Search results

Hi, Small switching layout, 1 x 7 foot N scale. No evil switchbacks - yay! The plastics manufacturer uses "sure spots" to make switching more engaging. I also wanted a small yard to do some minor classification. Since I have a thing for grain elevators and covered grain hoppers that...

I understand these were used for bulk items like cement and sand. Were any used for grain? Would they look out of place spotted at a grain elevator? Thanks in advance!

Walthers, Athearn and Atlas all have a GP15-1 available in HO. I mean seriously, are there that many modelers who want one of these? Granted, the choice is fantastic, I mean if you want a GP15 you can now go with the brand you favor which is great! But what about those of us modeling a...

If anyone is looking for a plan in N scale here's one, its 14" wide and 8' in length. I designed it so that it can be built in two 4' sections. I don't plan on building this anytime soon, its just a plan I doodled and liked and therefore developed further using CAD. I used Peco medium...

The Silverton branch of the Denver and Rio Grande Western is about 45 miles long. Quite short by most accounts but in model terms its huge. Lets quickly do the math: 1 mile is 5280 foot 45 x 5280 = 237600 foot HO Scale is 1:87.1 237600 divided by 87.1 = 2727.899 foot That's 909.3 yards...

About 2 months ago, my girlfriend and I had to move to a smaller apartment due to unforseen circumstances. Needless to say I had to dismantle my layout, despite it having been built in sections for easy transportation, we simply didn't have the space in the new place. Anyway, after living...

Hi All, I finally got a chance to hook up my newly acquired Digitrax Zephyr and test my Blackstone K-27. Initially I couldn't get the loco to move, I had address 3. A quick look in the Blackstone manual revealed that the loco is factory programmed to have the same address as the loco number...

It appears as though the hobby is living up to some of its more ridiculous myths. The first myth about model railroading is that it is expensive. This actually depends entirely on how much you're willing to spend. Yes brass locomotives are very expensive. An Athearn can be had for as little as...

Hi All, Anyone who has this kit? Can it be modified for HOn3 track? I assume the track is glued to the bridge and so it should be possible to replace the HO track with narrow guage? I don't want to purchase this unless it can be used for HOn3. Many thanks!

Hi, I placed my order for the blue and yellow bonnet Santa Fe SW1200 with DCC + Sound, fits in nicely with my mid 70's period. Are these (P2K) engines any good? Any bad experiences? Worth the price? What's the quality of the QSI sound system like? Many thanks!

Can anyone tell me about Santa Fe's Cylindrical hoppers? I notice some are in the standard ATSF freight car brown and others are gray. Were the gray one's used for MOW? What era are they from? I see Intermountain is releasing some gray ones and wondering if I should reserve mine... Many Thanks!

Just out of interest, those who have Athearn Genesis locomotives, do they have the distinctive Athearn growl? I'm tempted to get a couple with sound, but wonder if the Athearn growl will mess up the sound equiped units.

Hi All, Anyone know if Digitrax is planning on upgrading their UT4R throttle to full duplex radio (I assume it will become the UT4D)? If so any ideas when this will happen? I'm looking into switcghing to dcc and am aiming for the Digitrax radio systems. Thanks!

My 2 new Athearn GP35's (http://www.athearn.com/Products/Default.aspx?ProdID=ATH96022) arrived on Monday :D and I really like the detail however I'm a little dissatisfied with the one's running. I have not run them in yet and decided to give them a quick test run to make sure everything is in...

Would an Athearn SD45 happily negotiate a 24" min radius? I want a pair of these to pull through freights on my HO layout and have a minimum radius of 24" which I'm a little concerned about. Thanks!

I have an Athearn caboose lettered for ATSF (its a 1940's) waycar and I want to put Kadee metal sprung trucks on it. Which ones will be best? I put bettendorf's on my boxcars but I dont't think they're right for the caboose. Will Andrews trucks be better? Thanks!

Are new HO scale locos from Athearn and Atlas supposed to be completely silent or do they make some noise? Mine seem to be really noisy, more noisier than my Bachman GP38 which I thought was quite loud to begin with.. I'm referring to the Athearn CF7 (DCC ready) and Atlas Classic Alco RS1...

It seems the tiny antenna on my new CF7 came off in transit and by some miracle I managed to locate it in the packaging, luckily it didn't go missing. I want to glue it back on. Should I use CA or normal styrene cement?

Hi All, Started laying track on my mid size sectional HO layout last night then hit a snag. Section joints. The way I see it I have two options: Option1: Lay track such that there's a single joint over the section. My problem with this is that vertical deflections between the two sections...

Hi All, The walls from my HO RJ FRost Walthers kit are warped. I was thinking of laying them flat on a a flat surface and stacking a few heavy books on them for a couple of days. Would that work? Any other suggestions? Thanks!