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I took this photo while experimenting with some radius questions (see post in layout planning) and just found it... cool. My favorite locomotives and a hopper (unstaged, actually) clear in the background - it looks... hmm. Purposeful?

I learned just the other day that my favorite on-line shopping site - Craftsman's Model Railroad Supply (http://www.cmrrs.com/index.html) - is closing up shop due to the owner's health and "current economic conditions". :cry: I discovered this place about a year ago and had intended - several...

I've been putzing around with a new layout design for - literally - years. So as a surprise birthday gift, she arranged a layout design storming session to take place in my basement with my brother, father (both in design fields and railfans), pizza and beer. Dad and my brother arrived at the...

The space for the layout I'm currently planning was slightly too tight for what I wanted to do, so I've decided to tunnel through my basement's concrete block central bearing wall in several places to eliminate some against-the-wall turnback loops and to gain access to more real estate. (This...

I was recently in Mt.Vernon, Ohio to attend my daughter's high school volleyball game and decided to venture downtown to check out the rail scene. I knew there was a B&O depot on the west side of town, but also came across a second depot on the south side, which I later learned was on...

I found this on the N&W Historical Society mailing list - I would have never fathomed that steam engines would be used in the confines of a mine! Surprisingly, it wasn't terribly uncommon, especially in mines with very thick seams. (The Pocohontas coal field opened up by the N&W had seams well...

I ran into a Kadee coupler binding problem on an Accurail Lehigh Valley single sheathed boxcar a couple of days ago. The culprit appears to be insufficient depth of the coupler pocket - the Kadee spring was taller than the pocket was deep. It can be made to work if the lid screw is loosened...

I may make this a running thread as my railroad continues to add rolling stock. The idea struck with a Christmas gift from my father to my wife and kids of an Accurail 3 pack of "Big Four" hoppers with instructions that this be a family project. My wife just finished hers (first railroad car...

Anyone out there know if there are any manufacturers that produce poling pockets such as you might see at the end of a wooden end beam? Thanks

What is the typical (real life) distance between a grab rail and the carbody that it's attached to? Maybe 4" ?

Those of you who have been around for more than a few months, were paying attention and have good memories may remember that I embarked on this caboose model awhile back. My last post about it was to ask questions about mixing the right red. Since then I've worked on it off and on and decided...

I got the bug the other night to see how a spare "sunny white" LED would look in one of my Kato RS-2's. These are fine locomotives, but the stock LED is very yellow and very weak. To make it more difficult, what light they do produce has to travel through an ~1" light guide, further dimming...

I spotted this item in the announcements section of Model Railroader a couple issues back. I sometimes use the company's product, and plus I have a penchant for 40' wood box cars, so I picked one up. The car is offered by Philadelphia Division and is based on an Accurail kit. More info can...

I find these photos fascinating, and don't believe I've previously shared them. The attached images were taken during restoration of a heavy consolidation (2-8-0 steam locomotive) by the Ohio Central Railroad. While the subject matter is interesting in and of itself, I have a particular soft...

The Dremel model 395 (corded variable speed) broke last night while I was using it for fairly heavy work (cutting pipes). The chuck simply stopped turning, although the motor was running. The problem turned out to be pretty simple - a sheared "flex coupling". This coupling is a softer...

I'm currently painting an AMB (wood) model of an N&W CF type caboose. I've started with Floquil's caboose red, but t his appears to be a little darker than what I need. Is anyone familiar with the relative "redness" of Scalecoat's caboose red compared to Floquil? Secondly, is Scalecoat I (or...

Right when the clock struck 40, my near vision started getting challenging - just like the professionals said it would. Initially, an optivisor and good light (sometimes neither if I was well rested) was all I needed. However, a couple years later I'm finding that my nearest focus point is...

I don't airbrush much, but need to on occasion and would like to get good enough at it that the thought of using it doesn't intimidate me. One of the simple things that holds me back is simply getting the paint from the bottle into the cup (my brush has an integral cup). How do you do this...

In the course of a recentl walk through the toy section (tools) of my local big box home improvement store, I saw a new Dremel tool called the Stylus. It's a 7.2 volt rechargeable pistol-gripped device that is very comfortable. Has anyone seen this that can comment on it's usability (power...

Good day folks. A couple months back, I posted my initial impressions of the P2K loco, along with some information about my initial efforts to install a Soundtraxx Tsunami decoder and speaker. I took a bunch of pictures with the intent of posting them later, but only now am getting around to...