the determined kitbasher. In rolling stock helps preserve the realism of our min- bridge, then set out to select an most cases, it simply adds a few iature worlds, but what if we could make the over- appropriate covered hopper model. steps to convert an RTR car back head view more interesting, too? I settled on a car with a trough- into a kit by partially or entirely One evening while watching a rail crew shove a style roof, in which a long, narrow disassembling it. string of railcars, my eye was drawn to one particu- opening is covered by multiple I began by removing the single- lar car, a covered hopper with an open hatch. My rectangular hatches, like on my piece hatch from the roof by work- attention focused on this car. Was it empty? What prototype. I decided it would be ing a chisel-bladed hobby knife did the inside look like? What had it been carrying? easier to “open” a hatch on this between the hatch and roof and As it moved closer, I realized none of my ques- kind of car than the kind with rocking it slightly ❷. Once I’d tions would be answered, because the interior was round hatches. snapped of each of the four

50 www.ModelRailroader.com mounting pins from the underside of the hatch casting, it fell away from the roof. Next I inserted the blade between the car sides and the lower hopper casting, breaking the glue bond and giving me what amounted to a three- part kit ❸. Opening the trough

he next step was to establish the location of the four individual hatches within the long, one-piece molding in relation to the trough. his was accomplished by holding the casting alongside the trough and marking the ❶ The author started with this Roundhouse outside-post covered hopper because its trough divides between the hatches hatch resembled the prototype he had photographed. with a ine-tipped marker. hen I chose which hatch I would open and marked this on the trough as well ❹. Now I could cut through the solid roof to form an opening in the trough. Using a hobby knife with a new, sharp blade, I scored along the inside edge of the trough lip repeatedly, each pass cutting a little deeper than the previous one. Soon I’d cut ❷ M.R. used a chisel-bladed utility knife to ❸ After separating the hatch and hopper through the styrene on each carefully pry off the separately molded bottoms from the body shell, the car side of the lip, leaving the lip trough hatch cover. essentially became a three-part kit. itself undamaged ❺. To inish removing this section, I drilled small holes at each end of the section to be removed, then used the hobby knife to “connect the dots” and cut the material let between the holes (❻ on the next page). I could then push the center piece into the car, breaking it away from the carbody ❼. To make the opening look ❹ M.R. marked both the hatch and the ❺ Several light passes of the hobby knife like an intentional feature of trough underneath it to indicate the area he separated the edges of the area to be opened the carbody, I’d have to clean wanted to open. without damaging the sides of the trough.

July 2018 51 it up. I started with a 400-grit nail ile to remove any jagged styrene from the edge, then graduated to 800- and 1,200- grit sanding sticks to smooth the edge and remove any fuzz from earlier iling ❽. Paint

hough my cuts now had smooth edges, I was still faced with a common modeling problem – the thickness ❻ M.R. drilled out the ends of the trough ❼ The hobby knife and drill M.R. used to of the molded shell was area he intended to open, then used a hobby remove a section of the trough floor left a unrealistic. To disguise this, knife to scribe the sides of the opening. rough opening. I’d rely on an old theater trick and disguise both the edge and the interior with black paint. I painted the entire interior of the plastic shell, as well as the weights and the interior of the underframe, with Floquil Engine Black ❾. [Floquil paint has been discontinued by the manufacturer. Testor’s Model Master Engine Black Flat 4888 is an acceptable substi- tute. – Ed.] Next I carefully masked the roof with small slips of ❽ M.R. used a succession of increasingly ❾ Painting the interior of the hopper body paper, slotted to it between finer-grit files and sanding sticks to clean up black would keep viewers from seeing the the running board mounting and square off the opening. brightly colored plastic within. pins and butt up against the outer edge of the trough ❿. Using an angled brush, I painted the inner area of the trough black. hen, using a iner brush, I concen- trated on the cut inner edges of the opening, leaving the upper lip of the trough its original color ⓫. To complete the roof of the car, I painted the running board a steel color, making it both look more realistic and stand out better against the orange of the carbody. Opening the hatch

Having completed the carbody, I now turned to the hatch casting I’d removed earlier. he hatch I chose to ❿ M.R. inserted paper under the running boards to mask the car while he painted them. open was the third out of

52 www.ModelRailroader.com four, so I would need to cut it from the long casting on both ends. Using a chisel-bladed utility knife, I pressed down carefully at the joint between hatches no. 2 and 3 ⓬. I then did the same at the joint between hatches 3 and 4, giving me three separate hatch castings ⓭. Now, it came time to model the hatch itself. Since the prototype has stamped- metal hatches, the corrugations visible on top of the ⓫ M.R. painted the molded plastic running ⓬ M.R. used a chisel-bladed hobby knife to hatch should be visible on the boards silver and painted the trough black to separate the hatch he wanted to open from bottom, as well ⓮. I could disguise the car body’s thickness. the rest of the plastic casting. have scratchbuilt a new hatch, but ater examining the proto type photos and the Roundhouse hatch casting, I realized I could simply lip the casting around, using the top to represent the bottom. I cut the molded-on nubs representing hinges from the edge of the hatch, then built up the sides using strips of .015" x .060" Evergreen sty- ⓭ Another cut separated the hatch casting ⓮ A close-up shot of the prototype shows rene strip. With the sides of into three parts. The middle section is the one that the corrugated metal hatch has ridges on the hatch in place, I could that will be opened. the inside and a gasket around the rim. now add new “hinges,” small blocks of .060" square styrene cemented in place on the side of the hatch ⓯. Having completed the plastic work, all that was let was to paint the new sides and hinges to match the carbody, then paint the interior an epoxy primer color. Once the paint dried, I simulated a rubber gasket by drawing a ⓯ The bottom of the model hatch is smooth, ⓰ After painting and staining the interior of rectangle around all four but M.R. simulated the interior corrugations the hatch, M.R. simulated the gasket by sides with a ine-point perma- by ﬂipping it over and building a styrene rim. marking the rim with a black marker pen. nent marker ⓰. Now the open hatch could The open hatch makes the be permanently aixed next roof of this covered hop- to the open trough, creating a per, usually a neglected unique covered hopper. modeling subject, a real attention-getter. M.R. Snell is a frequent contributor to Model Railroader. He lives in Milford, Ohio.

1 The fascia marred the look Douglas Kirkpatrick was after when he ﬁrst shot this photo of a Norfolk & Western passenger train traversing the steel bridge on his Virginia & Western RR HO scale layout. Instead of resorting to hours of work with photo-editing software, Douglas turned to wood, paint, and ground foam to get the look he wanted. VISUALLY EXTENDING THE LAYOUT

A simple method to improve photos taken at the edge of a model railroad

By Douglas Kirkpatrick • Photos by the author

54 www.ModelRailroader.com EVERY RAILROAD, NO MATTER THE SIZE, always has that special place where we like to take photographs of our trains in action. On my Virginia & Western RR, many of these places just happen to be very close to the edge of the layout. I took several photographs of my heavyweight passenger train with Clamps double-headed steam engines for power crossing the valley on a high, open-deck steel bridge. he photo takes you back to the heyday of passenger service. No matter how I changed the camera’s ield of view, though, the layout fascia was ❶ On your mark. Douglas attached 1 x 2 pine scraps to the fascia with C-clamps always in the photo. and then attached a piece of plywood with ﬂathead screws to the top of the 1 x 2s. One solution is to use a digital photo editing program to “paste” scenery on top of the fascia. But I found it can take considerable time to come up with an acceptable result. I took a diferent approach by building a small, temporary addition on the side of the layout to hide the unwanted fascia in photographs. Temporary shelf fabrication

Ater studying the original photograph, I determined an extension of less than 6 inches would do the trick. I also wanted a design that didn’t damage the fascia, and was quick and easy to make and remove. I found a few pieces of 1 x 2 pine along with a scrap of 1 ⁄4" plywood. I used C-clamps to hold the 1 x 2s to the fascia ❷ Get set. Acrylic craft paints gave the plywood earth tones. and attached the plywood to the 1 x 2s with 3⁄4" lathead screws ❶. I painted the plywood in earth tones using acrylic crat paints ❷. I then sprinkled ground foam on the plywood, but I didn’t use any glue since the scene is temporary. I blended the ground foam into the original scenery ❸. In less than hour, I was ready to retake the photo with my newly extended layout. With this simple technique, you can have a professional photograph of your train without any unwanted benchwork or aisle space spoiling the image.

Douglas Kirkpatrick has been an HO scale modeler since 1965 and a member of the Northern Virginia Model Railroaders for 40 years. His HO scale Virginia & Western layout was featured in the May 2008 MR. He’s retired from NASA and lives ❸ Go! Finally, Douglas sprinkled ground foam on the plywood and blended it into in Falls Church, Va., with his wife, Lorraine. the scenery on the layout. The whole process took less than an hour.

July 2018 55 Modeling the ACLL’S PALMETTO SUB

lorida was especially important to he lagship West Coast Champion con- This room-sized HO the Atlantic Coast Line RR (ACL). nection out of Tampa became more col- scale track plan handles FAt its peak, the state was home to orful, with the combination of foreign- nearly a third of the railroad’s road through cars from the Illinois passenger and freight route miles. Central’s City of Miami and the Rapid expansion projects were under- Pennsylvania RR’s South Wind services. trafﬁc in the late 1950s taken into southwest Florida during the A striking balance between freight and 1920s land boom to provide more desti- passenger operations gives this layout a nations for passenger travel, as well as to mainline feel in a branchline setting. tap the rich agricultural and mineral By Christian Javier resources of the region. One such expan- About the plan Prototype photos by Mike Woodruff sion was the Tampa Southern RR, con- structed between ACL’s Uceta Yard and he layout models the portion of the Sarasota, both on the state’s west coast. Palmetto Subdivision from milepost 38.8 his subsidiary was the predecessor to to 52.2, with the rest of the line north, as what eventually became the Palmetto well as Tampa’s Uceta Yard, represented Subdivision of the ACL. by open staging. From staging, the layout he track plan for this line captures runs from the subdivision’s namesake how it appeared in the late 1950s and town of Palmetto, across the Big early 1960s, when black-and-yellow dis- Manatee River, through Bradenton, and placed purple-and-silver on ACL diesels. inally to the terminus at Sarasota.

56 www.ModelRailroader.com The ACL’s mile-long Big Manatee River bridge and causeway, with its bascule lift section in the middle, is a prominent feature on this HO scale track plan.

Champion connection out of Tampa, and would be made before continuing to the was essentially a direct extension of the line’s terminus in Sarasota. train’s mainline run. In a few southwest Florida locations, Improvements in air travel in the the ACL had enough space to construct a late 1950s diminished through traic to wye large enough to turn entire passen- Sarasota on the West Coast Champion ger consists for the return trip north. and eliminated the need for trains Fort Myers, Naples, and Sarasota all had No. 32/33, the Southland, and No. 75/76, this feature. Because the tail track the Havana Special. Ater 1957, the needed to turn an eight-car passenger Havana Special and its Sarasota con- train must be lengthy, I used it to create nection were discontinued, leading to an optional continuous-run connection. train 91/92 taking over handling he tail of the wye runs through the Midwest through cars from the City of backdrop at the Sarasota scene and Miami and the South Wind behind the scene of Palmetto. on alternate days. he tail track behind his led to some A BALANCE Palmetto is hidden by a low interesting-looking consists. BETWEEN backdrop so any derailments Cars painted for the IC; PRR; FREIGHT AND can be reached by hand. ACL; Richmond, Fredericks- PASSENGER Operationally, it’s impor- burg & Potomac; Chesapeake OPERATIONS tant to note that No. 91/92 Belching smoke, a Seaboard Coast & Ohio; and Union Paciic GIVES THIS discharged its southbound Line Alco diesel leads the local could all be found making LAYOUT A MAIN passengers at the Sarasota freight past the ornate former LINE FEEL IN A their way down the Palmetto BRANCH LINE station irst before turning on Atlantic Coast Line depot in Subdivision. During peak SETTING. the wye and boarding north- Bradenton, Fla. The Big Manatee “snowbird” season, the train – CHRISTIAN bound passengers for the trip River is visible in the background. could reach a respectable JAVIER back to Tampa. length of eight cars, though the average was six cars most Freight service he layout occupies a 13 x 20-foot of the year. space with ample aisles for comfortable Head-end traic on this train was he local freight, No. 465, worked out operating. he shelves the layout is built minimal during the period modeled. A of ACL’s Uceta Yard in Tampa with a on never exceed 2 feet wide for easy single combine was all that was needed single GP7. Typical ACL traic moved access to all tracks and scenery. to handle express, baggage, and local over this line included lumber, agricul- In order to create a continuous run passengers, although the occasional bag- tural products, mineral resources, and connection, as well as to provide plenty gage car was spotted in Sarasota for spe- general merchandise, though there was of linear space for passenger consists to cial express shipments. his would usu- also a minor presence of trailer-on- turn on the wye, a swing-out section is ally be one of ACL’s purple “turtle-back” latcar (TOFC) traic on this line. necessary at the entrance of the layout. combines rebuilt for Vacationer service, Bradenton was advertised as one of 22 his would likely be the trickiest portion or a Pullman Green 32-seat combine Florida locations on the ACL where this to construct due to the curving tracks. that retained its original clerestory roof. type of freight was handled. he rest of the layout, however, consists From staging, No. 91 would head At Palmetto, the local served the of simple lat-top benchwork. south into Palmetto, where only a brief imposingly long ACL freight house. he station stop would be made. he train huge size of this building, which rarely if Passenger operations would then begin its crossing of the ever served more than one or two cars at nearby Big Manatee River on a long a time, is an example of ACL’s “over- I designed this layout with two trains wood-pile trestle with a bascule draw- building” into southwest Florida during in mind: passenger train No. 91/92, and bridge in the central navigation channel. the 1920s boom. class 3 local freight No. 565/564. Train On the south bank of the Big Manatee In Bradenton, the local freight has 91 was the southbound West Coast River lies Bradenton, where the next stop four diferent industries to switch. he

July 2018 57 Swing gate (2 tracks)

HO scale (1:87.1) Seaboard Air Line crossing Layout size: 13 x 20 feet Scale of plan: 1/2" = 1'-0", 12" grid Illustration by Roen Kelly Find more track plans online in the ModelRailroader.com Track Plan Database.

Fertilizer dealer Backdrop

Wye tail behind low backdrop

Seaboard Air Line crossing Limestone receiver

Team tracks

Team track

Bradenton

Trailer ramp

Building materials dealer Palmetto

Tampa Sarasota (staging)

Passenger station Fuel oil dealer Station

Produce warehouse Freight station

Station

Causeway

Trestle

Big Manatee River Causeway Wood pile trestle Bascule lift bridge Wood pile trestle The track plan at a glance

Name: The Palmetto Subdivision Scale: HO (1:87.1) Size: 13 x 20 feet Prototype: Atlantic Coast Line Locale: southwest Florida Era: 1958-1959 Style: walkaround Mainline run: 93 feet Minimum radius: 28" Minimum turnout: no. 6 Maximum grade: none (ﬂat) irst is the TOFC ramp just behind the station. his ramp was commonly used to bring in truckloads of oranges from more distant groves for the Fruit Industries (Tropicana ater 1964) orange juice facility. Atlantic Coast Line was The Atlantic Coast Line’s Palmetto, Fla., passenger station was a utilitarian brick part of the Trailer Train pool, and this structure, attached to a long, single-story freight depot. Walthers’ Water Street access to pooled TOFC equipment meant Freight Terminal kit would be a good starting point for a kitbashed model. it didn’t have to maintain a large leet of TOFC latcars for non-captive service. In Sarasota, I was able to create a pro- he building materials facility would he railroad had only 50 such cars of its totypical track alignment, but was receive boxcars of bagged cement, plus own, which appear to have been modi- unable to ind information on the indus- the occasional covered hopper of the ied from an Association of American tries. he only building I’m certain of in same product for ready-mixing. he fuel Railroads 52'-6" design. In addition to Sarasota is the passenger station. oil dealer would receive Union Tank Car TOFC traic, boxcars of lumber were However, by using 1950s aerial photog- Co. 10,000-gallon tank cars. he spotted on the team track. raphy from the University of Florida’s Sarasota station itself also handled its he second spur to work is the house archives, as well as photographs of roll- share of freight, taking boxcar deliveries track for the Bradenton freight depot. ing stock in the local freight, I was able similar to Bradenton. Even in the early ’60s, less-than-carload to make some educated guesses about Overall, I feel this track plan provides (LCL) freight could still be seen shipping what types of industries were served. a simple balance between passenger on the ACL. A single boxcar, or one of I included a pair of team tracks, a operations and freight switching. While ACL’s O-17 class ventilated “watermelon” building materials dealer, a lime rock it may not suit a modeler who prefers produce cars, could oten be seen here. receiver, a produce warehouse, and a fuel busy main lines, those of us who like to Adjacent to the Bradenton station was oil dealer. he produce warehouse would take things slow can appreciate the a switchback track that has been photo- handle 40-foot Fruit Growers Express, opportunity to capture every detail in graphed receiving boxcars. According to Western Fruit Express, and Burlington the Southwest Florida scenes represented older Sanborn Insurance maps, a fertil- Refrigerator Express reefers shipping out on this layout. izer shed used to occupy this spot. everything from celery to grapefruit. he Whether this was still the identity of the lime rock receiver shipped its products Christian Javier lives in Hernando, industry on this spur in the ’60s is in open hoppers and gondolas, accord- Fla. e state is a frequent subject of his unknown, but it’s not unlikely. ing to prototype photos. track-planning articles.

The Palmetto Subdivision’s Sarasota terminal was a mission-style structure with a long colonnade. Passenger trains terminating here would disembark their passengers and turn on the nearby wye before loading return passengers.

July 2018 59 DCC Corner

Keep locomotives running with a stay-alive SoundTraxx Highball Technologies Homemade CurrentKeeper KeepRolling Stay-alives are wired to your functions. Finding the the positive and negative negative or ground contact is outputs of the bridge rectiier a little trickier. NCE No Halt ❸. When the decoder is First, you must locate the receiving track power, the four diodes that comprise the Digitrax Power bridge rectiier charges capac- bridge rectiier ❸. Usually Xtender itors in the stay-alive. hen, the negative ground will be when power is interrupted, one of the two sides of the power lows back out of the diodes comprising the bridge stay-alive capacitors and pow- rectiier. In ❸ the arrow ers the motor control, light- points to the negative contact ing, and sound circuits. on an older Lenz LE080 decoder. You can test for this On most modern decoders, location on a powered there are sockets where the decoder using a voltmeter by Train stay-alive can be plugged in, placing one probe tip on the Control Systems making installation easy. blue wire and the other probe KA2 However, on decoders that tip on one of the diode con- were manufactured before tacts. If you get it right, the Electronic stay-alives became common meter should read as much as Solutions Ulm PowerPack Maxi (2013), you have to make the 1.5V less than your DCC connection yourself. his track voltage. Train Control Electronic Solutions Systems KA4 Ulm PowerPack Mini means inding the positive Once you ind this contact, and negative contacts on the the blue wire from the stay- ❶ Lots of options. Stay-alive devices come in a variety of bridge rectiier diodes. alive should be soldered to shapes and sizes, but most consist of four to ﬁve capacitors he positive connection is the blue common wire on the rated at 2.5V to 2.7V each, giving a potential total voltage easy; just use the blue wire decoder and the other wire of 10V to 13.5V. that serves as the positive (usually black/white) to the common connection for all negative contact point. he Stay-alive devices have been small electronic device a part of Digital Command designed to help keep your Train Control Male/female connector for Control (DCC) since about locomotive rolling over elec- Systems decoders bare wire installations 2005, when Lenz released the trically dead frogs and dirty irst ones. However, these sections of track. hey have devices didn’t really begin to become more important as get much attention until sound decoders have grown Train Control Systems in popularity, because it kills (TCS) introduced its version the illusion of reality if the in 2013. Since then, most locomotive’s sound keeps cut- manufacturers have released ting out. one or more versions of their In order to understand own device. how a stay-alive works, you “Stay alive” and “keep irst need to understand alive” are commonly inter- something about how a changed terms. Train Control decoder works. Decoders Systems copyrighted its stay- operate on direct-current alive device the “Keep Alive” (DC) power. However, DCC SoundTraxx irst, and everyone else had track power is a form of alter- and similar to come up with diferent nating current (AC). decoders names like CurrentKeeper, A bridge rectiier – usually Power Xtender, No Halt, made up of four diodes in a ❷ Different connections. The new guy in town, Highball PowerPack, and the newest speciic orientation – is Technologies, offers several stay-alives, called KeepRolling, addition, KeepRolling, shown required to convert the AC to rated at 13.5V. They differ in the types of connectors. The in ❶ and ❷. DC. Track power goes in and bare wire device has a male and female connector in the positive and negative DC middle of the wires to allow it to be easily removed for So just what are stay-alives power comes out, powering programming. These are available from Railmaster Hobbies and how do they work? To the mobile and sound circuits (www.railmasterhobbies.com), and Bob the Train Guy begin with, a stay-alive is a of the decoder. (www.bobthetrainguy.com).

60 www.ModelRailroader.com By Larry Puckett Scan the code to access Model Railroader’s weekly News & Products Negative side of bridge rectifier Bridge rectifier diodes updates from your mobile device. National Model Railroad capacitors will only charge to Association (NMRA) has that voltage, assuming the designated blue as the posi- protection circuit allows it. tive wire and black/white as here are exceptions to the negative wire. However, these voltage limits. he these colors may vary on Electronic Solutions Ulm ❸ Crossing the bridge. Four diodes on this Lenz LE080 some devices. (ESU) devices have one or mobile decoder form the bridge rectifier. The negative wire One of the best resources two capacitors, yet still drive from a stay-alive should be connected to the negative output for determining these con- 12V motors with complex cir- of the bridge rectifier and the positive wire to the blue tacts on other decoders is cuitry that boosts the voltage common positive wire or connection point in the decoder. Marcus Amman’s website from the capacitor(s), but that (www.members.optusnet. comes at a price – shorter Resistor com.au/mainnorth/alive. stay-alive run times. Super capacitors 3V, 1 farad 100Ω, 1W htm). He has numerous Folks ask me, why can’t you –++–+–+–+–+– photos of decoders showing use just one or two capacitors? To negative or To positive or blue the positive and negative Ater all, you don’t really need ground on decoder wire/common connection on decoder contacts. Another great 10- to 20-second run times. Zener diode Diode source of detailed technical Well, you need a minimum of 15V, 1W 1N4001 information is Mark Gurries’ 5V to 7V just to power the website (search “Mark motor control, lighting, and ❹ Basic stay-alive. This diagram shows the layout of Gurries” on Google to ind sound circuits on the decoder. components for a basic, stripped-down stay-alive circuit. his Google page). hat means you need at least Using third-party accessories may void the decoder warranty. three of the 2.5V super capac- Now let’s look under the itors if you don’t have ESU’s PowerPack Mini PowerPack wrapper at what’s inside a complex circuitry. Plus, you own stay-alive. However, I do Maxi stay-alive ❹. First, there are want a little extra to give you have a video on my website anywhere from one to six a little run time. (www.dccguy.com). capacitors – most now have With the new 3V super he circuit boards on the four to ive. Each of these capacitors (Mouser 581- ESU PowerPacks ❺ are super-capacitors is rated at SCCR12E105SRB), you could clearly more complex than 2.5V to 3V and 1F (Farad is probably get by with three of the circuit in ❹, which a measure of how much them in the circuit, but that allows them to boost the volt- current it can store). By would require a more com- age from only one or two connecting four to ive of plex protection circuit. he 2.7V capacitors to the Three these in series, the device can downside is they’re a little required level. hese devices wires store and release a total of bigger than the 2.5V to 2.7V also have a circuit that 10V to 15V. super capacitors. bypasses the PowerPack dur- However, the voltage is So what else goes into a ing programming. ❺ PowerPacks. These ESU controlled by the protection stay-alive? First, there’s a Another nice feature is the PowerPacks have regulated circuit in the stay-alive. If it’s resistor – about 100Ω, 1W – ability to determine the run circuits that allow them to set at 13V, that’s all you’ll get that prevents the inrush cur- time using CV113 in the use only one to two out, even if you have a poten- rent from shutting down your LokSound decoder. A default capacitors. Note that they tial maximum of 15V. Also, if booster when irst powered up value of 3 seconds gives more also have three wires instead the decoder’s bridge rectiier ❹. here’s a diode (1N4001) than enough power to get of the usual two. only puts out 12V, then your in parallel with the resistor over most dirty spots and that allows current to bypass dead frogs. Electronic stay-alive can be removed the resistor when it’s supply- Solutions Ulm recommends when programming. You can ing power to the decoder. limiting the run time to pre- also try allowing the capaci- Most circuit diagrams also vent locomotives from coast- tors to charge on a powered include a Zener diode (13.5V ing through stopping blocks. track for a couple minutes to 16V, 1W) that protects the before placing the locomotive capacitors if the input voltage The one downside to stay- on the programming track. exceeds a speciic level. alives is they can interfere I’ve never had problems when POWER FLOWS BACK Most commercial stay- with programming, especially programming on the main. OUT OF THE STAY-ALIVE alives include other compo- on a service-mode program- Stay-alives provide a major CAPACITORS AND nents, but the one I described, ming track. Most manufac- improvement for DCC loco- POWERS THE MOTOR and as shown in ❹, is a basic, turers recommend doing motive performance, but CONTROL, LIGHTING, stripped-down version. most programming before they’re not a wholesale AND SOUND CIRCUITS. I don’t have room in this col- installing the stay-alive. replacement for reliable track- – LARRY umn to show you the step-by- Another option is to use a work, powered frogs, and step process for making your quick connect plug so the clean track.

July 2018 61 Product Reviews

Atlas HO scale AEM-7 electric locomotive The AEM-7 may have been retired by speed during testing resulted in them and down the Northeast Corridor for Amtrak, but Atlas has brought back its being limited to 85 mph in service. nearly 40 years. Amtrak purchased a HO model, with a new Electronic Unsatisied with this performance, total of 54 locomotives in its three Solutions Ulm LokSound Select dual- Amtrak imported engines from France orders. he irst locomotive, no. 900, was mode decoder, for another run. Since and Sweden for testing. he Swedish delivered in November 1979. he last, Model Railroader last reviewed this locomotive impressed the most, and a no. 953, was built in December 1988. model in the March 2000 issue, sound- deal was made to assemble similar loco- Two locomotives were lost in a wreck in equipped locomotives have proliferated. motives under license in the United Maryland in January 1986, and ire Bringing the model back with factory States at the Electro-Motive Division La claimed two more in 2003 and 2011. sound adds a whole new dimension. Grange, Ill., plant using components Train length was limited not by the from ASEA of Sweden. he carbodies locomotives’ pulling power but by their The prototype. Amtrak began ofering were built by the Budd Co. in head-end power (HEP) supply. Amtrak passenger service with a hodgepodge of Philadelphia for the irst two orders, rebuilt 29 AEM-7s with AC traction equipment inherited from participating then Simmering-Graz-Parker in Austria motors starting in 1999. his rebuild also railroads. In the electriied territory, now for a third. doubled HEP capacity. Around this known as the Northeast Corridor, loco- he AEM-7 name comes from com- time, Amtrak installed ditch lights motives were mostly Pennsylvania RR- bining the initials of ASEA, EMD, and on the locomotives as well, and repainted heritage GG1 electrics. hese venerable 7,000 hp. Railfans came up with their the engines in the phase 5 scheme. locomotives were becoming vulnerable own names for the locomotives – “toast- Other owners were the Maryland as years of wear took their toll. ers” for their shape or “meatballs” due to State Railroad Administration (MARC), Amtrak’s irst attempt to replace the their Swedish heritage. with four, and the Southeastern GG1 was the General Electric E60CP hat horsepower propelled the AEM-7 Pennsylvania Transportation Authority and E60CH, but a derailment at high and about 10 Amleet cars at 125 mph up (SEPTA), with seven. hese locomotives also had Austrian carbodies. Pantograph contacts Marker light Ater EMD stopped building AEM-7s, NJ Transit placed an order for the similar ALP-44. hese locomotives have larger grills along the rooline and were built in Sweden by ASEA Brown Boveri. NJ Transit owned 15 ALP-44s, which were retired by 2012. SEPTA also purchased a single ALP-44, which is the last of its type in revenue operation. Number box lightsPower selector Strobe lights Headlight he Amtrak and MARC leets have also been retired. SEPTA plans to retire The Atlas AEM-7 has a die-cast metal frame supporting a center-mounted, its AEM-7s and ALP-44 as replacement ﬂywheel-equipped can motor. A rotary switch selects pantograph or truck power. ACS-64s arrive between March and

62 www.ModelRailroader.com At our website subscribers can MORE read more than 750 previously Conducted by Dana Kawala REVIEWS published reviews and watch more than 150 exclusive & VIDEOS product demo videos.

November 2018. Two Amtrak locomo- On the test track. I wanted to ind out tives have been preserved, one at the how fast this model ran, as the proto- Facts & features Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania in types were built for speed. At speed step Strasburg, Pa., and one at the Illinois 28 on our NCE PowerCab Digital Price: $289.95 (DCC and sound), Railway Museum in Union, Ill. Command Control (DCC) test setup, $179.95 (DC) our sample reached 98 scale mph. his is Manufacturer The model. Atlas’ AEM-7 is little a bit short of the top speed of the proto- Atlas Model Railroad Co. Inc. changed from its 2000 release, and that’s type, but still fast for a model railroad. 378 Florence Ave. a good thing. It was an excellent model In direct-current testing, the model Hillside, NJ 07205 then, and remains so today. Dimensions reached 113 scale mph at about 13V, the www.atlasrr.com match drawings in the June 1993 Model maximum output of our Model Rectiier Era: 1980 to early 2000s, as decorated Railroader within scale inches, including Corp. Tech 4 power pack. Further testing Roadnames: Amtrak phase 3, the 51 scale-inch diameter drivers with in DC revealed a starting voltage of 5.5V as delivered; Amtrak phase 5; NJ Transit. their distinctive bolt-head detail. for sound, 7V for movement at 2 scale Fantasy schemes: Milwaukee Road, Roof details are abundant, including mph. Sounds were automatic, and Pennsylvania RR, and Reading Co. metal pantographs that can be used to the lights, including headlights, marker Also available undecorated collect power from overhead catenary. lights, and rootop strobes, operated Features: here’s a switch on the motherboard depending on direction. • Accumate knuckle couplers, at inside the locomotive to select truck or I could control many of these func- correct height pantograph power. tions independently in DCC. In addition • Die-cast metal chassis As these locomotives had long lives, to the lighting functions, the horn and • Dual ﬂywheels exterior details, especially on the roofs, bell sounds can be triggered, a coupler • Full cab interior with painted changed over time. Depicting the proto- crash on function 3, and HEP fan on F5. crew members type from its delivery until the late his decoder has ESU’s Full hrottle • Gold version equipped with dual-mode 1990s, the Atlas model has rootop package, so I was able to set and release ESU LokSound Select decoder equipment similar to, but not exactly the the independent brake with F10. • Operating headlights and marker lights, same as, the locomotive shown in the he sound package doesn’t make any which are directional MR drawings. It also has the smooth discernible change as the locomotive • Operating pantographs face of a pre-ditchlight locomotive. accelerates or brakes, except for a brake • Weight: 13 ounces In addition to the rootop details, the squeal sound at the end of a quick stop. numerous metal grab irons and hand- I easily changed the decoder address rails are separately applied, as are wind- to match the locomotive’s road number, PERFORMANCE TESTS shield wipers, steps, and placards. he but ESU’s indexed coniguration variables DRAWBAR 2.56 ounces PULL steps to the cab doors are mounted on (CVs) can make more advanced changes 18 passenger cars the trucks to allow for tight model rail- complicated when programming with a SCALE SPEED (DC) VOLTS SCALE MPH road curves, but operators with wider DCC throttle. One way around this is to 7 (start) 2 radius curves could pop these of and download the free LokProgrammer sot- 86 mount them to the body shell. ware from ESU’s website. 932 he Amtrak phase 3 paint scheme Make your intended changes using 10 57 11 83 is well done, with sharp separations the menus on your computer, then print 12 96 between the stripes on the sides and the out the CV values and enter them manu- 13 113 (Max. output) black panels around the windshields and ally with your programming throttle. SCALE SPEED (DCC) up over the roof. he lettering is crisply Electronic Solutions Ulm also sells a SPEED STEP SCALE MPH 12 printed and conforms well to the corru- LokProgrammer interface that allows 725 gations on the model’s sides. you to write your changes directly to the 14 64 he locomotive’s can motor drives all locomotive from your computer through 21 96 wheels on both trucks, and all wheels a connected section of track. DCC 28 98 pick up electrical power. Metal weights Corner columnist Larry Puckett ofers mounted at each end support a printed- more tips for programming ESU decod- up a 1.5 percent grade. However, with circuit (PC) motherboard over the ers in the May 2018 Model Railroader. free-rolling freight cars, the same grade motor. he ESU LokSound Select dual- Our pull force meter indicated 2.56 was no problem with 11 cars, and the mode decoder is plugged into the bottom ounces of drawbar pull, equivalent to 36 engine pulled nine cars up our 3 percent of the motherboard over the rear truck. HO scale freight cars or 18 passenger stress test grade. A sugarcube speaker is mounted in an cars. On our staf layout, the Milwaukee, As a fan of Northeastern railroading, enclosure over the front truck. Racine & Troy, I tested the locomotive it’s good to see these models back in Surface-mount light-emitting diodes with a variety of Amleet models we’ve stores ater almost 20 years. If you’re (LEDs) illuminate the number boxes, collected over the years. Because of the hankering to operate passenger trains rootop strobe lights, headlights and rear inside-bearing design of the trucks on under wire, either real or simulated, marker lights. (AEM-7s were used in these cars, they don’t roll very freely, and these locomotives could be just the push-pull service at times.) the locomotive struggled with six cars ticket. – Eric White, associate editor

July 2018 63 Product Reviews

Rapido Trains HO Budd Rail Diesel Car

The car that revived branchline pas- including the company’s “Shotweld” RPO-baggage car with no passenger senger operations for many railroads technique for welding stainless steel space. Rapido ofers HO scale models of ater World War II stands ready to do without damaging its anti-corrosive the irst three. We tested its RDC-1. the same for HO scale railroads. Rapido properties. he car’s performance Trains has released a highly accurate was also impressive, outpacing the A dashing ﬁgure. Rapido’s model looks model of the Budd Rail Diesel Car, or Pennsylvania RR’s M.U. cars in accelera- sharp, with its factory-applied wire grab RDC, in three body styles. Available tion tests and beating Denver & Rio irons, etched-metal grills, crisp graphics, equipped with an ESU LokSound Grande Western’s California Zephyr on a and smooth simulated stainless- steel in- Digital Command Control (DCC) test run from Denver to Mofat Tunnel. ish. he underbody is likewise impres- decoder, Rapido’s RDC-1, RDC-2, and But the biggest factor in its success sive, with the array of tanks, pipes, reser- RDC-3 boast accurate modeling, may have simply been timing. As auto- voirs, brake lines, and other equipment smooth operation, and a high level mobile sales and highway construction Rapido is known for. of detail. both skyrocketed in the years following he interior is just as impressive, with World War II, passenger demand on the constant lighting and painted seats. he Everything old is new again. Budd’s railroads fell. For many roads, it became twin motors are hidden in enclosures RDCs were an immediate hit, which too expensive to run a diesel locomotive between the rows of seats, below window seemed to bale rail watchers of the day. with only one or two passenger cars in level, ofering an unobstructed view. In the few years ater the irst RDCs hit tow. A single Budd RDC-1, on the other he models bear truck sideframes, the rails, Trains magazine (then called hand, could carry 90 passengers and cost Gyralights, and other details speciic to Trains & Travel) ran four articles on about 50 percent less to operate than a their prototypes. But to ensure modelers them, all asking some variation of the locomotive-hauled passenger train. can accurately reproduce every variant question, “Just what are these things?” Between 1949 and 1962, Budd built of the prototype at any point during its Ater all, as one of the articles 398 Rail Diesel Cars, some of which are life, Rapido’s RDC includes a sheet of observed, self-propelled gas-electric cars in revenue operation today. Railroads decals and a packet of optional, user- – then called “doodlebugs” – had been employed them on branch lines and applied details, including a pilot, a pilot tried and discarded years earlier as other little- traveled routes, and in urban cover, window grills, alternate roof grills, impractical and underpowered. Yet, here commuter service. he cars came in four exhaust stacks, antennas, horns, dia- was this audacious (and fairly new) car conigurations: the all-passenger RDC-1; phragms, and a Gyralite housing. builder, trying to bring the concept back, the RDC-2, with a baggage compart- Model Railroader published drawings and improbably succeeding. ment and seats for 70; the RDC-3, with of the RDCs in its September 1953 issue. he reason for Budd’s success was in 48 seats, a baggage compartment, and a Rapido’s model matched every dimen- part due to its technological innovation, Railway Post Oice; and the RDC-4, an sion I measured and checked against that drawing. he model RDC-1 also Number board lights DCC decoder socket Lighting board matched prototype photos in appearance and placement of details.

Test run. he prototype RDC wasn’t designed to pull unpowered cars; its couplers were intended solely to link up with other RDCs. Such is the case with Ditch lights Motor enclosures Painted seats Rapido’s version. he manual says that the motors and drivetrain were designed The twin motors and drivetrains are concealed in enclosures between the seats, to to be small enough to not be visible give an unobstructed view through the windows. A socket accepts a DCC decoder. through the car’s windows, not for

64 www.ModelRailroader.com Go PERFORMANCE TESTS DRAWBAR 2.7 ounces Facts & features PULL not applicable, see main text Digital! SCALE SPEED (DC) VOLTS SCALE MPH Price: $225 (direct current, no sound), 3 (start) .6 $325 (Digital Command Control sound) 628Manufacturer Read Model 967Rapido Trains 12 100 500 Alden Road, Unit 21 Railroader on Markham, ON L3R 5H5 power, and that towing another car will rapidotrains.com your favorite void the warranty. Nonetheless, we used Era: 1949 to present our workbench force meter to test the Road names: (see website for RDC-1, -2, device! model’s pulling power, and it mustered -3 versions) Canadian National; Alaska RR; enough to theoretically pull 19 HO scale Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe; Baltimore & passenger cars on straight and level Ohio; Boston & Maine (Minuteman or • Live links. track. Just don’t do so, OK? McGinnis schemes); BC Rail (blue band); hough the RDCs are ofered with an Chesapeake & Ohio; Chicago & North • Zoom in & magnify. ESU LokSound Select sound decoder, Western; Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific; our sample RDC-1 is direct-current only. Great Northern; Lehigh Valley; Long Island • Bookmark pages. I tested it on our workbench using an Rail Road; New York, New Haven & • Search & print MRC Tech 4 power pack. Hartford (script herald or McGinnis he car started moving at 3V, rolling scheme); New York Central (early scheme); pages. at a stately .6 scale mph. (he lights were Northern Pacific; Reading Co.; VIA Rail fairly dim at that voltage.) hough the (original blue-and-yellow stripes and with • Save storage space. RDC was famed for its quick accelera- Rapido decals); and Western Pacific tion and braking speeds, and would (Zephyr ette). Also available painted silver never be caught switching a freight yard, but unlettered. it’s good to know the slow-speed capabil- Features GET ity is there if you want it. At 12V, the • 33" blackened metal wheels, in gauge RDC reached a top speed of 100 scale • All-wheel drive and electrical pickup DIGITAL mph, a bit higher than the 87 mph top • Detailed and lighted interior TODAY! speed of the prototype. he interior and • Dual five-pole, skew-wound motors exterior lights shone brightly at that volt- • Etched-metal roof grills and fan covers age. he headlights and red marker • Kadee metal knuckle couplers (A end lights on each end were directional. mounted .01" too low) Rapido’s manual says that working ditch • Illuminated number boxes lights are installed, but hidden inside the • Minimum radius: 18" shell, for the user to mount if his proto- • Optional user-applied details and decals type of choice had them. • Prototype-specific details Since Rapido’s documentation says • Separately applied grab irons, door the RDC can handle a minimum curve chains, windshield wipers, horns, and radius of 18", I decided to run the model underbody details through the 18" curves and no. 4 turn- • Simulated stainless-steel finish outs of our Virginian Ry. project layout. • Weight: 10.8 ounces hough it handled the curves and turn- • Working nose door Gyralite, where outs adequately, the car’s length and appropriate overhang caused problems on the layout’s close-quarters tunnels and with trackside details like ground throws and branch lines, with compressed main signs along curves. If you’re planning on lines and station platforms, Rapido’s running this car on tight curves, give it RDCs likewise ill a vital niche. wide clearance. It would look better on Trains & Travel justiied its broad curves, anyway. unabashed RDC boosterism thusly: “We believe [Budd’s Rail Diesel Car] is one of The avenue to better railroading. the brightest, most practical avenues to P30485 When Budd’s Rail Diesel Cars came out, better railroading. ... It is an instance in they were just what the railroads needed which we feel objectivity and enthusiasm Visit to make branchline passenger and com- are not incompatible.” I feel the same ModelRailroader.com/ muter routes proitable again. Since so about Rapido’s version. – Steven Otte, many hobbyists model transition-era associate editor DigitalEditions

July 2018 65 Product Reviews

Horn Auxilary button Menu buttons Special sneak preview:

Screen Iowa Scaled Engineering Brake ProtoThrottle Throttle Facts & features Reverser Price: $482 (throttle), $99 (receiver) Manufacturer NCE cab bus Iowa Scaled Engineering 22750 County Road 37 Elbert, CO 80106 www.iascaled.com Features • Wireless operation • Works with any DCC decoder • Requires two AA batteries (alkaline or rechargeable NiMH) Lanyard hole Lenz XpressNet Recently I tested a pre-production position, and a brake handle with With the decoder programmed, sample of the Iowa Scaled Engineering optional emergency brake functionality. I assigned functions to the throttle con- Protohrottle. his wireless Digital here’s also a spring-loaded horn handle trols using the Conigure Functions Command Control cab is designed to and a bell on/of button. Two knobs con- menu. he controls can be ine-tuned, mimic a diesel-electric locomotive control the front and rear lighting functions, including the throttle and braking trol stand in looks and operation. In including ditch lights and dimmers. response. hen I saved the locomotive both cases, the Protohrottle delivers. Pressing any key turns the unit on. if information in the Load Coniguration let undisturbed, the throttle goes to menu, which acts like a recall stack in a The receiver. he Protohrottle isn’t a “sleep” ater a time duration that can be conventional DCC throttle. For more standalone DCC system and doesn’t pro- set by the user. information, download a free copy of the gram decoders. he unit also requires a An easy-to-read backlit liquid-crystal user manual at www.iascaled.com. receiver (sold separately) to operate. display (LCD) screen shows the locomo- I used the Protohrottle to run HO One receiver is designed for DCC sys- tive number, battery indicator, and and N scale diesels equipped with non- tems that use WiFi control. hese whether the reverser or emergency brake sound and sound decoders, including include a Digitrax system connected to is engaged. It can also show the fast- products from NCE, Model Rectiier an LNWI LocoNet WiFi module, an clock time when linked to an ISE wire- Corp., ESU, SoundTraxx, and Train ESU CabControl system, or DCC sys- less fast clock or NCE cab bus. Control Systems. For the Tsunami2 tems that use Java Model Railroad he four buttons around the screen decoder, I programmed the auxiliary Interface (JMRI)-based WiFi control. are used to maneuver through easy-to- button to toggle between independent he other version has interfaces for an use coniguration menus. hese buttons, and train brakes. For the LokSound NCE cab bus and a Lenz or Digikeijs as well as an auxiliary button in the decoder, I used this button for the (www.digikeijs.com) DR5000 through upper let corner, can also be pro- drive/hod feature. an XpressNet bus. his is the receiver grammed to trigger decoder functions. I ran various trains on the MR staf that I used with an NCE system. layout, the Milwaukee, Racine & Troy, Ater setting the board’s DIP switches Operation. To work with the including switch jobs and trains led by according to an instruction sheet, I con- Protohrottle, a locomotive decoder multiple-unit diesels. here’s a learning nected the board to an open cab bus plug should be programmed for prototypical curve, as operations must be done in a port with a short RJ12 cable. operation, including a lot of acceleration speciic sequence, just like with a real and deceleration momentum and man- diesel. For example, the throttle wouldn’t Controls. he Protohrottle measures ual, non-directional headlight control respond until I’d set the reverser. 3" x 3.2" x 7.6" and weighs 14 ounces. A with a separate dimmer function. he Protohrottle represents an excit- strap on the back of the case kept the he Protohrottle brake lever can be ing new direction in train control. hety throttle in my hand. here’s also a set for on/off or variable control. For I found the experience more akin to a lanyard hole on the front of the case. the latter to work, the decoder must sup- locomotive simulator than simply run- he controls include an 8-detent port function-controlled braking and be ning model trains on a layout. – Dana throttle, a reverser handle with center programmed accordingly. Kawala, senior editor 66 www.ModelRailroader.com Model Railroader Video Plus subscribers can see a demo at www.MRVideoPlus.com. QUICKLOOK Bachmann HO scale bay window caboose

Price: $59 NKP between 1952 and 1962 by Manufacturer International and the road’s own shops. The model has some molded under- Bachmann Trains Most of the model’s major dimen- body detail. The air reservoir, brake cyl- 1400 E. Erie Ave. sions are within inches of a drawing inder, and brake rigging are separately Philadelphia, PA 19124 published in Cabooses of the Nickel applied plastic parts. www.bachmanntrains.com Plate Road (Nickel Plate Road Historical The model rides on well-detailed Era: 1952 to 1964 (as decorated) & Technical Society, 1992). However, the Bettendorf caboose trucks with correct trucks are spaced a foot farther apart 5'-6" axle spacing. The chemically black- Comments: For those who want to add than shown on the drawing and the ened metal wheels are in gauge. The variety to their caboose fleets, these window arrangement is different. This trucks swivel freely, and the model eas- HO scale bay-window cabooses from also caused the top stripe to be nar- ily negotiated 18" radius curves. Bachmann Trains are worth a look. The rower than the prototype. The Bachmann caboose weighs 3.2 plastic models are built with new and The paint coverage is smooth with ounces, which is .3 ounce lighter than existing tooling. sharp color separation. Bachmann did a National Model Railroad Association Although I couldn’t find an exact good job reproducing the different let- Recommended Practice 20.1. The plastic prototype for the model, it resembles a tering fonts. E-Z Mate Mark II knuckle couplers are design built by the International Car Co. The Bachmann caboose’s plastic mounted at the correct height. and several railroads. Window arrange- body features well-defined weld seams, In addition to NKP, the caboose is ments and other details varied from roof corrugations, and other modeled available decorated for Baltimore & road to road. detail. Separate plastic parts include the Ohio, Erie, and Union Pacific. A New Our review sample is decorated as ends, side handrails, and smokejack. A York Central version features a small Nickel Plate Road no. 425, one of 100 rooftop bathroom vent is included as a window bay to better match that pro- steel bay-window cabooses built for user-installed part. totype. – Dana Kawala Make a Scene Do Something Everyone Will Remember If you want to make a scene, it better be memorable. That’s why you can rely on our books to help you build stunning and realistic model railroad scenery. Check out the titles below and get started today!

More than 240 MODEL RAILROADER’S HOW-TO GUIDE SCENERY SERIES illustrations & HOW TO BUILD REALISTIC photos! PAINTING EASY MODEL RAILROAD Model Railroad PLANNING SCENERY SCENERY SCENERY for Your Model Railroad BACKDROPS PROJECTS How to use nature for modeling realism FOR YOUR MODEL RAILROAD 3RD EDITION Tony Koester

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July 2018 67 Product Reviews

QUICKLOOK Eastern Seaboard Models N scale boxcar

Price: $42.95 includes the center sills, crossbearers, The 33" metal wheelsets are cor- Manufacturer and simulated cushioned underframe. rectly gauged. The Micro-Trains Line Co. Eastern Seaboard Models Corp. Despatch Shops was a subsidiary of no. 1015 body-mounted couplers are at P.O. Box 301 New York Central (NYC) and later Penn the correct height. At 1.1 ounces, the Waldwick, NJ 07463-0301 Central (PC). It produced the class X65 model is at the proper weight per www.esmc.com boxcar from 1966 to 1969 for the NYC, National Model Railroad Association Road names: New York Central, Lehigh Valley (LV), and Pittsburgh & Recommended Practice 20.1. Pittsburgh & Lake Erie (original and Lake Erie. Boxcars from the NYC, PC, I tested the model on our Red Oak modern schemes, one number each), and LV wound up on Conrail when it project layout. The model performed and Lehigh Valley. Two numbers per was formed in 1976. Examples of X65 ﬂawlessly while being pushed and scheme unless noted. boxcars survived into the 2000s on CSX pulled through Peco no. 6 medium Era: 1966 to 2000s and Norfolk Southern, the two roads turnouts and around the 13" radius that divided Conrail’s assets in 1999. curves. The manufacturer doesn’t rec- Comments: Eastern Seaboard Models Our sample is decorated as NYC ommend operating the boxcar on has released an N scale New York no. 78722, part of the railroad’s 78700 curves under 10". Central class X65 50-foot insulated box- through 78749 series. The full-size Eastern Seaboard Models Corp. has car based on a prototype built by 4,620-cubic-foot-capacity boxcar was done a great job re-creating the Despatch Shops Inc. The plastic model built under lot 976-B in 1966. Despatch Shops X65 boxcar in N scale. features a one-piece body with a sepa- The model’s dimensions closely fol- The model has a good mix of molded rately applied brake wheel and etched- low a prototype drawing I found and separately applied details, allowing metal crossover platforms. The under- in the New York Central Freight it to stand up to normal handling body is also plastic with molded crosstie Car Roster section of the website on a model railroad. – Cody Grivno, detail and a one-piece casting that www.canadasouthern.com. associate editor

ALL- BRING NEW YOUR LAYOUT WIRING & ELECTRONICS TO LIFE WIRING Written by Model Railroader’s DCC Corner columnist, Larry Puckett, this PROJECTS all-new book focuses on wiring various accessories and devices on your FOR YOUR MODEL RAILROAD model railroad as opposed to wiring related to train control. Sixteen projects are featured, including: • Lighting structure interiors, signs, and scenes. • Installing working crossing gates and ﬂ ashers. • Adding interlocking signals and wiring. • Controlling turntables and building control panels. • And much more. Whether you’re a beginner or experienced modeler, Wiring Projects for Your Model Railroad will be your new go-to resource for wiring your layout.

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68 www.ModelRailroader.com On Operation By Jerry Dziedzic

An elephant in the room A recent question on the complicated pulp and paper Operations Special Interest mill trackage that sees many Group (OPSIG) mailing list inbound materials like chem- sparked a lively exchange icals, clay, and pulpwood. about waybills vs. switch lists. It also needs empties his reminded me of the fable to ship inished about describing an elephant paper products. by touch. One person Today, you’re described a tusk, another an the crew of e ear, and yet another the tail. Flying Dutch- Each described their part man. Inspecting accurately, but they did not the train and its describe the whole. When paperwork shows three and how to use waybills and cars for Mad River and 12 switch lists seems to be our for Port Hudson Paper. Mad own elephant in the room. River’s work looks easy he most critical informa- enough. Do you feel comfort- tion model railroaders need able switching Port Hudson at an operating session on the same trip? includes a car’s reporting Knowing your cars’ con- Car cards and multi-position waybills are a convenient way to marks and number, its desti- tents helps. he Port Hudson keep track of car destinations, but handling a large pile of nation, and its receiver’s cars include ive pulpwood them can be less than convenient. Jerry Dziedzic photo name. he paperwork with lats. here are also three this information could take tank cars – two of kaolin boxcar error above, prototype for store room. A switch list the form of a stack of way- (clay slurry) and one of liquid railroads developed forms doesn’t need to show the cars’ bills, a computer printout, or chlorine – and four empty that carried additional infor- contents, since the spot is a handwritten switch list. boxcars for loading at the mation for the train crew. already determined. Many modelers represent warehouse. he contents Oten, an agent prepared a Pickups are easy to man- prototype waybills with car determine where to spot the “drill slip” with detailed age because their destination cards and four-cycle waybills, cars: pulpwood to the wood instructions. Some railroads is the train itself. Grabbing a versatile way to deliver all yard, clay at the paper mill, used “work messages” sent by outbound waybills from the this information. Others chlorine at the pulp mill, and a dispatcher. I enjoy sprin- bill box is all it takes. Some- choose database methods. It’s empties to the warehouse. kling my own operating ses- times a drill slip details spe- time- consuming to set up Pulpwood can load in sions with variations of each. cial handling. A switch list such a database, but they sim- boxcars, too. So can machin- e Flying Dutchman’s can also note where cars that plify switch-list generation ery and other operating sup- train has 15 cars, making its stay must be re-spotted if aterward. Hand written lists plies, destined to the store- bundle of waybills an they are moved. also work. However, the more room. If the crew ignores the unwieldy 1" thick. Rather Oten, there’s time to kill lists an operating session contents, a boxcar of pulp- than keeping track of such a before a train can leave the needs, the more wood might end istful, I make a switch list yard. Fast clock or not, a crew exhausting it can up at the ware- when I’m working a car-card- needs real time to plan its be to make them. house. hey’ll and-waybill layout. Single- moves. It takes only a few soon hear from a sheet printouts or handwrit- minutes more to summarize The North River trainmaster, look- ten lists are easier to handle. the plan by writing a switch & Hudson’s ing to unload the Draw a few columns for list. I like this better than Dutchess Local tongue-lashing an each town on a piece of paper shuling car cards over and makes a good angry mill man- and ill them with reporting over, though I know some example. e IT TAKES ONLY ager just delivered marks, car number, and car who need only a single pass Flying Dutchman, A FEW MINUTES to them. spot. I use short abbrevia- through the deck to keep all as it’s known, is a TO WRITE A tions for the roadnames (like the moves in their heads. busy job that SWITCH LIST. I A waybill shows “AT” for Atchison, Topeka & Many professional rail- switches Mad LIKE THIS a car’s destination Santa Fe, “E” for Erie, and roaders contribute to the River and Port BETTER THAN and receiver, but “P” for Pennsylvania RR), OPSIG list, making it a good Hudson. Mad SHUFFLING CAR usually doesn’t and add only the last three source of prototype informa- River has only a CARDS OVER indicate the exact numerals of the car’s number. tion like that discussed here. feed mill and team AND OVER. place to spot the One or two more abbreviated Explore the mailing list; you – JERRY track. Port car. To avoid situ- words show a spot: “Whse” might discover other ele- Hudson has ations like the for warehouse, and “Sto Rm” phants in the room.

July 2018 69 Trackside Photos

Pennsylvania RR class I1 no. 4471 switches the Atlas Coal tipple at Atlasburg, Pa. The action takes place on Curt LaRue’s HO scale Burgetts Branch, PRR Panhandle Division layout. The Decapod is a Broadway Limited Imports model; the coal tipple was kitbashed from a Walthers kit. Lou Sassi shot the photo. MORE ON THE WEB Lou Sassi’s photo of Curt LaRue’s HO layout is this month’s wallpaper. Get it free at ModelRailroader.com In late summer of 1935, a Delaware & Hudson 2-8-0 Consolidation drifts into Rutland, Vt., with a coal delivery for Burditt Bros. Distributors. Greg Wiggins Send us your photos of Plymouth Meeting, Pa., shot the photo on his HO scale Rutland layout. The locomotive and caboose are both Trackside Photos is a showcase for the work of Model Railroader 3-D printed models from Accurate readers. Send photos (digital images 5 mega pixels or larger) to: Custom Finishing. Model Railroader, Trackside Photos, P.O. Box 1612, Waukesha, WI 53187-1612; or upload them to http://ﬁleupload.kalmbach.com/ Submission/contribute. For a copy of our photo submission guide- lines, contact associate editor Steven Otte at [email protected].

72 www.ModelRailroader.com It’s high noon in summer 1992, and while a truck waits at the crossing for an approaching freight, the D Train rumbles by overhead on its way to Coney Island. David Gale of Matthews, N.C., built and photographed the scene on his O scale layout. The hardware store is from Woodland Scenics. Some of the other structures were scratch built by David’s friend, Harry Heike.

A pair of rail cars bake in the summer heat as they wait to be picked up from the A&P warehouse siding in Henway. Vince Pugliese of Toronto photographed the scene on the HO scale layout built by the Scarborough Model Railroaders Club in Toronto. The structure was scratchbuilt in the 1970s from balsa with styrene window castings.

July 2018 73 NEW BOOK BY PRODUCE TRAFFIC & TRAINS JEFF WILSON A Fresh Approach

GUIDE TO INDUSTRIES SERIES PRODUCE TRAFFIC & TRAINS to Freight

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Jeff Wilson

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P32261 Sales tax where applicable. Modeler’s Marketplace The modeler’s resource for unique and hard to ﬁnd products. 75

2018 July July The modeler’s resource for unique and hard to find products. Modeler’s Marketplace 76 76 www.ModelRailroader.com WA, BREMERTON: Bremerton Northern Model Railroad N SCALE WHEELED TABLE LAYOUT: 36”x 8’4” with Club Annual All Scale Swap Meet. West Side Improvement 2 controllers, switch panels. Waiting for landscaper! 40 piece Classified Advertising Club, 4109 West “E” Street. June 16, 2018, 9:00am-3:00pm. rolling stock and 8 engines. Contact: Edward, 417-733-7009 General $5.00, children under 12 free. POC: Bill Hupe, 360- and leave message. Schedule of Events Rate: $35 per issue (45 word maximum). Ads 621-5041, [email protected] TREES! Unique Evergreen Trees and Kits. Realistic will contain the following information about the event: state, city, WI, LA CROSSE: sponsoring organization and name of event, meet, auction or show, Rail Fair, Copeland Park, Rose & Clinton and Fun. Save Time & Money. Handcrafted in Oregon. dates, location, times, admission fee, name and/or telephone number Streets. July 28, 2018, 10:00am-4:00pm. Admission $5.00, www.coastmans.com Mr. Rasmussen 360-820-3553. and/or email of person to contact for information. Name, daytime under 12 free. Railroad Show, Sale & Exhibition. Model Toy telephone number and street address of the person providing the & Antique Trains & Memorabilia, Railroad Exhibits & Displays. information is also required but need not be included in the ad. Information: 4000 Foundation, PO Box 3411, La Crosse, WI Wanted - Miscellaneous Unless otherwise requested, ads will be published in the issue month 54602, 608-781-9383 that the event occurs in. Additional months are available at the $35 ALL SLOT CARS WANTED. Any kind, any condi- per issue fee. Please specify issue date(s). WI, WAUPACA: WAMR 28th Strawberry Fest Model tion. Top dollar paid. PAUL at 586-752-3675. E-mail: Word Ad Rates; per issue: 1 insertion — $2.03 per word, Railroad Show & Model Contest. Waupaca Recreation [email protected] 6 insertions — $1.89 per word, 12 insertions — $1.77 per word. Center, School/State/Badger Sts. June 16-17, 2018, Saturday $30.00 MINIMUM per ad. To receive the discount you must order and 10:00am-5:00pm and Sunday 10:00am-3:00pm. FREE. Many ALL TRAIN COLLECTORS & MODELERS- We prepay for all ads at one time. Count all initials, single numbers, layouts/vendors/swap tables. Roger Hildebrandt, 7693 need more trains to supply our ever expanding group of groups of numbers (i.e. 4-6-0 or K-27), names, address number, Evergreen Dr. East, Waupaca, WI 54981, 715-258-8218 or interested buyers. We buy HO & N Scale Trains - Brass, street number, street name, city, state, zip, phone numbers each as check club website: www.wamrltd.com Marklin, Rivarossi, Atlas, Kato, MicroTrains, etc. as well as one word. Example: John A. Jones, 2102 South Post St., Waukesha, better trains in all scales. We also purchase store inven- WI 53187 would count as 10 words. tories. We also can auction your trains with rates starting For MR’s private records, please furnish: a telephone number and, Model Classifieds as low as 15%. We travel extensively all over the US and when using a P.O. Box in your ad, a street address. Canada. Send us your list today or for more information Railroader reserves the right to refuse listing. see www.trainz.com/sell Trainz, 2740 Faith Industrial Dr., All Copy: Set in standard 6 point type. First several words only set in For Sale-N Scale Buford, GA 30518. 866-285-5840, [email protected] Fax: bold face. If possible, ads should be sent typewritten and categorized 866-935-9504 to ensure accuracy. N-SCALE MICRO TRAINS: Large collection for Send your submissions to: Model Railroader — Classifieds sale. One price takes all. Warren Kragt, 509-659-0703 or MODEL AUTOMOBILE AND TRUCK KITS 21027 Crossroads Circle, P.O. Box 1612 Waukesha, WI 53187-1612 [email protected] WANTED- unbuilt or built, any size collection. Fred Sterns, Toll-free (888) 558-1544 Ext. 815 Fax: 1-262-796-0126 48 Standish, Buffalo, NY 14216. 716-838-6797. email: E-mail: [email protected] All ads must be prepaid Wanted-N Scale [email protected] and pertain to the subject of model railroading. #1 ESTATE BUYER OF N SCALE COLLECTIONS! CLOSING DATES: Jan 2018 closes Oct. 20, Feb. closes Nov. 13, We buy all makes and types - including Brass & European! Custom Painting & Building March closes Dec. 19, April closes Jan. 22, May closes Feb. 19, June Even Nn3! Call us TOLL FREE: 1-866-462-7277. Don CUSTOM BUILDING & PAINTING, kit building, kit- closes Mar. 19, July closes Apr. 23, Aug. closes May 18, Sept. closes Black 119 Bernhurst Road, New Bern, NC 28560. bashing & scratchbuilding. Locomotives, rolling stock, struc- June 22, Oct. closes July 23, Nov. closes Aug. 17, Dec. closes Sept. 24. E-mail: [email protected] tures & more. 12 Penny Lane, Newark, DE 19702, 302-229- A FAMILY-OWNED COMPANY, Irek’s Toys and Trains, 6010, www.tmbcustommodels.com Schedule of Events purchases trains of all types from brass to plastic. We CUSTOM LAYOUT BUILDING & LAYOUT DESIGN. also offer a competitive consignment option. No collec- Specializing in fine scale and prototype based projects. The tion too small or large. Estate specialists. A leader in Shelf Layouts Company, Inc. www.shelflayouts.com 301- AZ, PRESCOTT AREA: Beat the Heat Model Trains Swap model train sales. Fast, Easy, Professional and Friendly 404-8164 Meet. Liberty Traditional School, 3300 N. Lake Valley Rd., service guaranteed. Willing to travel. Call, write, fax or Prescott Valley. Saturday, August 18, 2018, 9:00am-1:00pm. e-mail. Ask for Chris, 972-675-8697. Fax: 972-767-4785. KIT ASSEMBLY: Scratch building. [email protected] Adults $5.00, children 12 and under free. Presented by: The E-mail: [email protected] or write to 120 East FM 544, Central Arizona Model Railroad Club. Contact: Dick Gage, Suite 72 #328, Murphy, TX 75094. 802-272-1352 Business Opportunities BUYING N scale train collections, large or small. Call Tom CA, SAN CARLOS: European Train Enthusiasts 630-443-9137. GROWING MODEL RAILROAD BUILDING (http://www.ete.org) EUROWEST at Hiller Aviation Museum, San Carlos Airport, 601 Skyway Road, Zip: CANADIAN TRAIN COLLECTIONS AND ESTATES: COMPANY: Seeks Full Time modeler willing to relocate to 94070. July 21-22, 2018, Saturday 10:00am-5:00pm and Buying entire collections anywhere in Canada or the USA. TN and part time modeler willing to travel anywhere in US 3-4 Sunday 10:00am-4:00pm. Layouts, clinics, vendors, raffle. Brass, plastic, engines, cars, buildings, memorabilia - every- times per year up to 15 days per trip. Also looking for manag- Admission (http://www.hiller.org) includes Air Museum, free thing! Call Don 403-585-2772. E-mail: [email protected] ing partner willing to relocate to TN, 30k minimum investment parking. Contact Dave Cowl: [email protected] required. Email: [email protected] CA, SAN DIEGO: 2018 NMRA/PSR Convention hosted Wanted-HO Scale by San Diego Division, at PSR at the Marriott Courtyard, 575 Hotel Circle South. Convention dates: September #1 A+ ESTATE BUYER OF ALL TRAIN ESTATES- 12th thru September 16th, 2018, from 8:00am-10:00pm. Brass Pieces & Collections wants your material. Including Includes clinics, layouts, tours, prototype tours, actions, all types of Brass, old trains, kits, plastic, diecast, buildings, swap-meet and banquet. Information: sandiegodivision.org or etc.- we buy it all. Buildings and estates included. We seek email: [email protected] better items for personal collections. Call us before you sell CO, DENVER: for our offer as we pay the highest prices. Call Don Black toll Rocky Mountain Train Show July 28-29, free 1-866-462-7277. Don Black, 119 Bernhurst Road, New 2018. Forney Museum of Transportation, 4303 Brighton Bern, NC 28560. E-mail [email protected] Blvd. Denver. Saturday, 10:00am-5:00pm, Sunday 10:00am- 3:00pm. 80 sales tables, 30 vendors, operating layouts, $1,000,000 CASH AVAILABLE- For your collection! trains of all scales. Other shows: Loveland Nov. 24-25, 2018, Brass, Plastic, Memorabilia, we buy it all. Call us 352-292- Denver Mar. 2-3, 2019. www.RockyMountainTrainShow.com, 4116 or mail your list to: BRASSTRAINS.COM, 10515 SE Email: [email protected] 115th Ave., Ocala, FL 34472. E-mail: [email protected] FL, DELAND: 67th FLORIDA RAIL FAIR. Volusia County A FAMILY-OWNED COMPANY, Irek’s Toys and Trains, Fairgrounds (Tommy Lawrence Arena), 3150 E. New York purchases trains of all types from brass to plastic. We Ave. (SR44 and I-4). Saturday, July 14, 2018. 9:00am- also offer a competitive consignment option. No collec- 4:00pm. Adults: $7.00 under 12 free. Operating layouts. tion too small or large. Estate specialists. A leader in Miller, 3106 N. Rochester St., Arlington, VA 22213. 703-536- 2954. E-mail: [email protected] model train sales. Fast, Easy, Professional and Friendly service guaranteed. Willing to travel. Call, write, fax or FL, TALLAHASSEE: 27th Annual Big Bend Model Railroad e-mail. Ask for Chris, 972-675-8697. Fax: 972-767-4785. Association’s Show & Sale. North Florida Fairgrounds, 441 E-mail: [email protected] or write to 120 East FM 544, Paul Russell, Buildings 2 (Thomas) & 4. Saturday, June 23, Suite 72 #328, Murphy, TX 75094. 2018, 9:00am-4:00pm; Admission $6.00, children 12 & under & scouts in uniform free. Information: Andy Zimmerman, 850- BRASS PASSENGER CARS; Craftsman’s kits; LIRR 524-4399, E-mail: [email protected] brass and plastic. Challenger Broadway Limited; Coach Yard PRR. Please call Bob 212-874-6569 or e-mail IL, GALESBURG: Galesburg Railroad Train Show. [email protected] Returning to new location: Galesburg High School Fieldhouse, 1242 W. Dayton St. June 23-24, 2018, Saturday BUYING HO train collections, large or small. Also brass. 9:00am-4:00pm and Sunday 10:00am-3:00pm. Admission Call Tom 630-443-9137. $5.00, under 12 free. Free parking and shuttle bus to depot museum area. Food & drinks available. Info: 309-221-3909 CANADIAN TRAIN COLLECTIONS AND ESTATES: E-mail: [email protected] Buying entire collections anywhere in Canada or the USA. Brass, plastic, engines, cars, buildings, memorabilia - every- Shop for books, DVDs, IL, ST. CHARLES: 42nd Annual Kane County Railroadiana thing! Call Don 403-585-2772. E-mail: [email protected] and Model Train Show. Kane County Fairgrounds, 525 South Randall Rd. Sunday, June 10, 2018, 10:00am-3:00pm. downloads, gear and Admission: $6.00 w/tax. Tables $60.00. For information: Wanted-O Tinplate 847-358-1185, [email protected] or www.RRShows.com BUYING O and Standard gauge collections. Lionel, Flyer other products related MN, TWIN CITIES: 38th-National Narrow Gauge and all others. Call Tom 630-443-9137 Convention, DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel, Bloomington, to your favorite hobby. Minneapolis South. September 5-8, 2018. Register before Wanted-Large Scale June 1st for $99.00, after $125.00. Incredible value: 100 clinics, model and photography contest, 55 layouts BUYING G SCALE: and Large Scale Train collection. Call on display, huge vendor show, live auction. Information: Tom 630-443-9137. www.nngc-2018. Visit MO, BRANSON: The Roark Valley Model Railroad Sixth For Sale - Miscellaneous Annual Open House Event. June 1-2, 2018, 10:00am- KalmbachHobbyStore.com 5:00pm. Admission is FREE for children and adults. Visit ILLINOIS CENTRAL PASSENGER TRAIN: Seven and operate Southwest Missouri’s Largest HO Modular Walther Pullman cars and one window coach. Proto 2000 Layout. 3609 W 76 Country Blvd., 65616. Information at E-7 powered (non DCC). All in box and like new $450.00. www.rvrrtrains.com Shipping included. Call for details. Henry 816-872-4161 P27901

July 2018 77 LEADING MODEL RETAILERS DELAWARE • Ocean View ILLINOIS • Des Plaines No sales tax at the Delaware seashore. N, HO, S, O, G Std. & Narrow gauge too. Retail Directory spaces are sold on a year’s basis at $654 per year (payable in advance) or at $60 per month Lionel new & used . . . . also Atlas, Bachmann, Lots of scratchbuilding parts and stuff too. (billed to established accounts for one year minimum); also for six months at $353 (payable in advance). Ads will MTH. We buy used trains. Auth. Lionel repairs. Brass, books & DVDs. Close to O’Hare. Large inventory of used HO trains. M, T, W, F 10-6; Th 10-8; Sat 9:30-5; Sun 11-5 be set in standard listing typography. All insertions must be consecutive and may be invoiced if you have credit Open Tues - Sat 11-4:30, Closed Sun & Mon Web Store: www.desplaineshobbies.com established with us. No mention of mail order business permitted. CLOSING DATES are listed in the “Schedule of SEASIDE HOBBIES DES PLAINES HOBBIES Events” section. For more information call 888-558-1544, ext. 815. 15 Daisey Ave. 302-539-1601 1524 Lee St. (Mannheim Rd.) 847-297-2118 ALABAMA • Enterprise CALIFORNIA • Hollister FLORIDA • Cape Canaveral ILLINOIS • Downers Grove Southern Alabama’s largest train store. Model planes, car, ships & i gures. Model train MTH & Lionel authorized dealer. N, HO, HOn3, scales: Z, N, HO, O & G. Paints, tools. R/C & Lionel, American Flyer, MTH HO and N Scale Model Trains and Accessories O & G scales. Tues - Sat 10am to 4pm parts, incl. service. Craft & educational kits, Trains bought and sold Two Blocks South of Metra Station [email protected] supplies, products. ESU Lok Sound Dealer - www.traincity.com at Maple Ave. www.highcountryhobbies.com clinics available. Tue - Sat 11-6; Sun 12-4 www.choochooauctions.com www.timberlinetrainshop.com HIGH COUNTRY HOBBIES B.C.T. HOBBY & CRAFTS TRAIN CITY, INC. - CHARLES SIEGEL TIMBERLINE TRAIN SHOP, LTD. 206 South Main St. 334-489-4558 201-C McCray St. 831-635-0537 387 Imperial Blvd., Ste. 2 321-799-4005 5228 Main St 630-324-6136 ALASKA • Anchorage CALIFORNIA • Lodi FLORIDA • Ft. Myers ILLINOIS • Elgin www.anchoragehouseofhobbies.com Z - N - HO - HOn3 - O27 - On30 N, HO, O scale model railroading. Alaska’s best hobby supplier since 1964. Locos - Rolling Stock - Digital - Structures Paint, tools, scenery, accessories, HO & N Scale Two stories, 6,300sf, 1st l oor all R/C, Landscaping Material & more. & plastic models. Scratch building supplies, paints, tools and 2nd l oor general hobbies, plastics, trains, www.Rogersrailroadjunction.com Mon - Sat 10:00am-6:00pm; Closed Sun much more. We special order. Digitrax dealer. slot cars, telescopes & more! See website for virtual tour. www.metrotrainsandhobbies.com www.bgtrainworld.com ANCHORAGE HOUSE OF HOBBIES ROGER’S RAILROAD JUNCTION METRO TRAINS & HOBBIES B & G TRAIN WORLD 2803 Spenard Rd. 907-277-7778 105 S. Sacramento St. 209-334-5623 12951 Metro Parkway 239-332-0422 829 Walnut Ave. 847-888-2646 ALABAMA - MARYLANDALABAMA - ARIZONA • Apache Junction CALIFORNIA • Pasadena FLORIDA • Lantana (West Palm area) ILLINOIS • Geneseo Model rail specialists since 1951. Scale Trains, Models & Hobby Supplies New Store! Arizona’s premier hobby shop. LGB, Lionel, O, S, On3, HO, HOn3, N, Z. Full line Hobby Shop specializing in Trains. Specializing in Midwest Roads Full scale, all service hobby shop. Trains, Complete stock of brass imports, new & used. Mon - Fri 10-6, Sat 10-4, Sun 12-4 Visit our website at GRHobbies.com planes, cars, boats and R/C. Special orders. Books, tools, structures, detail parts. www.depothobbyshop.com or call for directions and hours. Open Mon - Sat Open 7 days. www.thewhistlestop.com 1/2 mile east of I-95 exit #61. OBIES TRAINS THE ORIGINAL WHISTLE STOP INC THE DEPOT HOBBY SHOP GREEN RIVER HOBBIES 2114 West Apache Trail #11 480-203-1796 2490 E. Colorado Blvd. 626-796-7791 518 W. Lantana Rd. 561-585-1982 119 W. Exchange St. 309-944-2620 ARIZONA • Avondale CALIFORNIA • Roseville (Sacramento) FLORIDA • Melbourne ILLINOIS • Marion DCC Systems, Decoders, Layout Supplies Exclusively model trains since 1989. The Space Coast’s Model Train Shop. Professional Installations G to Z scales Athearn, Kato, MDC, Lionel, Atlas, LGB, Z thru G scales. N scale our specialty! Full-Line Hobby Shop. Mon - Fri 8:00-5:00, Sat 8:00-Noon Märklin, Brass Imports, books, detail parts. Digitrax, Kato, Lionel & Walthers Dealer. HO & N scale locomotives, scenery, Online Store: Litchi eldStation.com Everyday low prices. Open 7 days. Atlas, IM, BWL, Piko, LGB & Rokuhan. plastic models, R/C, tools, paints, and more. E-mail: Sales@Litchi eldStation.com www.rrhobbies.com Mon-Sat 10am-5pm Email: trftrains@cl .rr.com Open Tue - Fri 1:30-6:30pm, Sat 10am-4pm LITCHFIELD STATION RAILROAD HOBBIES TRF TRAINS & MNT HOBBIES CHUCK’S DEPOT 1412 N. Central Ave., Ste. D 623-298-7355 119 Vernon St. 916-782-6067 2715 N. Harbor City Blvd., #12 321-241-4997 1913 W. Rendelman St. P/F 618-993-9179 ARIZONA • Phoenix CALIFORNIA • San Diego (La Mesa) FLORIDA • Miami ILLINOIS • Maryville Exclusively trains. Craft kits, Shop “Warehouse Style” for N to G. Large 60’ x 70’ customer operated DCC Come and see our NEW store! detail parts, scratch supplies, books. MTH, Lionel, Kato, LGB, Broadway Ltd., Atlas, HO layout. Located 17 miles from St. Louis Wednesday - Saturday 10-5 Ride the trolley to Reed’s. Walthers at discount prices. Open Mon - Sat near I-70/I-55 exit 15B. For shop hours/maps Shop online at www.aawtrains.com Open Mon through Sat 10-6; Sun 12-4 10am-5pm Nov - Jan open Sunday 10am-1pm pictures, layout construction times, train [email protected] www.reeds-hobbies.com Email us at [email protected] running see www.k-10smodeltrains.com AN AFFAIR WITH TRAINS REED’S HOBBY SHOP READY TO ROLL K-10’S MODEL TRAINS 18440 North 7th St., #12 623-434-6778 8039 La Mesa Blvd. 619-464-1672 831 NW 143rd Street 305-688-8868 19 Schiber Court 618-288-9720 ARIZONA • Phoenix CALIFORNIA • Santa Clara FLORIDA • Ocala ILLINOIS • Mundelein 100% trains. Discount prices. Super selection. Specializing in trains, HO, N, O, G, Lionel. Narrow gauge almost exclusively. Monday 9:30am-3:00pm HO, N trains & accessories Books and videos. Northern IL railfan On3 - Sn3 - HOn3 - On30. Tuesday - Saturday 9:30am-6:00pm Visa, MC, AX, Discover headquarters. Closed Monday. Please call for Kits, parts, brass & books. Closed Sunday Open Mon - Fri 10-5:30, Sat 9-4 other hours. Fax 847-949-8687. Mon-Fri 8-12, 1-5, Sat 8-12. Dennis Cole E-mail: [email protected] Call for Sunday hours. [email protected] CORONADO SCALE MODELS THE TRAIN SHOP ROB’S HOBBY WORLD RON’S MUNDELEIN HOBBIES 1544 E. Cypress St. 602-254-9656 1829 Pruneridge Ave. 408-296-1050 8585 SW Hwy. 200 352-854-2799 431 N. Lake St. (Rt. 45) 847-949-8680 ARIZONA • Tempe CALIFORNIA • Santa Rosa FLORIDA • Pensacola ILLINOIS • Springﬁ eld Family owned, full service. Special orders Competitive prices, friendly service. welcomed. Athearn, Lionel, Bachmann, Digitrax HO and N Scale is our specialty. We sell new All makes & models, trains & accessories. HO / G / N. & Soundtraxx dealer. Plastic models, books, and vintage. Factory-trained DCC installation. New store hours, Thur-Sat. 9:00am-5:00pm. Special orders / discount prices. magazines, paints, building materials, scenery, Model trains is all we do. www.trainsbyjohnson.com Display layouts / clinics / assistance. & more. Free classes and clinics. Mon - Fri 10-6, Sat 10-4 Old Palafox St. at 10 Mile Rd. Call for hours. HOBBY DEPOT POGGIES TRAINS TRAINS BY JOHNSON CASTLE TRAINS & TREASURES 216 W. Southern Ave. 480-968-1880 100 Foley Street 707-974-9042 10412 N. Palafox Hwy. 850-478-8584 4782 Old Jacksonville Rd. 217-793-0407

ARKANSAS • Jacksonville CALIFORNIA • Westminster (Orange Co.) FLORIDA • Port Charlotte INDIANA • Bremen Headquarters for scale hobbies. Models; Full line hobby shop specializing in trains. N-HO-O trains; tools; paint, etc. World Famous Large selection of Athearn. Also large selection Small town, Large shop, O, HO & N scales. Discounts & special orders. Model/Toy Trains Only of model kits, paints, diecast, R/C’s and more. Discounts. Three operating O, HO & N layouts. Open 10-6, closed Sundays and Wednesdays. 7,000 sq. ft. Super Center We buy trains. Open Mon - Sat Large selection- since 1961. www.railandspruehobbies.com www.arniestrains.com Email: [email protected] Mon, Tues, Thur, Fri 10-6; Sat 10-4. RAIL & SPRUE HOBBIES ARNIE’S MODEL TRAINS K & K TRAINS BREMEN HOBBIES 1200 John Harden Dr. 501-982-6836 6452 Industry Way 714-893-1015 3835 Tamiami Trail 941-883-6931 308 N. Bowen Ave., SR 331 574-546-3807

CALIFORNIA • Atascadero CALIFORNIA • Yuba City FLORIDA • Port Orange (Daytona Beach) INDIANA • Indianapolis All scales G to Z. Special orders welcome. A full service model train store. Large Your Southern Connection for Quality Products! “An old fashion train shop.” HO, N, O27. Midway LA & SF. US 101-US 41, easy access. inventory, HO, N, O & O27 Tinplate. Featuring O, HO, N, Woodland Scenics. MTH Brass, books, magazines, detail parts, paints & Open Tuesday - Friday 10-6, Saturday 10-5 Books, videos, collector & gift items. MegaStation & National Service Center. Breyer accessories. West of E-mail Anita at: [email protected] Repair service. We buy old toy trains. Horses. Mon - Fri 9:30-5; Shadeland Ave. on E. Washington St. Web site: www.centralcoasttrains.com www.westerndepot.com Sat 9:30-4. www.roundhousesouth.com Mon-Sat 10:30-6. www.waynestrains.biz CENTRAL COAST TRAINS THE WESTERN DEPOT ROUNDHOUSE SOUTH TRAIN CENTRAL 7600 El Camino Real # 3 805-466-1391 1650 Sierra Ave. #203 530-673-6776 4611 S. Ridgewood Ave. 386-304-7003 6742 E. Washington (U.S. 40) 317-375-0832 CALIFORNIA • Bellﬂ ower COLORADO • Denver (Lakewood) FLORIDA • Tampa Bay - Pinellas Park IOWA • Urbandale Friendly Hobby Store! We carry N, HO, HOn3, Caboose, sharing our passion for trains 2600 sq. ft. Showroom. Lionel & MTH Dealer N, HO, & O S, Sn3. RailMaster, Athearn, Scaletrains.com since 1938. North America’s largest full- NEW, USED, BUY/SELL * All Gauges Z thru G Lionel, MTH, Atlas and more. DCC: Soundtraxx, LokSound, service train store, and your go-to source for Over 6,000 Parts. Repair Services. Trains, Exit #129 I-80/I-35, 2 miles south Digitrax dealer. Special Orders Welcomed! everything model railroading. Open Daily or at Track, Sets, Scenic Supplies. Tues - Sat 10-6 Iowa’s premier Model Railroad store www.railmasterhobbies.com MyCaboose.com www.zitniktrains.com Open 7 days a week. RAILMASTER HOBBIES CABOOSE ZITNIK TRAINS HOBBY HAVEN 9812 Belmont St. 562-867-5627 10800 W Alameda Avenue 303-777-6766 5193 73rd Ave. N. 727-201-9668 2575 86th Street 515-276-8785 CALIFORNIA • Burbank CONNECTICUT • Cos Cob FLORIDA • Tampa/St. Pete/Clearwater/PP KANSAS • Overland Park (KC Area) All scales G through N, collectibles old & new. O, S. HO, N, Z & G Scale Authorized LGB, Lionel, MTH & Märklin dealer. HO, N, Lionel. Lionel authorized dealer New Owners!! Huge inventory! Running Lionel, MTH, A/F, Marklin, LGB & more! One of the most complete train stores in & repair. Plastic, wood kits, rockets, Layouts! Same great store! Come check out New, Used & Vintage. Extensive scenery line. So. Calif. UPS worldwide shipper. tools, structural & diorama supplies. our model railroader’s paradise. Daily 10-6, Sat Repair, custom work & layouts. Visit our website at www.trainshack.com Special orders welcome. 10-6, Sun 11-5 www.hrtrains.com www.fredstrainshop.com THE TRAIN SHACK ANN’S HOBBY CENTER H & R TRAINS FRED’S TRAIN SHOP 1030 N. Hollywood Way 800-572-9929 405 E. Putnam Avenue 203-869-0969 6901 US Hwy. 19 N, Pinellas Park 727-526-4682 9322 W. 87th St. 913-383-3500 CALIFORNIA • Concord CONNECTICUT • Manchester GEORGIA • Atlanta (Lilburn) MAINE • Yarmouth Largest selection in the East Bay. 93 foot HO All scales Z, N, HO, O, O-27, G, #1, MTH, HO, Atlas, Bachmann, MTH Specializing in HO trains. Custom weathering, layout. Buy - sell - trade - consign - repairs - Lionel, Märklin, LGB, Walthers, Aristo, Trix,etc. Complete scenery supplies. painting, DCC, scenery, diorama building, detail parts in all scales. Lionel. Digital Sales-Install. Large operating layouts. Operating HO layout and 400 sq. ft. layout. structure building. Between Falmouth and Discount prices & friendly service. Mon-Wed 10-6 Th-Fri 10-9 Sat-Sun 10-6 HUGE selection in a 11,000 sq. ft. store. Freeport on Route 1. Tues - Sat 10am-6pm Website: www.just-trains.com www.timemachinehobby.com www.legacystation.com 800-964-8724 (Call ahead Mon) www.mainemodelworks.com JUST TRAINS TIME MACHINE HOBBY - NEW ENGLAND HOBBY SUPPLY LEGACY STATION TRAINS MAINE MODELWORKS 5650 Imhoff Dr. 925-685-6566 71 Hilliard St. 860-646-0610/Fax-645-0504 4153 Lawrenceville Hwy., #12 770-339-7780 374 US Route One, Unit 2 207-781-8300 CALIFORNIA • Costa Mesa CONNECTICUT • Winsted GEORGIA • Buford (Atlanta) MAINE • York A hobby shop for modelers by modelers. Quality, Selection & Service. Lionel, AF, LGB, HO, N, & Z Gauge. From hard to i nd to latest & greatest. Discount pricing in all scales. Model trains & slot cars. Most scales available. New, used, & collectibles. Free classes & clinics / multi scales. Mon - Sat 11-6, Sun 1-6 Accessories & services. New, pre-owned & Buy, sell, trade & repair. Large store of quality products @ fair prices. Across from NS Mainline in Downtown Buford vintage. Working layout! Open 7 days 10-5 Tue - Fri 12-7, Sat 9-5, Sun 11-3. Friendly service: www.rrhobbysupply.com Web store at: www.trainmastermodels.com www.yorkvillagemarketplace.com THE TRAIN CROSSING RR MODEL & HOBBY SUPPLY TRAINMASTER MODELS YORK VILLAGE MARKETPLACE 1113 Baker Street, Ste. F 714-549-1596 100 Whiting Street 860-379-3383 601 East Main St. 678-546-3600 891 U.S. Route 1 207-363-4830 CALIFORNIA • Hemet CONNECTICUT • Wolcott GEORGIA • Commerce MARYLAND • Annapolis Exclusively brass models. One of the If we don’t have it, we’ll get it! LGB, Woodland We carry Lionel, MTH, HO, N, Atlas, Walthers, largest selections in the country. All scales. Bargains Galore! Located 1/2 mile off I-85 exit Scenics, Walthers Dealer, Pola, Lionel, Ross switches, Gargraves & Peco. Buy, consign, trade - entire collections bought. 149. Featuring O & HO Trains, Die-Cast, Toys, Bachmann, 45’ long in-store layout. Open 7 days. Mon - Fri 9 - 4 & More. One of 13 Lindy’s Stores in SE USA. Spectrum, Mon - Sat 10-6. www.dynamichobbies.net www.thecaboose.com Open 10-5 www.Lindystrains.com Full line Kalmbach! [email protected] DYNAMIC HOBBIES THE CABOOSE LINDY’S TRAINS/RED HOUND ANTIQUE MALL STAR HOBBY 811 East Florida Avenue 951-925-9331 5 Mohawk Drive 203-879-9797 277 Pottery Factory Dr. 706-335-3353 1564 Whitehall Rd. 410-349-4290/4291 RETAIL DIRECTORY DIRECTORY RETAIL 78 www.ModelRailroader.com MARYLAND - WISCONSIN MARYLAND MARYLAND • Baltimore/Cockeysville NEW JERSEY • Kenvil PENNSYLVANIA • Bristol TEXAS • Houston Model RR headquarters since 1913. We carry most major brands and accessories HO & N, Lionel trains. Huge selection HO & N Trains & accessories; Full service hobbies, a full line of for N - G gauge. SELL - BUY - REPAIR Complete line of plastic kits, military and Lionel & MTH O Gauge. All at discount prices. HO, N, 3-Rail, military, cars, boats, Hours change seasonally so please call architecture supplies. Mon - Fri 9:30-5; Sat 9-5. planes, dollhouses, scratchbuilding or see website. www.trainpops.com Open Mon - Fri 11am-6pm, Sat 10am-5pm www.modeltrainstuff.com supplies, plus details-details-details! [email protected] www.gandgmodelshop.com M.B. KLEIN KENVIL HOBBIES TRAINPOPS ATTIC G & G MODEL SHOP 243 Cockeysville Rd., Ste. A 410-229-9995 590 Rt. 46 973-584-1188 400 Mill St. 215-788-2014 2029 Southwest Fwy 713-529-7752 MASSACHUSETTS • Ashburnham NEW JERSEY • Mountain Lakes PENNSYLVANIA • Broomall TEXAS • Houston Specializing in New England road names,HO/N Lionel, American Flyer, LGB, Atlas & MTH All trains, all scales. Magazines, Books, Vid- Scale. Micro-Trains, Walthers, Horizon.Special One of northern NJ’s largest train stores. Auth. HO, N, ON30, Standard, O & S gauges eos, Repairs, Brass, Consignments. Discount orders discounted. Tu & Th 10-4, Wed & Lionel sales, service, and parts. Old bought, sold & traded. Auth. service station. program, will ship. [email protected] Fri 11-6, Sat 10-6 www.halfpricehobby.com Lionel trains bought and sold. LGB, Atlas, Life- Mon, Wed, Fri 10-9, Tue & Thu 10-7, Sat 10-5 M,Tu,Th & F 10-6; W 10-7; Sat 10-5; Sun 12-5 [email protected] Like, MDK. Auth. Walther’s dealer. www.nstrains.com Major Credit Cards. www.papabens.com SHEPAUG RAILROAD COMPANY THE TRAIN STATION NICHOLAS SMITH TRAINS PAPA BEN’S TRAIN PLACE 23 Westminster St. 978-537-2277 Romaine Road 973-263-1979 2343 West Chester Pike 610-353-8585 4007-E Bellaire Blvd. 713-523-5600 MICHIGAN • Flint NEW JERSEY • Piscataway PENNSYLVANIA • Jeannette TEXAS • San Antonio G (LGB & 1:20,3), O (Lionel & MTH), On30, HO, Trains exclusively. Lionel, MTH, HO & N. Model railroading our specialty. N, & Z. Locos,cars, i gures, buildings, track, Serving hobbyists since 1933. Supplies and accessories at discount prices. Märklin, G, HO, N, O, Z. kits, scenery supplies, details, books & videos. Large selection of HO, N, & O scale Open daily 9:30-5, Mon & Fri 9:30-7, Sat 9-4. Superdetailing parts galore. Digitrax Dealer. Repair service. VISA/MC. Railroad books - complete repair service Closed Tue. Expanded hours Nov. and Dec. Books, structures, i gures and tools. Mon-Fri 10-8, Sat 10-6, Sun 12-5 www.themodelrailroadshop.com www.needztrains.com Tuesday - Saturday 10am-6pm RIDERS HOBBY SHOP THE MODEL RAILROAD SHOP, INC. NIEDZALKOSKI’S TRAIN SHOP DIBBLE’S HOBBIES 2061 S Linden Rd 810-720-2500 290 Vail Ave. 732-968-5696 214 South 4th Street 724-523-8035 1029 Donaldson Ave. 210-735-7721

MICHIGAN • Fraser NEW JERSEY • Point Pleasant Beach PENNSYLVANIA • Landisville (Lancaster) UTAH • Orem A Complete Model Railroad Store • Over 600 Model Trains New & Used Full line hobby shop. Engines in Stock N• HO • O DCC/DCS/TMCC Supplies, Paint, Tools Where it’s always cheaper than therapy. Trains Open Mon - Fri 10 -8, Sat 10-6, Sun 12-5 Authorized MTH & LIONEL Dealer. Walthers • Rockets, Slot Cars, Lionel/MTH Trains all scales, LGB, Broadway Limited, Atlas, www.pdhobbyshop.com Atlas • Atlas O. Sun - Thur 10-6, Fri - Sat 10-8 Tue, Thur & Fri 10-5, Wed & Sat 10-2. Lionel, Micro-Trains, Athearn. Behind Arby’s www.thetrainroomnj.com We buy train collections large & small. across from the University Mall. P & D HOBBY SHOP THE TRAIN ROOM COOLTRAINS HOBBIES HOBBY STOP, LLC 31280 Groesbeck Hwy. 586-296-6116 715 Arnold Ave. 732-892-5145 106 W. Main Street 717-898-7119 934 N State #101 801-226-7947 MICHIGAN • Grand Rapids NEW JERSEY • Westmont PENNSYLVANIA • Montoursville VERMONT • Rutland LGB, O (Lionel, MTH & Scale), HO, N & Z Locos, cars, i gures, buildings, track, tools, Athearn, Atlas, Bowser, Walthers. Mon - Fri 9-5:30, Sat 9-5 Exclusively Model Railroading. Most major kits, scenery supplies, details, books, videos. Structures, books. Extended weekday & Sun hours in Nov. & Dec. lines. Brass, custom painted models. Digitrax Dealer. Repair service VISA/MC Exclusively trains since 1955. E-mail: [email protected] Competitive prices. Personal service. Open Mon - Fri 10-8, Sat 10-7, Sun 12-5 HO and N. www.englishsmodelrailroad.com Open by appt. Eves 6-10, Sat 10-10. RIDER’S HOBBY SHOP SATTLER’S HOBBY SHOP ENGLISH’S MODEL RAILROAD SUPPLY THE STEAM SHACK 2055 28th Street SE 616-247-9933 14 Haddon Ave. 856-854-7136 201 Streibeigh Lane 570-368-2516 14 Engrem Avenue 802-775-2736 MICHIGAN • Leslie NEW YORK • Hurley PENNSYLVANIA • Philadelphia (Feasterville) VIRGINIA • Ashland (Richmond) Michigan’s Largest N Scale Dealer Trains- Z, N, HO, S, O, G scale, models, Tue - Thur 1-9, Fri & Sat* 1-5 rockets, hobby supplies. Lionel & MTH Lionel, American Flyer, LGB, MTH, Marklin, *Closed Saturdays Memorial to Labor Day authorized dealer. 4 working layouts. Repairs, Bachmann, Williams. HO, N & Z. We buy, On CSX tracks, Open 7 Days. All Gauges, Spec We also carry Z, HO & G Scales. buy/sell. Open 7 days. An old fashioned sell & repair. Mon-Fri 12-8; Sat 10-5 Orders & Repairs. I-95, exit 92, west 1.2 miles. www.ggtrains.com general store. www.hurleycountrystore.biz www.JoesTrainStation.com G&G TRAINS HURLEY COUNTRY STORE INC JOE’S TRAIN STATION TINY TIM’S TRAINS & TOYS 1800 Baseline Road 517-589-5977 2 Wamsley Pl. (Old Hurley) 845-338-4843 21 East Street Rd. 215-322-5182 104 S. Railroad Ave. 804-368-0063 MICHIGAN • Saginaw NEW YORK • Wellsville PENNSYLVANIA • Strasburg VIRGINIA • Roanoke Personalized Customer Service! HO, N & O Accurail, Bowser, Atlas, Walthers, From trains to diecast to scenery, everything Trains & Accessories N to G Williams & Kadee. Scenery & modeling for the layout builder. Open 7 days a week. Lionel, LGB, G, AF, HO, N & MTH Authorized Lionel/K-Line, MTH, DIGITRAX supplies. Plastructs, magazines & building kits. N, HO, O, Lionel, LGB. Buy, sell, trade used Buy, sell, trade, repair. Sales & Service - over 12,000 parts Old local lines like WAG, Erie & EL. trains. Located adjacent to the Mon-Fri 10-6; Sat 10-5 www.traindoctor.com Tues. - Fri. 12-5, Sat. 10-3 Choo Choo Barn. www.etrainshop.com Two minutes off Exit 146 on I-81. BRASSEUR ELECTRIC TRAINS EAST DYKE DEPOT STRASBURG TRAIN SHOP RAIL YARD HOBBY SHOP 410 Court St. 989-793-4753 332 E. Dyke St.(Rt. 417E) 585-593-0005 226 Gap Road 717-687-0464 7547 Williamson Rd. 540-362-1714 MICHIGAN • Troy NORTH CAROLINA • Arden RHODE ISLAND • Warwick VIRGINIA/MARYLAND • Chantilly, VA FORMERLY MERRI-SEVEN • NEW LOCATION HO, N, Model Trains and accessories. HO trains & acces., detail parts, plastic & Full service storefront & online store. All makes All scales Z thru G, new and used Broadway Limited, Kato, Walthers, craftsperson kits. Hobby supplies, tools. & scales. New/used trains sales, service, repair Complete selection of RR equipment/supplies Digitrax, Atlas, Athearn, and more. Tue - Fri 12-8, Sat 10-6, Sun (Nov - Dec) 12-4 & upgrades. Retail Store - www.traindepot.biz BUY • SELL • REPAIR • PARTS Mon - Fri 9:00am-5:00pm Order by phone 24 1/2 mile west of airport Authorized Lionel Service Station & Digitrax Tues - Fri 11-7, Sat. 11-6 hours. www.factorydirecttrains.com E-mail: [email protected] dealer. Online Sales Visit www.JTTrains.com EMPIRE TRAINS & HOBBIES FACTORY DIRECT TRAINS A. A. HOBBIES, INC. TRAIN DEPOT 3278 Rochester Rd. 248-680-6500 7 Glenn Bridge Rd., Ste. B 800-990-3381 655 Jefferson Blvd. 401-737-7111 13944 Willard Rd., Suite I 703-953-3767 MICHIGAN • Wyoming NORTH CAROLINA • Spencer SOUTH CAROLINA • Greenville WASHINGTON • Burien (Seattle) Across from NC Trans Museum. Big selection Model Trains Only - ALL AT DISCOUNT HO, N and Marx bought and sold of trains in all scales, Digitrax Dealer, RR PRICES! 130,000+ items in all scales available Close to SEA-TAC airport - short drive from American Flyer and Lionel also videos/books & children’s toys Tue-Sat: online 24/7 at: www.BlueRidgeHobbies.com downtown Seattle. New & vintage electric Tuesday thru Friday 12-6, Saturday 10-5 10-5:30. www.littlechoochooshop.com Retail Store features HO Scale. Spring & trains in all scales. Tues - Sat 11-6 Other hours available by appt. Please call. or [email protected] Summer Open T W & F 9am-1pm Only www.electrictrainshop.com HOBBY RECYCLING LITTLE CHOO CHOO SHOP, INC. BLUE RIDGE HOBBIES THE ELECTRIC TRAIN SHOP 2313 Lee St. SW 616-257-7155 500 S. Salisbury Av. 704-637-8717/800-334-2466 2327 N. Pleasantburg Dr., Ste. H 800-988-2125 625 SW 152nd St. 206-244-7077 MONTANA • Billings OHIO • Alliance SOUTH CAROLINA • West Columbia WASHINGTON • Kirkland Model railroading headquarters for the HO & N scale trains. Athearn, Walthers, Lionel, American Flyer, LGB, HO, N. Northern Rockies. HO, HOn3 & N scale. Kits, & Kadee. Accessories, detail parts, scratch- All scales, all major brands of Buy, sell, and repair. parts, tools, books. Tues-Fri 10-5:30; Sat 10-3. building supplies. Digitrax, TCS, & SoundTraxx model railroad equipment. Supplying all your railroading needs. Closed Sun & Mon. [email protected] dealer. Tue, Thu, Fri: 12-8pm, Sat: 10-3pm. We buy & sell used Lionel trains. Open Mon-Sat. www.jimsjunction.com www.robstrains.com Open daily 10-6. Closed Sun. www.eastsidetrains.com JIM’S JUNCTION ROB’S TRAINS NEW BROOKLAND RR & HOBBY SHOP EASTSIDE TRAINS, INC. 811-B 16th St. West 406-259-5354 333 E. Main St. 330-823-7222 405 State Street 803-791-3958 217 Central Way 425-828-4098 NEBRASKA • Deshler OHIO • Columbus TENNESSEE • Knoxville WASHINGTON • Spokane Largest HO/N scale inventory from Denver Exclusively trains. Located in Knoxville’s premier shopping to Chicago. Stop in and say WOW! All major LGB, Lionel, O, HO, N scales. destination. We are the area’s most diverse 100% trains. brands plus books, videos, tools & scenery. Books, Thomas, videos. hobby store with a large selection of HO, N, Open Monday-Friday 10am - 6pm. Mon-Fri 10-6, Weekend hours vary- call ahead! Mon - Thur 10-6, Fri 10-8, Sat 10-6, Sun 12-5 and O. Open 7 days a week. Always open Saturday 10 - 5. www.springcreekmodeltrains.com www.trainstationohio.com Turkey Creek Area. Closed Sunday & holidays. SPRING CREEK MODEL TRAINS, LLC THE TRAIN STATION HOBBYTOWN USA SUNSET JUNCTION MODEL TRAINS 304 E. Bryson Ave. 402-365-7628 4430 Indianola Ave. 614-262-9056 11145 Turkey Dr. 865-675-1975 419 E. Sprague Ave 888-838-2379 NEBRASKA • Omaha OREGON • Beaverton TEXAS • Athens WEST VIRGINIA • Inwood Berkeley Specializing in HO, HOn3 & Brass Trains & supplies for all scales Z-G. We are Complete full line hobby shop. Blackstone• Tsunami • InterMountain • Kadee DCC ready & installation service available. Z, N, HO, O, Lionel, and LGB. Digitrax Dealer • Walthers • Coach Yard One Stop Shop, In Tri-State Area. Trains-R/C - Family owned since 1936. Mon-Fri 8:00-6:00; Open Mon - Fri 10-8, Sat 10-5, Sun 12-5. Decoder installs & custom painting. Models. Competitive Pricing. and Sat 10:00-5:00 www.houseoftrains.com [email protected] www.harrishobbies.com HOUSE OF TRAINS TAMMIES HOBBIES HARRIS HOBBIES LOCO JOE’S HOBBIES 8106 Maple St. 402-934-RAIL (7245) 12024 SW Canyon Rd. 503-644-4535 9323 County Rd 1127 903-489-2646 357 Middleway Pike 304-229-8226 NEVADA • Las Vegas OREGON • Portland TEXAS • Corpus Christi/Portland WISCONSIN • Bay View (Milwaukee) HO, N, O and G scale. New and used trains. While in Las Vegas, HO, N, Z, Lionel, DCC, brass Radio control planes, boats and cars. Specializing in HO, N, Books, DVD’s, DCC. check out our train selection. Reservation discounts, new, used, Plastic kits, rockets - all at discount prices. Special Orders Welcome. Discount Prices. Close to the Las Vegas strip. Consignments, 16 minutes from Airport Thur & Fri 3pm-6pm, Sat noon-6pm, Tue-Wed 11-5, Thur 11-6, Fri 11-5, Sat 9:30-3 Hours: Mon - Fri 10-7, Sat 10-6, Sun Noon-5. www.hobbysmith.com Sun 2-5pm and also by appointment. www.southsidetrains.com HOBBYTOWN USA THE HOBBY SMITH JIM’S HOBBIES SOUTH SIDE TRAINS RETAIL DIRECTORY 4590 W. Sahara Ave., #103 702-889-9554 1809 NE Cesar Chavez Blvd. 503-284-1912 207 7th St. (Portland) 361-229-0229 3979 S. Howell Ave. 414-482-1566 NEVADA • Las Vegas OREGON • Portland TEXAS • Dallas WISCONSIN • Green Bay Your complete model railroad store. Ofi cial Lionel Layout Builder Since 2001 Electric trains & accessories Gauges Z through G. Traingineer shop/showroom includes; Exclusively trains, specializing in DCC, N, N, HO, S, O Mon - Fri 10-6, Sat 10-5, Closed Sunday Custom Layouts, Modulars, Model Stations, G, & HO. DCC installation and award winning Lionel/American Flyer Dealer www.wsor.com Bridge Kits...come see...there’s always custom painting and building available. something new!!! www.TrainWorxStore.com WWW.ENGINEHOUSESERVICES.COM TRAIN EXCHANGE WHISTLE STOP TRAINS TW TRAINWORX ENGINEHOUSE SERVICES, LLC 6008 Boulder Hwy. 702-456-8766 11724 SE Division St. 503-761-1822 2808 McGowan St. 877-881-4997 2737 N. Packerland Dr. 2H 920-490-4839 NEVADA • Las Vegas PENNSYLVANIA • Blue Ridge Summit TEXAS • Dallas (Addison) WISCONSIN • Milwaukee The Exclusive model railroad store. Big selection of HO, N and Lionel O Gauge From N to G, we stock it all. Great discounts on thousands of G to Z scale Exclusively Model Railroading since 1932. trains. Only 7 miles west of the Las Vegas strip. OPEN 7 days a week. items. NCE & Digitrax dealer. One-stop shopping from Z to G. www.westsidetrainslv.com Only minutes from Frederick, MD. Monday - Saturday 10-6 800-487-2467 walthers.com www.mainlinehobby.net WESTSIDE TRAINS MAINLINE HOBBY SUPPLY DISCOUNT MODEL TRAINS WALTHERS SHOWROOM 2960 S. Durango #117 702-254-9475 15066 Buchanan Trail E. 717-794-2860 4641 Ratliff Lane 972-931-8135 5619 W. Florist Avenue 414-461-1050

July 2018 79 WISCONSIN • Monroe CANADA–BC • Vancouver CANADA–ON • Mississauga CANADA–ON • Toronto (Markham) N & HO scale trains & accessories, Large selection of model RR supplies includ- 6,000 sq. ft. All Trains! plastic kits. Books, videos & tools. ing Min. by Eric, Athearn/MDC, Atlas, Peco, Premier Selection & Service! North American Train Specialists since 1962 Summer hours: Tues - Sat 10-5 Shinohara, Rapido, SoundTraxx, brass, etc. In store clinics and layouts! HO, N, O, G and DCC Winters: Add Sun 12-4 Special orders. www.central-hobbies.com Railfan Headquarters! Quick special orders! Railfanning beside CNR Mainline Call ahead to be sure we’re open! Open 11-6, Friday til 9. Closed Sundays. www.cvrco.com Closed Mondays www.georgestrains.com THE HOBBY DEPOT CENTRAL HOBBIES CREDIT VALLEY RAILWAY COMPANY, LTD GEORGE’S TRAINS LTD. 835 17th St. 608-325-5107 2825 Grandview Hwy. 604-431-0771 2900 Argentia Rd. Unit #24 1-800-464-1730 550 Alden Rd., Unit 101 905-470-6200 WISCONSIN • Waukesha (Pewaukee) CANADA–ON • Dundas CANADA–ON • Mount Forest CANADA–ON • Windsor Märklin • Lionel • MTH • AF • LGB • Z to G Your full line hobby shop. Open 7 days a 45 Min North of Guelph. Fax# 519-323-3809. Model Railroading since 1970. • buildings • scenery • detail parts • books week. N, HO, AF, Lionel, LGB. Scenery and Authorized Lionel value added dealer. Operational in-store layout. • scratchbuilding supplies • special orders • scratchbuilding supplies. Walthers dealer, Kato One of Canada’s largest lionel retailers HO & N trains, bits & pieces. NMRA discounts • Mon - Fri 11-8 • Sat 10-5 products. Special orders welcome! MTH, K-Line & more. Full line HO dealer. ”Simplii ed Wiring & Trackwork” Sun 12-5. www.hiawathahobbies.com E-mail us at: [email protected] www.tctrainscanada.com Closed Monday. by Fred Stainer. JETCO’S HIAWATHA HOBBIES DUNDAS VALLEY HOBBY THE TRAIN CELLAR WINDSOR HOBBIES LTD. 2026 Silvernail Rd. 262-544-4131 15 Cootes Dr. 905-628-9156 130 Main Street North 519-323-3935 3895 Tecumseh Rd. East 519-945-5471 CANADA–BC • Savona CANADA–ON • Fergus CANADA–ON • Ottawa (Vanier) GERMANY • Kaarst Model trains in G, O, S, HO, N, Z. Old toy Model Trains for Beginners to the Experts. Europe’s best known address for US Railroads. trains, railway antiques, art, books, DVDs, Buy, Sell, Trade, Repair. One of Canada’s leading model shops. We carry N, HO & G scale for all road names, souvenirs and Thomas too. Canadian road HO, N, O/O27, S, G. Complete selection of HO & N gauge. Atlas to Walthers. names a specialty. 20 min. west of Kamloops. Come See Our Trains. Friendly knowledgeable staff. Mon - Fri 10-6:30, Sat 10-2 www.kellyskaboose.ca www.2bintrains.on.ca Free Parking. On parle Francais. Overseas orders with VS & MC KELLY’S KABOOSE, THE RAILWAY STORE 2B IN TRAINS HOBBY HOUSE, LTD. ALL AMERICAN TRAINS 6648 Savona Access Rd. 250-377-8510 6168 Road 29 519-787-3280 80 Montreal Road 613-749-5245 www.aat-net.de E-mail: [email protected] WISCONSIN - GERMANY WISCONSIN CANADA–BC • Summerland CANADA–ON • London CANADA–ON • Paris Specializing in European Model Trains, Complete Canadian trains & more N, HO, G, Märklin, Trix, Roco, LGB, Brawa, Fleischmann Athearn, Hornby, Peco, Walthers. Special Full line hobby shop. Large stock N, HO. When traveling, bring MR, & many more. Huge selection of trains, orders, plastics, parts, supplies, books, DVD’s. Special orders weekly, all scales. kits, & access. HO-N-Z-1-O-G Scales. Mon - Fri 10-6, Sat 9-5. [email protected] All accessories, scenery and supplies. look up a shop www.EuroRailHobbies.com www.rrhobby.ca www.parisjunctionhobbies.com EURO RAIL HOBBIES & MORE INC BROUGHDALE HOBBY PARIS JUNCTION HOBBIES and stop in. 9901 Main St. 866-799-6098 1444 Glenora Drive 519-434-0600 300 Grand River St. N. 519-442-5800

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Next Issue DISPLAYADINDEX We believe that our readers are as important as our advertisers. If you do not receive your merchandise or a reply from an advertiser within a reasonable period, please contact us. Provide details about what you ordered Big steel and coal on and the amount you paid. If no action is obtained after we forward your complaint to the advertiser, we will not accept further advertising from them. Model Railroader magazine, 21027 Crossroads Circle, Waukesha, WI 53187 the New York Central 2B In Trains...... 27 Micro-Mark Tools...... 19 A modeler’s multilevel layout spot- Atlas Model Railroad Co., Inc...... 5 Model Railroader All-Time Digital Archive. . 25 lights NYC’s steel and coal hauling Axian Technology...... 7 Model Railroader Books...... 67 operations in eastern Ohio during Azatrax ...... 27 Model Railroader Video Plus ...... 21 the 1960s. His large mill complex Bachmann Industries, Inc...... 2 Modelers Decal and Paint...... 27 includes animated scenes of the Caboose Ltd...... 7 Modelers Marketplace ...... 75-76 steel-making process. Circuitron ...... 9 Modelleisenbahn München GmbH ...... 23 Two decks of West C T I...... 9 National Train Show ...... 19 Custom Model Railroads ...... 7 NCE Corp...... 15 Coast lumber action Nicholas Smith Trains...... 9 Digitrax ...... 31 The freelanced Arcadia & Betsey PECO Products ...... 9 Downtown Deco...... 27 River Ry. depicts log-moving and Pre-Size Model Specialties...... 27 Evan Designs...... 27 car-loading methods from the late Proto Power West ...... 27 Evergreen Scale Models ...... 9 1880s to the 1950s. A car ferry, orig- Ready To Roll, Inc...... 7 Good Deals DCC ...... 27 inally an afterthought, adds bridge SBS4DCC.com...... 27 trafﬁc and interest to operations. Great Midwest Train Show ...... 11 Scale Model Arts & Tech, Inc...... 11 Great Model Railroads ...... 19 Showcase Express ...... 19 Plus more: Great Train Expo...... 11 Sievers Benchwork...... 7 • Weather a locomotive in a day Greenberg Shows ...... 11 SoundTraxx ...... 11 • Construct a white-metal kit • Halfpricehobby.com ...... 7 Tichy Train Group...... 27 Patch out a modern boxcar • International Toy Train Expo...... 17 Train Collector’s Association ...... 7 Make an automated traverser JB Wheel Sets...... 27 Train World...... 9 Kalmbach Books ...... 68, 74 Train Sets Only ...... 27 Kato USA, Inc...... 83 Trains & Travel...... 27 Subscribe Mainline Hobby Supply...... 27 WiﬁTrax Model Science...... 27 today! Menard, Inc...... 24 Wm. K. Walthers, Inc...... 3 Mianne Benchworks...... 27 Woodland Scenics...... 84 1-877-246-4879 Thve Display Advertiser Index is provided as a service to Model Railroader magazine readers. www.ModelRailroader.com The magazine is not responsible for omissions or for typographical errors in names or page numbers. July 2018 81 Trains of Thought By Tony Koester

There’s plenty to do on a milk run I recently had the pleasure of once again operating on Mike Burgett’s superbly exe- cuted Chesapeake & Ohio Cliton Forge Division. Mike’s work has been featured in Model Railroader and Model Railroad Planning. He models the early diesel era, when Electro-Motive Division (EMD) cab units and General Purpose locomotives (Geeps) ruled the roost. Mike’s ample base- ment, which he recently enlarged, allows long runs between staging yards representing Gladstone, Va., and Chesapeake & Ohio EMD FP7 8001 leads an F7B, a GP9, and a string of hoppers past an old Hinton, W.Va. hat he’s a pro- canal lock on Mike Burgett’s HO tribute to the C&O’s Clifton Forge Division. Craig Wilson photo fessional railroader – indeed, one of the top signaling the superior direction (usually several times at each town or on a dime. With Digital experts in the country – no east), they may have to make major industry. Command Control (DCC), doubt adds to the accuracy way for opposing trains. So we have this interesting you can program in a lot of and excellence of his railroad. Under CTC rules, most dichotomy: A run over the momentum and designate a of that burden falls on the main line is oten easier than function key on the throttle This division in 1:1 was dis- dispatcher. If he or she gives in a TTTO environment, but as a brake that can be toggled patched by a Centralized Train you a green signal, you can doing the local’s work at vari- on and of to give the crew Control (CTC) system built go. he interlocked CTC ous stops along the line may some sense of the innate iner- by Union Switch & Signal. machine won’t allow the dis- be more diicult. tia of a train or locomotive. he 1:87.1 version also utilizes patcher to set up conlicting I’m a horsepower guy: I like he James River line a US&S CTC machine, but it routes, and the idea of train to see big power running at passes through some historic was built by Mike, who does superiority recedes into the full throttle on the main line, places, and Mike has included business in the model railroad background. he dispatcher, a carryover from my railfan hints of the past – a canal ield as Control Train Compo- not the train crews, is tasked experiences. But I suspect the lock, for example. here are nents (www.CTCParts.com). with making sure the main average model railroader is numerous grade crossings Rather than studying the line is clear for, say, the more interested in switching to blow for, bells to ring schedule in an employee George Washington. moves, either in a yard or passing through congested timetable and any amend- Operating on a fully sig- when honchoing areas, perhaps ments in the form of train naled model railroad like a way freight. cars to pick up orders, a road crew simply Mike’s is a treat. he main Mike’s railroad or set out, signals watches for a signal that chore is to check the aspect of certainly ofers a to decipher and allows them to proceed. the next signal ahead and be lot of both. obey. Down- Anything better than red- prepared to do its bidding. Yet I doubt the grade, on some over-red is usually good news. Knowing what a few key switch-car folks railroads you may Assuming they have the man- aspects indicate is suicient will be happy with need to activate datory clearance card from to safely make your way over a series of main- I SUSPECT THE the dynamic the local operator, they’re the railroad. line runs. hey AVERAGE brakes or set good to go. may see the latter MODEL RAIL- retainers. On the his leads us to a chat Running the local freight as ofering “noth- ROADER IS “varnish,” there about the road crew’s involve- in a CTC environment can ing to do.” But MORE INTER- are schedules to ment in the railroad’s opera- be challenging. If a move there’s lots to do! ESTED IN keep. If you’re in a SWITCHING tion. In a timetable-and-train- involves using the main line, MOVES, EITHER passing track for a order (TTTO) environment, you have to get the dispatch- Trains are heavy IN A YARD meet, look for much of the onus for making er’s permission to occupy the and ponderous OR WHEN defects on the a safe trip over the railroad main for a set period of time. assemblages. Our HONCHOING A other train. falls on the train crew. Unless He may taketh away what he model versions are WAY FREIGHT. Bottom line: they’re running a irst-class giveth, so this switch-then- usually overpow- – TONY Milk your run for (usually passenger) train in wait scenario may be repeated ered and will stop all it’s worth!

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