$2.95 (Higher in Canada) HIGHLIGHTS OF THIS ISSUE: • Snowbound for the Holidays?! • Making Your Own Castings • Milwaukee Road Stock Car Kitbash • • Southern Alco PA3: Converting an Athearn PAl • Esquimalt & Nanaimo Railway's Parksville Station • Modeling a Modern Circus Train • Model Photography: Depth of Field • Will the Mechanical Reefer Survive? • For over 90 years, Lionel Trains has been the "war bonnet" paint scheme, the best selling pacesetter in model railroading, bringing more Lionel engine of all time; and the Chessie Steam exciting new trains and innovations to market Special, the famous remake of the commemo­ than any other model train manufacturer in rative locomotive that toured the country in 1977. history. And there are more new Lionel trains and And we're off to a running start for 1991. accessories coming your way this year, each This year we've brought back historic trains designed and detailed to give your layout an like the original Daylight engine, the Southern extra dash of nostalgia and realism. Pacific GS-2 Daylight, one of the most desirable Visit your Lionel retailer soon and get set of the modern Lionel era locomotives; the Santa for all the great new products Lionel has Fe F3 Diesel with the famous to offer in 1991. ./'" © 1991 LIONEL TRAINS. INC. January . VOLUME 21 NUMBER1991 1 Photo by Nail Bruce FEATURES 13 ON TRACK: TURNOUT WIRING by Jim Mansfield 15 MILWAUKEE ROAD STOCK CAR: MY FIRST KITBASH by Dean Freytag 16 TRAIN SET - THE SERIES: THE STAGE by Jim Mansfield 18 MODELING A MODERN CIRCUS TRAIN by Bill Hill 22 REMOVAL OF CAST LADDER DETAIL FROM PLASTIC MODELS by Jim Mansfield 24 WILL THE MECHANICAL REEFER SURVIVE? by George Melvin 26 INTO THE RECORD BOOKS - MAINUNE MODELERS BREAK GUINNESS RECORD by Elizabeth White 30 SOUTHERN PA3: CONVERTING AN ATHEARN PAl by Larry Puckett 34 DIESEL DETAIL CLOSE-UP: MKT GP7 by Rich Picariello 36 SNOWBOUND FOR THE HOLIDAYS?! OR, THERE'S NEVER A ROTARY AROUND WHEN YOU NEED ONE by Scott Anderson 40 MODEL PHOTOGRAPHY SERIES #1: DEPTH OF FIELD by Bruce Nail 42 BEAVER V ALLEY RAILROAD: TEAR IT DOWN AND START OVERI by Larry Wright 46 ESQUIMALT & NANAIMO RAILWAY'S PARKSVILLE STATION by Patrick Lawson 52 MAKING YOUR OWN - PART II: CASTING PARTS FOR SCRATCHBUILDING by Bob Beaty DEPARTMENTS 4 LETTERS TO THE EDITOR 10 YOUR TREK PLAN 58 DEALER DIRECTORY 5 EDITORIAL \I VIDEO REVIEW 62 SHOPPING GUIDE 6 NEW PRODUCTS 12 ADVERTISING INDEX SOCIETY PAGE 70 14 RAIL PROJECT RESEARCH ABOUT THE COVER Blocked by an avalanche, C&S Mogul sits helplessly on a tall trestle high in the Rockies. Will it get to its destination #9 in time for the holidays? Tum to page 36 for story and to learn how the scene was created. Photo by SCOII Anderson. INSET: Sometimes the only way to "fix" a layollt, is to tear it down and start over. Photo by Larry Wright. ..January 1991 Model Railroading • :3 TO THE EDITOR Run Seemed Real Railroader. Infact, T4.G is the computer program that I referred to in Last my article as the one which proved impossible for to convert from Howdy Randy, me TRS-80 B4.SIC to standard MB4.SIC. After worl..:ing with the 1)4G codefor several This is just a note to tell you how much I enjoyed reading Larry weeks without success, I decided that the 1)4G code was too complex and Puckett's story about the "Last Run of Number 1480" which appeared convoluted to either be easily converted to another fonn ifB4..sIC or to be along with article featuring the Northern Virginia Model Railroaders his adapted to another layOUT. in the October 1990 issue. In fa ct , I read that story twice just be cause I With this in mind, I developed SWI7CHER and designed il so il could liked it so much. converted to other fonns ifB4SIC to adapt to another layoUl. Then, while I thinkinghow about lucky Larry as a young be and easy was sti1l was Based on reader responses, I Ihink I have been successful in my goal. man, I turned to the next page and read the "About the Author" box. Several readers have already converted it to Commodore B4SIC and All I can sayis that Larry had me as a believer for a while; he did a good 64 other versions are on the way. In developing SWITCHER, instead if job with that tale. rewriting 1)4G, I followed a different and much simpler approach 10 Mike Nesbitt implementing local switching; however, both programs do have car codes Olympia, WA and car orders in common. There no intent 10 iglwre Mr. Fink's earlier attempt at developing was SWITCHER Program a switching program. In a hobby like ours, we share our ideas with the Dear Larry (Puckett): hope that others will benefitfrom them and build on them. I can't even begin to tell you how much I enjoyed your SWITCHER article in the October 1990 issue of Model Railroading. As a matter of Teen Association fa ct , "enjoyed" isn't even a descriptive enough term . I don't have an ruM-compatible computer, I have a Commodore 64. Dear Folks at MRG: Needless to say, your program written in Microsoft GWBASIC needed I would like to compliment you on your excellent magazine. There's some interpretation. I still don't know what "LSET" means. Also, the so much useful info rmation in each issue that I can't reading unless start data storage. and retrieval subroutines required total revisions. I have a highlighter pen in hand! I appreciate the thoughtful ness in pro­ But, I I've finally figured it out, and it looks like it works. Once viding indexes of articles in magazines other than your own. The think again, thanks for the program. Yo u've added a new dimension to this thorough lists of detail parts with the diesel modeling articles are great multifaceted hobby. too. Henry Statkowski As the new Pivot Pin of the Teen Association of Model Railroaders, 1. I glad to see a listing fo r TA MR in "The Society Page. " Thanks for Stratford , was CT including us. Could you please substitute my name and address fo r Lone Eagle Payne's? Dear Larry: If only Model Railroading had been around when I a teenager I My was I read yo ur article in the October 1990 issue. Yo ur program looks like modeling would be much fa rther along. Keep up the good work! it should work well on my layout after I figure out all the sidings and car Joh n Reichel orders. I have about 45 sidings and run usually six locals per operating Te en Association of Model Railroaders session as well as six to eight other through and special trains. 88 Whitmore St. , #201 I'm looking fo rward to getting the copies so I ca n start the modifica­ Oakland, CA 94611 tions. Thanks fo r your offer to share your knowledge of programming. I could not have done anywhere near that on my own in any reasonable time frame. Prototype Follows Model Chuck Tuttle Dear Randy, We st La fayette, IN Perhaps Model Raibvading is read by some I: I railroaders and industrialists. When my article on the gravel unloading operation Dear Mr. Lee, appeared in the June 1990 issue, I suggested that the customer should have Being interested in a good (cheap!) traffic generator program, I pur­ his own Aleo switcher on the property. In August, the prototype did just chased the October 1990 issue of Model Railroading. that when they acquired a ye llow and black Aleo SI! It is equipped fo r Imagine my surprise when I began looking through the code of the remote control , but at this fa cility, it is manually operated . SWITCHER program and fo und myself in a kind of deja vu situation. Jim Rogers I refer to the program listed in Model Railroader from February 1984 Laurel, MD called "TAG - Traffic Automatically Generated." The car orders and the car codes of SWITCHER seem directly dependent on the TAG codes. Ye s, the code has been "updated" and the text gives much clearer direc­ Guinness Record tions fo r how the progranl can be set up and worked, but why is there Dear Mr. Lee: no mention of Mr. Bob Fink's previous work back in '84? Yo ur comments on the BL2 made in the November 1990 issue of Model Eve n if only the car codes and orders were copied, and the bulk of the Railroading are interesting but not correct. The 1978 model train dura­ code independently developed, there should have been an attribution tion record broken on March 23, 1990, by Brian Apps, the Vicar of was was to Mr. Fink. All Saints Church in Bournemouth, Dorset, England. A Hornby Pacific E. Allen Siebold "Lady Patricia" completed a non-stop run of 867 hours, 14 minutes - Ve stal, NY exceeding the prior Guinness record by just three hours. Rev. Apps' record will be record of record in the 1991 Guinness book. LLmy Puckett replies: Mr. Sisbold is quile right in his d«luction lhal lhe Hopefully, you will see fit to acknowledge this record accordingly. car codes and car orders are like those found in the T4.G program Roger Sekera Bob Fink published in Ihe Febntal)' issue if Model developed by and 1984 Potomac, MD 4 • Model Railroading .January 1991 Publishers S. S. Danielsen, Nick Siegel General Manager Pam Greenberg Executive Editor EDITORIAL Randall B.