Model Railroading Blog and News

Some favorite prototype photos by Kevin Hampton, Brad Joseph, Venita Lake, and Richard Schumacher....

Just remove the dynamic brake section on the top of the engine to expose the decoder. The engine is delivered set for analog (conventional DC) operation. Move the jumper plug over to configure for DCC operation. The decoder’s address is factory preconfigured to the last two digi...

What are my Decoder Options? Current production Atlas and Kato HO scale engines have the standard 8-pin NMRA medium DCC plug. However, space is sometimes very tight inside these engines, limiting the decoders that will fit or requiring removal of weights (see our pages showing install...

Part I: The details by Phil Sheahan photos by Gary Hoover The place for a highly detailed structure is the foreground of your layout. There it can be best seen and appreciated. Keeping this in mind, you want to keep thinking “this is my masterpiece, the best I can do.” A h...

Print these photos at the correct size for your buildings and place behind the windows. Placing them slightly back (maybe 1/4 to 1/2 inch) from the windows will provide the bext effect....

The Gateway Division NMRA donated $10,000 to the National Museum of Transportation for a cosmetic restoration of the historic Rock Island GM Aerotrain which is part of their collection....

Illustrated tips, techniques and hints on assembling inexpensive plastic structures for model railroads using the Design Preservation Models (DPM) Kelly's Saloon kit as an example....

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

This Gateway Division limited run custom painted HO scale car for Gary Hoover's famous Missouri, Kansas & Quincy (featured in numerous national model railroad magazines and Walther's catalogs) is now sold out....