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Everything on model trains, model railroads, model railways, locomotives, model train layouts, scenery, wiring, DCC and more. Enjoy the world's best hobby... model railroading!
Cardiff Model Railway Show January 2020
Byron shared this photo from the Cardiff Model Railway Show in the UK earlier this year.
Mobile Charge Office Used By Police on South African Trains
Peter Field from Pietermaritzburg in South Africa sent in this photo of his layout to share. He writes:
“We are fine just hiding from the COVID 19 but fine so spend a lot of time working on the layout which is 99% completed other than maintenance and doing small adjustments every so often.
Attached is a pic of the mobile charge office as used on many passenger trains in RSA. It has a charge office, counseling room, sleeping quarters for approx. 6 police officers, and small kitchenette, shower, and toilet compartment. The car has 4 cells in the rear with very small windows. It is also used on the container trains as protection as criminals break into the containers every so often. The police patrol the train when stopped at a station if necessary.”
Room Conditions for a Train Layout
Ernie sent in this question:
“I have the opportunity to set up an HO layout in a room that is NOT heated or cooled. Will this affect the scenery or rails? Will it affect my loco’s motors? Please supply advice”.
How Much Is My Layout Worth?
Stan from New Jersey in the US writes:
“I know this site doesn’t run ads for buying/selling used train gear and layout, but am curious where is the best place to sell old layouts, trains, and accessories. Has anyone had any success with eBay or Craigslist? What would a 4ft x 8ft N scale Digitrax layout with 4 locos and 28 cars be worth? What about packing and shipping it? It all sounds too hard. My layout also has scenery and several plastic structures? Would like to hear from others who have sold layouts and gear for their guidance. Thanks in advance.”
British Rail Class 24’s Fuel Train On Display In Australia
Another impressive photo kindly shared by Barrie from Tasmania at the bottom of Australia. A British Rail Class 24’s Fuel Train on the Hobart Model Rail Group layout.
BR Class 44 with Steel HMRG on Show in Tasmania, Australia
Barrie kindly sent in this photo to share:
“Here is a photo my own N scale 1:148 trains I photographed on the Hobart Model Rail Group layout, Tasmania, Australia. This photo is a British Rail, Class 44.”
Original Dining Car Orient Express D2419
Peter from South Africa writes:
“Attached is a copy of the dining car D2419 which I wrote about in my recent blog article which I thought the readers would love to see. According to the info it was made by a firm Poco maybe Poland.
This wagon Dining Car started its life as the original dining car for the first Orient Express going back to the early 1900s and when the WW 1 finished the Armistice was signed in her between France, England, and Germany and was mounted at Versailles France. Along came the WW 2 when Hitler signed the WW2 into operation and stolen the dining wagon 2419 D and used it as his command center on his special war command train until the end of the of WW2. Then according to the records this coach was pushed into a tunnel and burnt. The remains were only found later on but the French had an ace up their sleeve and had a similar coach and brought it out and renamed it 2419D and it is in Versailles today as far as I know. This information was obtained from a Video hunting Hitler shown here in South Africa.
Trust this gives you some info on the coach I use her on my 1930’s SAR trains as it color is what they called Imperial brown which blends in with the 1930’s passenger rolling stock of SAR trains
Cheers Peter Field RSA.”
Your Layout Photo
If you have a photo of your layout or a model railroading photo or diagram you would like to share – simply send the Blog Moderator a message using the ASK A QUESTION link below, and giving a few details about the photo/diagram you want to send for publication on the blog. We will then be in touch giving you an email address so you can forward it to us. Simple!
Equipment At Work – Sent In By Patrick
Patrick was impressed with this busy scene he snapped at the National Model Train Show in Kansas City back in 2018. Looks like a big magnet attached to that crane. Hopefully, we will get back to the good old days of visiting train shows sometime next year.
Easy To Extend Backdrop Industrial Buildings
Here are plans for some background industries you can easily adapt and/or extend.
Small Town Ideas
Peter Field from South Africa has kindly offered this follow-up to Keith’s question on planning a small town rural layout.
Peter writes:
“Before I started my present layout I roughly drew up a layout as I stay in a city and we have a historic village some 15kms from I opted to go for the rural scene made a small village with small shops etc and church of course. I also opted for three small businesses/factories and settled for a Furniture factory, a Car maintenance plant, a water house, and a scrap dealer. I made up two farms; one a maize farm, the other a general farm.
My layout is 5.5m x 1.5m wide big enough for me to control. Good Luck. Here are two pictures of the farm and village.”
Thanks for sharing the photos Peter.
Out of Scale Vehicles/Toys On Model Railroads
David has an interesting observation and related question:
“Our modeling scales have been pretty well fixed for over 100 years. Our hobby has probably the largest demographic of any ‘toy’ buying, world wide. So why do toy manufacturers insist on making their product to either no scale at all, or to scales that do not relate to our most popular ones (OO, HO, N, etc.)
Are they not aware that they open the market for their products immensely?
For example, if the Asian toy car and truck makers did them in H0/00 rather than 1:100 or 1:80 how many more they would sell?
Is it possible for model railway associations worldwide (NMRA and all the others) start a ‘mailing campaign’ advising companies of the market they are missing?
What do contributors to this page think?”
Train Scales
R G Cooper has a question that will no doubt get varying answers depending on the country, size of the club, member interests, etc:
He asks: “What scale do most model railway clubs use?”
Add your comments.
Feedback, Answers, Questions
Regular reader Robert M would like more of the people who post questions to provide feedback on whether or not the suggested solutions offered by readers were actually helpful. Robert M writes:
“I regularly look at the problems and suggested remedies. Could those posting questions please provide feedback on whether the suggestions sorted your problem so that anyone else with a similar problem knows what worked?”
Robert M has a good point. Some people do provide helpful feedback to the answers others contribute, but some people don’t bother which is disappointing because in most instances the answers are incredibly constructive. Common courtesy please.
Fond Memories of Yesteryear Replicated in Miniature on this Layout
Those were the days!
You are most welcome to share this link with your friends by email or post the link on your website or Facebook page. http://www.modeltrainclub.org
Free Train Room Signs
Download your FREE train room signs from https://www.modelbuildings.org
You’ll find the link in the Railroad Resources Category in the top NAV bar on the website.
Steep Inclines? Use This FREE Grade Calculator Tool
To use this FREE tool, simply click on the Railroad Resources tab in the top NAV BAR on the website. Then click on the “Get your FREE calculators here.” link. That will take you to several free calculators you can use including the FREE grade calculator. https://www.modelbuildings.org
You are welcome to share this link with your friends by email or post the link on your website or Facebook page.
Too Many Locos To Convert To DCC?
Allan Wright shares these Thoughts:
“A friend across the other side of the country mentioned in passing that he would be sticking with DC because he had so many locos it would be impossible to convert his entire stable to run on DCC. It made me wonder how many others are in the same predicament because, in reality, you don’t need to convert every loco. Most people don’t operate every loco on their layout. If you are like me, you will likely operate a handful of personal favorites… the ones you can rely on. If you were to operate all your locos, you could allow for a line on your layout to be isolated from the DCC circuitry and controlled by DC. For some switches, you could share the line between DCC and DC. Just a few thoughts I wanted to share.”
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