One of the great rewards in this hobby has been the friendships I have made. This Doodlebug is special because it represents both my childhood and a very good railroading friend....

Designing a freelance model railroad with heavy Rock Island influence....

As my layout moves from concept to design, one of the major hurdles is the creation of the main yard. An important part of the plan is creating a yard environment that looks real....

This article focuses on the task of the yard crews in getting each type of freight train ready to depart....

The role of transfer yards. Some of the loads and empties received will not be forwarded to another city. In any train there will be cars which have reached their final destination. Some of these cars must be delivered to other roads for final delivery, some are empties being returned...

A major yard facility looks very confusing but there is a purpose behind each and every track within the yard limits and that purpose helps to determine location, access and size for each track....

How prototype operations can influence what we do as model railroad operators by examining the operations of prototype yard crews in the time period from 1957 through 1961....

Gateway Central VI HO scale project railroad was designed around two logging industry scenes (one on each side of the layout). One side features a paper and kraft mills with a chip unloading area. The other side is a sawmill scene. The layouts was designed as two pieces that stack for...

Photo by Kevin Hampton If you’re using Hydrocal as the base shell for scenery, there’s a quick way to cover a large area in a hurry. After putting down whatever you use to set the basic elevations for scenery, use Hydrocal soaked cloth instead of paper towels, newspaper or paper bags....

Gateway Central IV, like its predecessors, is a 4'x8' beginner layout constructed by division members. Each of the layouts has been used to try out a variety of construction techniques for support, track design, scenery and structures. The project involves a large number of members in...

If you are all at like me you have several years of back issues of one, two, three or more model railroad magazines. Some of us I am sure have them neatly stored and catalogued while others use the archeological filing system; a pile of magazines stacked and waiting for the dig to beg...